Get to know OCD

When you have OCD, thinking can feel like the solution. You replay conversations, analyze your memories, research every possibility, and search for the one answer that will finally bring certainty. But no matter how much time you spend trying to solve it, OCD always comes back with another "what if?" In this video, Dr. Patrick McGrath explains why rumination is one of OCD's most common mental comp...

Most people know that compulsions keep OCD going. What many don't realize is that some of the behaviors feeding OCD are much harder to recognize. Rumination, avoidance, reassurance-seeking, distraction, shame, guilt, and even trying to "fix" your thoughts can all become subtle safety behaviors that strengthen the OCD cycle. In this video, Dr. Patrick McGrath explains why these hidden habits keep O...

Trying therapy for OCD once doesn't always mean you received the right treatment. Many people leave therapy believing it "didn't work," when in reality they were never treated with exposure and response prevention (ERP), the gold-standard therapy for OCD. Instead, they were taught coping strategies that can actually feed OCD instead. In this video, Dr. Patrick McGrath explains why OCD therapy some...

OCD has a way of convincing you that life can wait. If you can just find the right answer, get rid of the anxiety, or finally feel "okay," then you'll be able to relax and enjoy yourself. But that moment never comes. Instead, OCD keeps moving the goalposts, trapping you in an endless cycle of compulsions, reassurance, and waiting to feel better before you start living. In this short video, Dr. Pat...

After the unexpected death of his brother, Matthew Testa's mind became consumed by health fears, rumination, and an endless search for certainty. Every new "what if?" felt like a problem that had to be solved, but no amount of thinking ever brought lasting relief. Instead, OCD kept finding new questions to ask, trapping him in thought loops that quietly took over more and more of his life. In this...

Many people with OCD believe that the fact that they're disturbed by an intrusive thought proves they don't want it. But what happens when that fear, panic, or disgust starts to fade? In this video, Dr. Patrick McGrath explains why OCD often latches onto your emotional reaction to intrusive thoughts, convincing you that you're not upset enough or that your response must mean something about who yo...

Reassurance feels helpful in the moment. You ask someone if everything is okay, replay a memory to make sure you didn't do anything wrong, Google the same question for the tenth time, or tell yourself that your fear isn't true. The problem? OCD is never satisfied. The relief lasts for a moment, then the doubt comes back — and the cycle starts all over again. In this video, Dr. Patrick McGrath expl...

OCD doesn't just create fear — it can also quietly steal your ability to enjoy life. Whether it's replaying conversations, monitoring your feelings, avoiding things you love, or convincing yourself that you don't deserve happiness, OCD has a knack for pulling you out of the present moment. In this video, Dr. Patrick McGrath explains how OCD interferes with joy. At NOCD, we specialize in exposure a...

Making the Olympics had been Ginny Fuchs' dream for years. But as she climbed the ranks of amateur boxing and moved to the Olympic Training Center, another battle was quietly getting worse. OCD was consuming more of her time, disrupting her sleep, and pulling her deeper into compulsions she could no longer control. Eventually, the disorder became so overwhelming that she feared it would derail the...

What does it take to become a great OCD therapist? Our very own NOCD therapists, Barbara Windeknecht and Alexi Pyles, say it's not what you probably think (prior OCD experience). In fact, both came from very different clinical backgrounds with little OCD experience. What mattered more was a willingness to learn, ask questions, stay curious, and keep showing up for members even when the work felt c...

Tell Williams thought he was just a worrier. As a child, he believed things had to feel perfectly "even" or something bad would happen to the people he loved. Later came contamination fears, intrusive thoughts, health anxiety, and rituals that slowly began shaping more of his life than he realized. It wasn't until adulthood — after being diagnosed with ADHD, autism, and eventually OCD — that every...

Barbara Windeknecht and Alexi Pyles have both worked traditional therapy jobs so they know what the tradeoffs usually look like: commuting, shared offices, rigid schedules, and trying to squeeze the rest of life around the work. At NOCD, they’ve found something different: a fully remote setup where they can see members from home, build schedules that actually fit their lives, and still feel connec...

