22. OCD Treatment: How to get more certain! 

Thanks for your comments everyone. So sorry about the big gap in uploading. I should be able to do much more regular uploads now.

i tell myself that my intrusive thoughts are suggestion and i can say no and move on my day.

The extensive quarantine led me to have many intrusive thoughts. Your old videos helped very much. I couldn't be more grateful when I saw you uploading new videos now. Your advice has been treasure to me. Keep going!

Wow never heard someone who actually knows how it feels for the patient.

"Becoming used to discomfort" is a game-changer!

The only thing certain in life is uncertainty

I'm laughing at how accurate this video is, it's like listening to someone verbally announce the actual language of ocd, hit the nail on the head!

This is a life-changing video for me. I feel so much more confident about what I need to do now to fix my OCD. This was the missing piece of the puzzle, so to speak, knowing that certainty comes from focusing on the long-term, not the short-term. Thank you so much, Katie! I love your videos; they are always so helpful to me!

Confessing was a huge thing for my son.

I'm getting a groinal response where I don't want it to happen and it scares the shit out of me. I have a porn addiction and I think it's related. I'm an anxious and avoidant personality. I want to heal.

Dear Katie, love you so much and thank you for your videos. I have recently come to know about you from my daughter who has been diagnosed with OCD( pure O) since she was 12 years old and it's a very sever one . She is 18 years old now and she (as well as we) has been living a traumatic life since then.We as parents trying our best to help her but unfortunately it seems no therapist probably has the depth of knowledge and understanding about OCD like the way you have! After watching your videos, and your excellent analogies, I as mother have gained tremendously. I will be able to handle the situation more effectively now. Would like to have individual therapy sessions with you, however that may not be possible due to time zone, as we live in India. Thanks from the bottom of my heart ❤

Im really struggling to let go. Its painful. And its tiring....

I just realized u are back :) hey! I have religious and sexual ocd and I'm really losing everything day after day

I’ve had OCD/PTSD since I was 4 and the “it’s a water pistol” is amazing advice

For most of us, dysfunctional beliefs which we developed in childhood/adolescence is the gas for the OCD fire. I had a particularly dysfunctional and traumatic adolescence and there are so many themes and doubts that my OCD can get triggered by. I sat and wrote down all of my dysfunctional beliefs which were conditioned in my younger years and there are SO many of them.

Katie where did you go for four years! ❤️

The mindfulness guide "30 Days to Stop Obsessing" by Harper Daniels is pretty good...uses a mindfulness approach with hints of CBT. It's on amazon. Mindfulness has really helped. It takes practice but isn't too difficult.

I struggle with ocd and I’m ashamed of it. I will be learning skills from your videos to help with this , so glad to see I’m not alone . Or atleast that I understand now what’s happening. thank you

Aging like fine wine Katie nice to see you back.

it's very important to know that topics that people consider taboo are actually very common in OCD, and you are NOT a bad person for having thoughts related to taboo things (harming a child, or inappropriate sexual attraction, etc). People should also know that a groinal response for example does NOT mean you like a specific thought. the groinal response is actually caused by the anxiety that you feel that got triggered by the taboo thought. everyone be open with your therapists, trust them and trust yourselves ❤

I feel like I’ve just gave myself hocd because I was looking it up and it’s ruined my relationship I was getting other intrusive thoughts sexual real event etc but it’s tore my relationship apart and now I’m just confused and heartbroken

Life-changing, thank you so much!!!

OMG you are back and I couldn't be more thankful about it! ♥️

Thank you so much for this. You explain things in such an effective way, this is so helpful.

What you do changes lives, Katie, thank you so much for that ❤

Singer Adele and psychologist Katie dath are two decent persons living in Britain in our era..... unfortunately i live in India , so i can never meet them.....There may be many psychologists but Katie dath is best in explaining things in easy way......But She uploads videos after very long time , i guess Life in Britain is busy.....

I have my OCD centered a lot around my son's Type 1 diabetes and heart condition. Especially hoarding insulin while he's still on my insurance for the next few months and the meds are affordable. I have been having a few days episode where I have had near constant thoughts about how I may have ruined his insulin because maybe the fridge got too cold at one time or maybe too warm. Going back over any time where I could remember if I had seen it too warm or too cold or if I stored it wrong or if I had maybe done something that ruined it. Over and over. It's been exhausting and debilitating. But I guess my question is what if you DO have a "gun" to your head? What if the stakes are actually high? These medications will end up costing thousands a month and there are people who do die from not being able to afford care in the US. How do you work with that?

Hi, Would you allow me to translate your guidance into Urdu language it'll help many people who don't know English nor can afford any treatment, i'll give reference of your links??

I was recommended to Katy from my psychologist when my ocd was at its worst 😢, she’s a absolute life saver .

thank you for returning to the channel, you might be my literal lifeline, just in time Katie. I appreciate these videos so much.

