How to Build an Exposure Hierarchy (With Worked Examples)
A hierarchy is the plan that makes ERP possible: your triggers, rated and ordered, so there is always a next rung you can actually reach.
Read postOCD vs Anxiety: How to Tell the Difference
Both involve fear and both involve worry. The difference is the compulsion - and it is the reason advice that works for anxiety often makes OCD worse.
Read postPure O: Why "Purely Obsessional" OCD Still Has Compulsions
Pure O is a useful description and a misleading name. The rituals have not gone anywhere. They have moved inside your head, where they are much harder to spot.
Read postReal-Event OCD: When the Obsession Is Something You Did
Most OCD themes are hypothetical. This one is not, which is why people conclude it cannot be OCD - and why they spend years trying to solve it instead of treating it.
Read postReassurance Seeking in OCD: Why It Becomes a Compulsion
Reassurance does not look like a ritual. It looks like coping, or caring, or due diligence. It is the compulsion most people miss for longest.
Read postRelationship OCD (ROCD): When Doubt Attaches to Your Partner
The question feels like the most important one in your life, and answering it is the compulsion. Here is what relationship OCD is and why "just work out if you love them" is the trap.
Read postScrupulosity: Religious and Moral OCD
When OCD attaches to faith or ethics, the compulsions look like devotion and the doubt looks like conscience. That is what makes this one so hard to see from inside.
Read postSexual Orientation OCD: What SO-OCD Is and Is Not
This theme is about intolerance of uncertainty, not about sexuality. It happens to straight people, gay people, and bisexual people alike, and the mechanism is identical each time.
Read postSUDS Scale for ERP: How to Rate Distress During Exposure
A single number, rated in the moment, is what turns an exposure from a bad hour into data you can learn from. Here is how to use the SUDS scale properly.
Read postWhat Is ERP Therapy for OCD? A Plain-English Guide
ERP is the front-line therapy for OCD, and it is far less mysterious than it sounds. Here is what it is, what a session looks like, and why the response prevention half is the part that does the work.
Read postIs Patterns a CBT app? ERP, CBT, and what actually helped me
A question I get a lot: is Patterns a CBT app? The short answer is yes-ish, and the honest answer is more interesting than that.
Read postWhat I actually wanted from an OCD app
Before I built Patterns, I kept downloading apps and deleting them. This is what I was actually looking for in an OCD app, and why it was so hard to find.
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