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is World OCD Awareness Week and so I am going to share a lesser-discussed OCD theme each day, covering what it can look like and some treatment considerations.

This type of contamination OCD often gets missed and when standard ERP doesn't work, the client gets filled with shame and hopelessness and may drop out of therapy, convinced they can't get better.

But if we recognise it more and adapt how we work with it and our expectations, less people need to go through this utter shame and despair cycle and csn get the help they need.

We covered this in detail on the @justcheckingpod and so many therapists and people with OCD have fed back about how much we need to be having conversations about it.

What would you like to know about this type of OCD? Do you have any tips for what helped you with it? Let me know if you would like any specific questions addressed about this and I will try and put up some videos, and do check out thr podcast episode where we describe it in detail too- comment 'link' for a direct link.

#ocdhelp #intrusivethoughts #contaminationocd #thisisocd #ocdawarenessweek @iocdf

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Pure O is something that is named in a confusing way.

Because it isn't JUST obsessions, it also has the compulsions too. As my friend says, you can't have the O without the C and the D.

Pure O can have many themes, and the compulsions are things that others can't see.

So monitoring, avoidance, mental rituals etc.

Do you have any questions about Pure O? We have covered it quite a few times in the @justcheckingpod and this week's episode is an author's own account of his Pure O and how it helped him to write.

@iocdf
#pureo
#ocdhelp
#thisisocd
#ocdawarenessweek
#mentalhealthsupport

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Is Pure O a thing?

Pure O is something that is real, but named in a confusing way.

Because it isn't JUST obsessions, it also has the compulsions too. As my friend says, you can't have the O without the C and the D.

Pure O can have many themes, and the compulsions are things that others can't see.

So monitoring, avoidance, mental rituals etc.

Do you have any questions about Pure O? We have covered it quite a few times in the @justcheckingpod and this week's episode is an author's own account of his Pure O and how it helped him to write.

#pureo #ocdhelp #ocdawarenessweek #thatsocd #mentalhealtawareness

@iocdf

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It is World OCD Awareness Week and so I am going to share a lesser-discussed OCD theme each day, covering what it can look like and some treatment considerations.

This type of contamination OCD often gets missed and when standard ERP doesn't work, the client gets filled with shame and hopelessness and may drop out of therapy, convinced they can't get better.

But if we recognise it more and adapt how we work with it and our expectations, less people need to go through this utter shame and despair cycle and csn get the help they need.

We covered this in detail on the @justcheckingpod and so many therapists and people with OCD have fed back about how much we need to be having conversations about it.

What would you like to know about this type of OCD? Do you have any tips for what helped you with it? Let me know if you would like any specific questions addressed about this and I will try and put up some videos, and do check out thr podcast episode where we describe it in detail too- comment 'link' for a direct link.

#ocdhelp #worldocdawarenessweek #thatsocd #mentalhealtawareness #contaminationocd

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Intrusive thoughts love to latch on to anything.

I will absolutely have more Brain Spam than usual on our next Wednesday @justcheckingpod recording after 2 nights alone in Newcastle.

If anyone else is attending the BABCP OCD and autism training tomorrow, come say hi when it starts!

For now, I'm going to be working on not trying to fix this brain spam and actually having a rest in a bed with no kids (great, more brain spam!)

#ocdhelp #ocdproblems #intrusivethoughts #newcastle #relatablecontent

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A therapy tip for those with children. It works for people living with family, partners or flat mates too.

A team marble reward jar, to build motivation and a sense of reward to get you doing hard things to benefit your mental health.

We used this to motivate OCD exposures- a marble for every exposure- but you can use it for;

- Putting in boundaries
- Sitting through anxiety
- Asking for help when you need it
- Talking to yourself compassionately
- Doing your attention training
- Making a choice that is good for you

The idea is to give you extra motivation and praise for doing a hard thing.

The team work element adds another layer, helping you to feel less alone with it.

And bonus points for modelling this for others too!

What do you think? What if we started to post marble jar pictures on these communities as a lovely body doubling community? I might get our @justcheckingpod listeners on it 🤔

@jess_the_therapy_mum

#ocdsupport
#ocdhelp
#mentalhealthsupport
#̭parentingtips
#therapytips

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OCD recovery does not mean the intrusive thoughts stop.

Laura Mole
Counsellor | OCD and Anxiety Specialist
Specialisation: OCD, Intrusive Thoughts, Anxiety, ERP
Regulatory Body: BACP
Based in: Barnet, London, and online

Jess Hayes
CBT Therapist | OCD and Perinatal Specialist
Specialisation: OCD, Perinatal Mental Health, CBT, ERP, ICBT, EMDR
Regulatory Body: BABCP
Based in: Warrington, England, and online

🤍

Recovery from OCD does not mean never feeling anxious again. It does not mean intrusive thoughts vanish.

That expectation is one reason people decide they are failing at recovery when they are not.

What recovery means is being able to live the life you want and be happy in it. That holds for any presentation of OCD, including the subtypes people find hardest to say out loud, such as POCD and harm OCD.

The mechanism is tolerance. You build a greater capacity to sit with distress, and with uncertainty, and you carry on with your life while both are present.

It helps to know the anxiety itself is not unusual. Everyone feels anxious at some point. It triggers the same parts of the brain in everyone, the amygdala releasing adrenaline and cortisol. The physical sensation is the same for a person with OCD as for anyone else.