A lot of people start ERP expecting immediate relief, so when their anxiety spikes in the beginning, they assume the treatment is failing. But as Dr. Patrick McGrath explains, that discomfort is often a sign that the therapy is actually working. OCD gets used to compulsions, reassurance, avoidance, and safety behaviors keeping fear under control, so when those habits are removed, the disorder tend...

Rumination can feel productive at first. It can feel like problem-solving, self-awareness, or “figuring things out.” But for people with OCD, there’s a point where thinking stops being helpful and turns into a trap. The same question gets replayed over and over, every answer creates another “what if,” and no amount of analyzing ever brings real relief. In this short video, Dr. Patrick McGrath brea...

One of the scariest OCD spirals can start with a simple thought: what if this isn’t OCD at all? For many people, OCD doesn’t just attack fears around harm or contamination — it can also latch onto the fear of “going crazy,” losing touch with reality, or developing something more serious like psychosis or schizophrenia. In this video, Dr. Patrick McGrath breaks down why OCD targets these fears so a...

ERP therapy is different from what most people imagine. Instead of just talking about fears, it helps people with OCD gradually face the thoughts, situations, and sensations they’ve been avoiding. In this video, NOCD therapists Barbara Windeknecht and Alexi Pyles explain what that looks like in real life — from contamination exposures and “just right” OCD to emetophobia, social anxiety, and phobia...

When Molly was a teenager, a single intrusive thought sent her into years of fear, panic, and silence. What started as one terrifying “what if?” quickly spiraled into constant doubts about who she was, what her thoughts meant, and whether she was secretly a horrible person. In this episode of the Get to Know OCD podcast, Molly opens up about living with pedophilia OCD — a taboo thought she hid for...

One of the hardest parts of OCD is that compulsions rarely feel irrational in the moment — they feel responsible. Checking the stove again, replaying a conversation, researching symptoms, repeating a ritual “just in case.” Over time, OCD convinces you that these behaviors are the reason nothing bad has happened yet, which makes stopping them feel reckless, selfish, or even dangerous. In this video...

Ciara Parsons thought she was just anxious, overly cautious, or a little superstitious. But underneath all of it was OCD — constantly forcing her to imagine every possible thing that could go wrong and making her feel responsible for preventing it. Whether it was flying on planes, going on tour, becoming a mother, or simply leaving the house, her brain treated every situation like a potential disa...

For a long time, OCD made life feel overwhelming and exhausting until Cody Fournier finally found a type of treatment that actually worked. What started as his own search for relief turned into something much bigger. After experiencing firsthand what it’s like to come out the other side, he realized he wanted to help other people do the same. In this video, Cody shares how his journey with OCD led...

Kerry Osborn believed her OCD was helping her — giving her a sense of control in situations that felt uncertain and overwhelming. What started after a traumatic experience slowly turned into a system of rules, rituals, and “if I do this, then nothing bad will happen” thinking that took over more and more of her life. It didn’t feel irrational at the time. It felt necessary. In this episode, Kerry...

OCD flare-ups can feel random, like something just flipped overnight, but when you look closer, there’s usually a build-up. A stressful week, bad sleep, a life change, even something small that threw off your routine. In this video, Dr. Patrick McGrath walks through the patterns behind those spikes and why OCD tends to show up strongest when your system is already under pressure. At NOCD, we speci...

Alyssa Lentz had enough of OCD interfering with her life personally so she never imagined treating it professionally. Like many therapists, her early training barely scratched the surface of what it actually takes to treat OCD effectively. But after pursuing specialized training and surrounding herself with others doing the same work, everything started to click. In this episode, Alyssa shares wha...

You might think OCD compulsions are easy to spot — things like checking, washing, or repeating actions. But many compulsions happen entirely in your head, making them much harder to recognize. From mentally reviewing conversations to trying to “cancel out” bad thoughts or reassure yourself that everything is okay, these invisible habits can quietly keep OCD going without you even realizing it. In...

OCD doesn’t just affect how you think, it can take over how you spend your time. What starts as a few minutes of checking, cleaning, or mental reassurance can quickly turn into hours lost every single day. Add that up every day for years, and you start to realize — OCD isn’t just taking your time, it’s taking your life. In this video, Dr. Patrick McGrath breaks down why OCD's time-consuming patter...