You are a mind reader Katie. Your amazing ❤ i have never listened to someone who understands ocd so much! I would really love it if you would make videos about memory hoarding ocd and existentional ocd

Thank you so much for your channel and for what you do! My OCD has been getting worse lately, and just like your example, my contamination OCD used to focus on the fear of getting HIV. But once I was certain in a way that HIV wasn't as big of a threat for me (I'm not sexually active), my contamination OCD moved on to worrying about getting infected with rabies. I've been spiraling lately but I'm so glad I found your channel. Love and blessings on you! You are helping so many of us.

I really want to meet you in reality and thank you for all your videos😇😇😇..... You have the solution to all the problems..... Love from INDIA 🇮🇳

Thank you Katie. You really are a life savior. Please try to post videos more often :).

You just described my ocd perfectly even down to the hiv analogy. I can doubt anything important. We know its irrational but it's a real thing. I can understand someone without ocd can't understand. I think I'm at a point a long time ago that im intilectually aware it's the "doubt" that is the problem not the themes cos I'm 56 now but it's still hard. You understand ocd perfectly ...are you a sufferer ?

Sometimes when I have intrusive thoughts, I just allow it to stay in my head and play out to the point where it goes away, because the more I try to resist those thoughts the stronger the urge becomes. Of course you're not going to act on them, because they're just thoughts and thats ALL they are. Don't lose sleep over it, you'll be just fine.

You are just brilliant!

Granted, seeking more certainty will get you nowhere if it is fueled by OCD. However, is the certainty that you’re talking about at the end, the one that comes from the experience that one can give up compulsions and find life bearable? After being OCD-free for some time, you realize that eliminating all doubts was actually a misguided way for you to return to a normal life. If the absence of absolute certainties in this world doesn’t prevent you from making sensible choices in life, what is the point of seeking absolute certainties?

God bless you !! Thank you for helping with these videos 💜

Thank you, Katie. You have a wonderful way with analogies and words. Recently I’ve come uncross, and struggled to manage the OCD. It’s true, the more one listens to their OCD, and does their compulsion, the bigger and stronger it becomes. The OCD says “…check one more time”. It’s never one more time because it finds something else to be uncertain of. The more we check the more we uncover other areas to check. I haven’t been performing anti-OCD behaviours until I read it in your book. The OCD really doesn’t like that. My goal is to realise I’ve already checked several times, and if that was effective I would be OK, and to realise is just a thought. I’ve got through it before so I can get through it again. It’s about taking a step back realising it’s OCD. They all appear to have same characteristics and remember it’s not a gun, it’s a water pistol.

You are a gem. I keep on ruminating about something very absurd. I got admission in my grad college through a competitive exam. The results came online, but an official result used to come through post mail. Due to some address issue , that mail never came. When i took admission in college, they gave me admission but asked me to submit the official result. 4 years passed , i graduated from college and got my degree. But now i remember that i never submitted that doc, neither the college bothered. But this fear keeps on popping that at some point of time , the college will call me cancel my degree and my whole life will be over and i will feel a terrible shame and i will be called a fake. I sound ridiculous, but i cant do but think about it again and again

thank you so much katie! your videos are so great, and that analogy was iconic hahahaha! This was a big help!

I had ocd problem for almost 2 years ago..and I cameover from that by doing all the things my self that you are learning the people..at first attempt it seems tough..but by doing lot of practice it will get better with time ,a new confidence start building up in you and that thing seems small for you..and when you will remind those things that were bothering you ,you will find your self how silly you were before...thankxx to uh ..it may help a lot of people ..and I saw your channel ,it's a lot better than them ,you are saying actually what people should do...lots of love❤️❤️❤️ I tried myself to make people understand but I was unable..now you gave shape to my thinking..you r a life saver❤️❤️

Thank you so much for your invaluable help. I have watched your videos over and over again, and I keep understanding more.

Excellent video! Lots of tools for the Anti-OCD tool box!

The woman who changed my life ! I don't know how to thank you enough for these videos !!!

Is it common that i have disgust thoughts about people going to toilet and such things that it causes drop of my motivation to meet women cause i imagine them having to use toilet and such things? In that case how to overcome that and get motivation? (maybe im depleted by addictions to have less motivation in first place) Science now knows that disgust can be almost as big as anxiety in ocd.

It is really funny how spot on most of these behaviours are especially the comparing ocd

Please do a video on Checking OCD.

Could you make a video about dealing with OCD induced panic attacks. My particular form of OCD revolves around the fear that I'll suddenly be allergic to whatever food/medication I'm taking. Sometimes I'll actually feel my throat closing, but I'm not actually in danger. Thank you for making this series.

Wow! This was so incredibly helpful. I didn’t even realize that this was my problem, until I watched your video. I thought more certainly was going to help me. But uncertainty is actually the medicine that I need. Amazing.