What changes in recovery is not whether intrusive thoughts appear. It is their volume and their frequency. They get quieter. They arrive less often. And they stop deciding what you do.

Listen to the full episode on Spotify at MindFriend Talk. 🎧

Follow for more.

✨MindFriend's check is administrative and educational only and is not personal advice, an endorsement, recommendation, or guarantee of quality or outcomes, and does not confirm that this clinician is suitable for you. Always seek a qualified professional for your own situation.

#mindfriend #mindfriendtalk #ocd #ocdrecovery #intrusivethoughts #erp

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Do you want to know exactly what it can look like to have perinatal OCD?

Jess really bravely shared her experience of this.

She explained specific thoughts (harm and s%xual ones), how she asked for help, and what support made the difference.

Jess bravely shared her experience to help to raise awareness of postnatal/ perinatal OCD, so as many people as possible feel less alone and get the help they need.

Comment 'link' if you'd like the link to the episode.

#perinatalocd
#postpartumocd
#maternalmentalhealth
#ocdawareness
#postnatalmentalhealth

@justcheckingpod

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OCD reassurance seeking: why "everything is fine" makes it worse.

Laura Mole
Counsellor | OCD and Anxiety Specialist
Specialisation: OCD, Intrusive Thoughts, Anxiety, ERP
Regulatory Body: BACP
Based in: Barnet, London, and online

Jess Hayes
CBT Therapist | OCD and Perinatal Specialist
Specialisation: OCD, Perinatal Mental Health, CBT, ERP, ICBT, EMDR
Regulatory Body: BABCP
Based in: Warrington, England, and online

🧠

Reassurance feels like help. With OCD it is usually fuel.

The distinction is between reassuring and assuring. Reassurance answers the question again. Assurance declines to join the loop without going cold. It sounds closer to: you already know the answer, and not hearing it back is hard right now.

That second half matters. Withholding reassurance without acknowledging the difficulty lands as dismissal.

Families get caught here most, and the pattern runs to two extremes. Months of answering every question. Then someone reads something online and the answers stop overnight. That switch causes real distress.

Both ends feed OCD. Constant reassurance strengthens the compulsion. Blunt refusal reads as something being badly wrong, which is what OCD already suspected.

What works sits between them, and it is warmer than expected. Name what is happening. That sounds like a reassurance question. Point back to the agreement. We agreed not to answer those. Then redirect. Shall we walk and talk about something else.

Same limit. Completely different experience of it.

Listen to the full episode on Spotify at MindFriend Talk. 🎧

Follow for more.

✨MindFriend's check is administrative and educational only and is not personal advice, an endorsement, recommendation, or guarantee of quality or outcomes, and does not confirm that this clinician is suitable for you. Always seek a qualified professional for your own situation.

#mindfriend #mindfriendtalk #ocd #ocdrecovery #reassuranceseeking #erp

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Some days, OCD drains every last bit of strength from me. That’s when this community reminds me I don’t have to carry it all alone 🫂💙
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#OCDCommunity #ObsessiveCompulsiveDisorder #OCDSupport #MentalHealthMatters #YouAreNotAlone

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Harm OCD can be terrifying enough, especially when someone is a parent and it focuses on their baby or child.

Harm OCD can sound like;
-Urges or images of you harming your child
-Doubt and false memories thinking you may have previously harmed them
-Thoughts of harming coming to them in general
-Magical thinking, believing you have to do random tasks or thought processes to prevent harm coming to them
-Fears that a loved one will/has harmed them

If you have listened to my OCD podcast, @justcheckingpod , you'll know that i don't have OCD but I do talk about harming thiughts about my children fairly regularly in the Brain Spam feature- where we share intrusive thoughts of the week.

You'll also know that I have accidentally bitten down on my 3 year old's fingers before in the past- and the mum guilt is real.

So, what better way to challenge those harm thoughts by embracing and leaning into something that feels like a real possibility when those thoughts get loud?

As you know, OCD therapy often focuses on exposures- doing the scary thing without any compulsions, repeatedly until your brain learns it is safe.

And if you follow me, you will also know thay I make videos of exposures to show you ideas for challenging OCD-and people save the videos too, because just watching them can be an exposure for some people.

My 3 year old is a sensory seeker, his hands are constantly stroking my face and mouth- especially at bedtime to soothe himself.

This is just a small clip, I did this a fair few times (until I annoyed him). I got the urge to bite hard, I imagined myself doing it. I continued to lightly press my teeth (covered with my lips) together to pretend to eat his hands until the feelings eased.

What do you think about this exposure? Could you do it?

If you do, let me know! And comment below if you have any questions about harm OCD, exposure therapy, perinatal OCD, or anything OCD-related 😀

@jess_the_therapy_mum

#ocdhelp #harmocd #ocdawareness #perinatalocd #exposureandresponseprevention

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Contamination OCD exposure

Chicken features on a lot of avoidance and compulsion lists for clients with contamination OCD, emetophobia and harm OCD too.

So here is a video for anyone working their way through an exposure list to watch...and then even use as an idea to try themselves.

If you would like to know more about therapy that uses exposures or behavioural experiments for OCD can work, you can check out some of my other videos or listen to our @justcheckingpod episodes for an overview. Or, comment here with any questions and I'll answer on my next video.

In the meantime, how uncomfortable did this make you?

#ocdhelp #exposuretherapy #contaminationocd #harmocd #ocdtherapy

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