In this episode, we are breaking down five core principles of OCD recovery. To help explore this topic, I am joined by Kimberley Quinlan, an anxiety and OCD specialist practicing in Los Angeles and host of the Your Anxiety Toolkit podcast.

OCD recovery is often viewed as a rigid list of steps, but it is better understood through specific attributes and ingredients that you can learn to practice and strengthen over time.

Here is what you need to know about the core components of OCD recovery:

1. Clarity of Vision

Having a clear picture of what you want your life to look like is a powerful predictor of success. This does not mean you must have every detail mapped out perfectly, but you need a general template of the life you want to live. Recovery is not merely the absence of intrusive thoughts or anxiety; it is about deciding what your life will look like when you choose to let those thoughts exist without letting them run the show.

2. Willingness to Endure Discomfort

You must be willing to let OCD come along for the ride. This means moving forward with your valued life plans whileexperiencing discomfort, intrusive thoughts, feelings, sensations, urges, and images. Whether you are practicing driving in your neighborhood or returning to school, you must learn to slow down and be in relation to actual physical discomfort.

3. Self-Compassion and Kindness

Practicing while uncomfortable is difficult, and it requires kindness toward yourself. This means eliminating the critical, negative inner dialogue that tells you that you are a failure or that you should be further along in your journey. Kindness also means physically validating your own distress, acknowledging your racing heart or somatic symptoms, and making space for them rather than fighting them.

4. Attentional Awareness

Attention training is your ability to intentionally choose where to direct your focus in the midst of chaos. Intrusive thoughts feel chaotic, but you have the agency to anchor your attention to a focal point in the present moment, whether that is a sound, a physical task, or a loved one's voice. This is a muscle that you strengthen through small, repetitive daily actions.

5. Focus on Response Prevention

While exposure and response prevention (ERP) is the gold standard for treatment, the emphasis belongs heavily on response prevention. Identifying your compulsions and safety behaviors, and then slowing down or stopping them, is far more critical than seeking out the most intense exposures. Take an honest inventory of your compulsions and work consistently to reduce them.

Find Kim online:

Instagram

Website

Podcast

For full show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/346

Send in a question or comment via text.

Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated!

Interested in doing therapy with me? For more information on working with me directly to overcome your anxiety, follow this link.

Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The Anxious Truth does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the host or guests of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.

How Does an Anxiety Therapist Talk About Anxiety All Day Without Getting Triggered?

People ask me this constantly. I'm a former sufferer of panic disorder, agoraphobia, OCD, and depression — and now I spend my days immersed in all of it. Therapy clients, podcasts, books, social media. Anxiety is basically my entire professional life. So how does a person like me not end up right back where they started?

The answer isn't a trick or a technique. It's what recovery actually produces — and once you understand it, it reframes what you're working toward in a pretty significant way.

In this episode I explain why talking about anxiety all day doesn't trigger me, what changed through my own recovery process, and why the same change is available to you. I also share a real example from the last few months involving my dog Copper, some stress-related symptoms that showed up during a difficult time, and what it looked like to have those experiences without fear driving the whole thing.

We also get into my OCD history with existential thoughts — something that used to pin me down for weeks — and what that same material looks like now. Same discomfort. Completely different relationship to it.

This one is old school Anxious Truth. No script, no notes. Just an honest answer to a question a lot of you have been asking, and what I think it means for where you're headed.

For show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/345

Want to talk about this episode with me, Josh Fletcher, and others that are sharing your experience and know what it feels like? I'm hanging out on the Disordered Community Space:

https://disordered.fm/community

Send in a question or comment via text.

Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated!

Interested in doing therapy with me? For more information on working with me directly to overcome your anxiety, follow this link.

Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The Anxious Truth does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the host or guests of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.

Many people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) struggle to understand how the concept of acceptance applies to their recovery. While it seems straightforward in the context of panic disorder or health anxiety, where sufferers learn to accept temporary physical sensations, applying acceptance to distressing intrusive thoughts and images can feel confusing or even dangerous.

In this episode of The Anxious Truth, I'm joined by OCD specialists Joanna Hardis (Cleveland) and Lauren Rosen (Los Angeles) to clarify the role of acceptance in obsessive-compulsive disorder treatment.

---

Want to talk about this episode with me and others that share your experience? I'm hanging out in the Disordered Community Space

https://disordered.fm/community

-----

Key Takeaways

• Accepting Thoughts vs. Agreeing with Content: Acceptance in OCD does not mean you agree with, like, or approve of your intrusive thoughts. It means acknowledging the realistic presence of the thought or image in your mind at that moment instead of trying to fight, fix, or erase it.
• The Role of Uncertainty: A major hurdle in obsessive-compulsive disorder recovery is the urge to reach 100% certainty about your fears. True acceptance requires sitting with the discomfort of uncertainty regarding your thoughts, feelings, and what they might imply.
• Experiential Discomfort: Ultimately, the core of OCD acceptance is learning to tolerate internal uneasiness and anxiety without turning to compulsions, safety behaviors, or rituals to get rid of it.
• The Reality of Progress: Giving up the struggle against your thoughts doesn't result in a dramatic parade or instant relief. It is a gradual, quiet process of allowing discomfort to exist while you choose to move forward with your day anyway.

Find Joanna Hardis at https://joannahardis.com

or on Instagram at https://instagram.com/joannahardis

Find Lauren at https://theobsessivemind.com

or on Instagram at https://instagram.com/theobsessivemind

For full show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/344

Send in a question or comment via text.

Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated!

Interested in doing therapy with me? For more information on working with me directly to overcome your anxiety, follow this link.

Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The Anxious Truth does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the host or guests of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.