What You do is SOOOOO Important Katie !!!!!!

It's so true that it feels like high stakes with OCD!

Thank you for your videos!! What should you do once you have succesfully exposed yourself to the top of your hirarchy? I would be thankful if you could share the best following steps? Thanks!!

I,m gonna suicide pls tell me how to do erp for this and what type of ocd it is and how to get over it .I repeat word alot in my head and also change the word if they don,t perform well example if im playing video game and i did not perform well I think its because of the word and I will change a word to a word that I think will improve my performance . also with my family this word will make me great relationship with my dad and this word with my mother and if they scold me i think its because of that word and I will change the word . i will do something ex- saying or reapting certain word and I will check how people reacting and how I am doing my work if they don,t respond well I will change words. i have habit of repeteating word in my head example if I decide to do what ali said in video to track time then I will track time and also repeat that in my head time tracking and see how people are reacting and how I m doing my work if not good I will change the repeating word . so point is I add faith to this and repeat this words,i think if i repeat it my perfomance will good or best .if i play game this word will improve my performance .also if i decided to not repeat any word i will repeat in my head "not repeat" and check how people are responding or doing my work. I they don,t respond well I well switch back to different words. One more example ; if i repeat or say'don,t think what people think about you' i will check the family member or freind are talking to me nice or not and if not i will change the word

oh my gosh. you have no idea how much of a service you are doing for everyone and how much of a privilege it feels like to find out you’re uploading again. i have a type of ocd that attacks literally anything that happens or event that occurs. for example, moving, thinking i want to move, eating, thinking i want to eat, etc. my escape has always been the things that mean most to me, movies such as harry potter. but now of course over the years it’s gotten so bad that i can’t even watch them anymore because i’m so scared my ocd will have me tarnish them and ruin them forever. i can’t explain what kind of horrid hell it is living with this disorder. if you have any advice on this specific type of ocd, please be so kind as to let me know. thank you so much for extending your help for people suffering with this. i hope you’re doing well.

Grateful for your help.Your assistance.Your help made a huge difference you are a lifesaver.❤️

Katie, thank you so much for your videos and sharing your Knowledge with us!!

Recently my mom went through some rough face, now she has developed this severe anxiety and fear, she is so scared about everything even if someone is passing by she starts asking questions who is he why he here etc. she just started her treatment. Prayers and suggestion are welcome. Anyone face these kind of fears?

Thank you for your helpful videos, please keep making videos like this in these stressful days. Please talk more about how to deal with the fear of being alone while dealing with anxiety. Thanks 🙏

Thank you for helping me understand everything better.....

I just love watergun example with my heart Thank God

The more you practice feeling uncertain you are going to feel more certain

"...and the solution is ERP." And then I, in all my depression, start to wonder if that awfulness is even worth it 🥴

Is ocd where everything has to be perfect? Because at night I feel like everything in my room has to be perfect. I don’t exactly know if I am correct, but could you explain to me what it is?

welcome back. really great video with the analogy of the gun to the head. wish I could be a client. best wishes

So lately my OCD has been probably the worst ever. It has gotten to the point where I'm just staying by myself in my room all the time, living some imaginary nightmare that makes me feel doom. I do want to add that trying to fill your days with positivity (thoughts, content, people) and grounding yourself by being surrounded by other people does help, because like Katie says - it reduces the level of importance from the thought. Suddenly even if it's scary, it's no longer the most important question ever, you see that you CAN be happy even without answering it. Still working hard on it and videos like Katie's are super helpful, but after some horrible days I've started doing the things I mentioned and they help to soften this thing and see things a bit more clearly.

Thank you so much Katie for sharing these interesting and informative videos. Much appreciated.

You're amazing Katie. Thank you.

Sorry does fear or headache leads to craziness?please answer me

Thank you so much for this content. As a friend of someone with OCD, I'm wondering if it would be possible to do a video on how we can support our loved ones struggling with OCD? I.e. how to handle it when they seek reassurance on their intrusive thoughts etc.

Thank you for these videos. They help.

Thank you. It was really helpful.

Love the analogy about the door being locked 👍

thank you so much for your videos!

For me at times, it's the urge to try not to resist that makes it worse, perpetuating and eventually drowning myself in the self fulfilling cycle of negative thoughts. And, in my case, it's the fear of not being able to sleep...I am so so tired

Thank you for this video!

