We often say I got triggered by this or I got triggered by that. But what actually are triggers? Triggers in ROCD are those events that bring about obsessions, which in turn lead to compulsions and keep the cycle of ROCD alive. Identifying triggers will prepare us...

Obsessions are thoughts that cause anxiety, are intrusive and disturbing (Goodman et al., 2014). Obsessions in ROCD may take many forms. They may take the form of a thought. Thoughts could be in the form of doubts or questions. For example, ‘What if I don’t love my...

What do you do when the obsessions seem real? According to the metacognitive model (Myers & Wells, 2005), people suffering from mental disorders like OCD consider having the thoughts as being equal to acting on the thoughts, due to the metacognitive belief called...

We do not need to solve all the doubts our ROCD throws at us. But it seems like the mind will not find relief until we do. There is intolerance of uncertainty which could be both prospective (I would like to know all the answers) and inhibitory (I cannot function...

Sometimes despite being told that our thoughts are untrue, we keep seeing evidence of our fears coming true. When you think that your partner has stopped loving you, you will begin to notice how her texts are not affectionate enough, how she spends more time away than...

A self-fulfilling prophecy is the phenomenon where someone 'predicts' something bad, and ironically the person's behavior to prevent the bad from happening results in causing the bad to happen, thereby making the 'prediction' come true. For example, if I think my wife...

Being attracted to others is okay. We do not have to be attracted only to our partners. We also do not have to be always attracted to them. Let us see why. We shall take the example of a cisgender female (let us call her Judy) as the ROCD sufferer. Judy has five men...

Often when people are asked to rate the levels of anxiety that their obsessive thoughts may cause them, they may be unable to assign a number. The anxiety may feel too high and it may be difficult to ascertain just how bad it is in the moment. For this purpose, the...

Let us now see what kind of compulsions there could be in ROCD and how to identify your compulsions. Compulsions are actions (either physical or mental) that you may engage in to deal with the distress caused by the obsessions (Goodman et al., 2014). Compulsions can...

In this chapter, we shall further understand the importance of acceptance and mindfulness in your recovery journey. Sometimes you may think that your compulsions come without obsessions. Sometimes, the rituals become habits and you do not even remember why you do them...

Let us now look at a peculiarity unique to ROCD. OCD itself is difficult to understand. Recovery is so nuanced that sometimes people may know what is to be done, but not how or when. The same act that you may do during the triggered state may be a compulsion, but it...

The anxiety hierarchy is one of the most important worksheets you will fill in your recovery journey. An anxiety hierarchy is a list of all anxiety provoking stimuli arranged from the least anxiety provoking to the most anxiety provoking (Obi, & Oguzie, 2019). It...

Now that you have populated the anxiety hierarchy up to the compulsions column, it will soon be time to bite the bullet and face your fears. The premise in ERP for the treatment of ROCD is systematic desensitization and not flooding. In flooding, you face all your...

After the Anxiety Hierarchy is made, the real process of recovery will begin when you start exposing yourself deliberately to your lowest fears and resisting the pull of compulsions. As you get better at handling those smaller fears, you move on to the larger...

Since you are going to start the process of ERP from the next section, it is important that you understand a small crucial aspect. Why this merits a separate chapter is that I did not want this important aspect to get lost in other chapters.  Exposure and...