I NEED HELP PLEASEE. For about two months I have had very bad thoughts where I say that I WANT MY MOM TO die, whenever I am reading I cant focus because my mind just wants to stop me .I HAVE tried soo many things but I can t think rationaly I know that I don t want that to happened but my mind is so obbsesed with bringing it back

Hi Katie, one my OCD symptoms is false memories. For instance, today I got my COVID vaccine and straight after seeing the doctor, I saw images of the needle not going in my arm, or the doctor saying I cannot vaccinate you and I believe that I didn’t get vaccinated because the intrusive thoughts and images occurred straight after seeing the doctor and are so vivid. My thoughts attack parts in my life were certainty is required (like the vaccine). I understand that OCD is an intolerance of uncertainty and reassurance is an compulsion. However, it is difficult to ignore and not react to thoughts and images in parts of life were certainty is required and it messes up with my reality. I have learnt to let go of thoughts and not do nothing, however the uncertainty will only be uncovered if COVID harms me which is severely anxiety provoking. I have done CBT in the past but it felt patronising and it was a lot of me talking and explaining my problems. Do you have advice on intrusive thoughts in areas where certainty is needed?

OMG!! i got diagnosed by OCD & bipolar disorder last week, and the doctor told me that I can't begin the Cognitive behavioral therapy now cause It won't convince me so i have to take medication first and after 3 weeks I should begin the Cognitive behavioral therapy. but I didn’t believe her, i was asking my self: what if she’s wrong? how could I trust her? it’s insane! so i went to see other doctor and she told me that i might having BPD but I didn't believe her also .. but i am really feeling terrible right now, so desperate, then I decided to take the OCD medication even if am not “Certain” i have it, but I couldn't stop the uncertainty so i searched on RU-vid and here you are. You kinda got me:)

Wow, your hair looks beautiful

thank you.

Hello dr, thank you so much for your videos, I actually have been having this problem with OCD where whenever I watch any tv show, I feel compulsed that I HAVE to know every single detail, otherwise I wouldn't have actually watched the show. Thing is normally I have other types of OCDs but I can mostly handle them to a degree because their reasoning is very silly, but personally, I like being a perfectionist and I just can't get my mind to watch a tv show or anything because I "wouldn't have watched it properly". If I watch any other thing that's for example like a skit, or any video it's fine but tv shows are the ones with the problem with me. This has been driving me insane especially the last year because of quarantine and all that and I can't afford to go to a psychiatrist. Thank you so much

I have watched all you videos Katie and they have been a huge help to me. My checking OCD became worse over lockdown and your channel helped me a lot. The anxiety graph in your earlier videos Help Me Understand what is happening to me much better and it was like your reading my mind. I'm interested to know something..... why do some people have OCD and others not..... is it a biological thing.....also can a person with OCD completely rid themselves of the bulk of the condition or do they have to continue to fight it for life ?..... maybe you could do a video on this subject kindly..... thank you.

I am so thankful you are doing these videos!

Dear Katie, in the off chance that you happen to read this comment, I have a nagging issue that I'd like to tell you about. I don't have contamination OCD as much as this continuous feeling of just being icky or gross. Like even after a 40 minute shower I'll feel like I didn't scrub enough or didn't get all the soap out. I'll wash clothes after every use. Even if I wore something for an hour, it needs to go for a wash. Can OCD manifest itself in this way of constantly feeling sticky and dirty although my logical brain knows everything is clean? I feel hopeless about my situation.

"It's not a gun, it's a water pistol" I love your analogies, they always hit the target dead center. I tend to check door locks and the stove at night more than once. I have to physically touch them and I tend to repeat touching to be certain. I will try ERP by checking once and then leaving it... walking away uncertain...

I have harm thoughts that come to me as soon as i get in bed to go to sleep. Last night I let the thoughts happen, but I got to sleep after 2 hrs. I’ve spent many nights not sleeping at all, worrying about the thoughts. It doesn’t work. Sit with them and eventually sleeping will come. Thank you for videos.

Hi Katie, I am a new subscriber. I think you are an incredible therapist and an amazing youtuber. THANK YOU FOR YOUR VIDEOS, YOU ARE HELPING ME SO MUCH!!!👍❤🇨🇱

Thank you really!

u just explained everything ive been thinking my whole entire life

Į have troble aut of house with this feeling. Its a very strong. Its make Me depressed. I dount have a motivation do Things becouse į feel bad evrhryvhere.

You are back!!!!!! Your videos helped me and help me a lot. Thank you!

Live with the discomfort with the uncertainty. Just let things go. You have ocd it isnt a gun to my head it's not the end of the world

thank you.

God bless you Katie! Thank you!

Excellent. Thank you so much ❤

Hi Katie. I am a student preparing for exams. I have obsession of checking numbers while solving problems. I also reread the numbers to ensure that i have read it correctly . I have a fear that I might solve the problem wrongly if i dont check the numbers. Can u suggest me an ERP and anti OCD way for this obsession. Since I study whole day, its difficult to not check the numbers..

Katy hi, I suggest people find your youtube videos on a more or less daily basis, as I work in one of the fb groups. Thankyou for all you give. I started on your videos before I found the group.

how can i find out more about individual therapy that you offer? thanks