OCD: having an intrusive thought doesn't make you “bad or dangerous”

This week, the BABCP is holding a workshop at Bangor University called “Mad, bad and dangerous”: The cognitive-behavioural approach to OCD. The title reflects a very real fear for many people with OCD: the worry that having a disturbing intrusive thought might mean something terrible about who they are, what they want, or what they might do. Intrusive thoughts can feel so frightening precisely because they are unwanted and completely at odds with a person’s values.

In my work at Symmetry CBT, I help people understand the difference between having a thought and acting on it, and how attempts to gain certainty can keep OCD going. This can include repeated checking, seeking reassurance, mentally reviewing what happened, avoiding triggers or trying to suppress the thought altogether. From both a CBT and Metacognitive Therapy perspective, the aim is not to prove that a thought could never return, but to reduce the importance given to it and change the responses that keep it powerful.

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) can also play an important role by helping people approach feared thoughts, situations or uncertainty without carrying out the usual compulsive response. Over time, this can help someone discover that they do not need to neutralise every intrusive thought or obtain complete certainty before moving on. The goal is to help the thought become less significant and less able to dictate attention, behaviour and daily life.

OCD and confidence: why feeling uncertain doesn’t mean you need to check again

People with OCD often describe a powerful sense of doubt: “What if I’ve missed something?” or “What if I’m not really sure?” That feeling of uncertainty can drive checking, reassurance-seeking and repeated mental reviewing. Recent research has highlighted an interesting pattern in OCD, where people may have lower overall confidence even when they are still able to respond appropriately to the evidence in front of them. In other words, the feeling of uncertainty does not necessarily mean that something is actually wrong or that more checking is needed.

This is where approaches such as Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) and Metacognitive Therapy (MCT) can be helpful. ERP involves learning to tolerate uncertainty without carrying out the usual compulsive response, while MCT focuses on the beliefs and thinking processes that keep doubt and threat-monitoring going. 

In my work, the aim is not to help people achieve perfect certainty, but to help them become less governed by the need for it.

OCD thoughts can feel frightening – but what do they actually mean?

How ERP and Metacognitive Therapy can help change your relationship with intrusive thoughts

People with OCD can experience intrusive thoughts, images or impulses that feel deeply upsetting precisely because they seem so out of character. A person may become frightened not only by the thought itself, but by what they think having the thought says about them. Yet unwanted intrusive thoughts are not the same as intentions, wishes or actions.

One of the things that can keep OCD going is the attempt to work out what a thought “really means”, gain certainty about it, or neutralise the anxiety it creates. This can lead to checking, reassurance-seeking, avoidance or repeated mental reviewing. From a Metacognitive Therapy (MCT) perspective, an important part of the problem is not simply the presence of the intrusive thought, but the beliefs we hold about the significance of that thought and the ways we respond to it through worry, monitoring and attempts to control it.

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), a well-established CBT treatment for OCD, can also help people change their relationship with intrusive thoughts. By gradually facing feared situations, thoughts or uncertainties while reducing compulsive responses, people can learn that they do not need to neutralise, avoid or gain certainty about every intrusive experience. Over time, the thought can become less important and less powerful.

In my work at Symmetry CBT, I help people experiencing OCD and intrusive thoughts, including thoughts that can feel embarrassing, disturbing or difficult to talk about. Therapy offers a confidential space to understand what is keeping the problem going and to develop a different way of responding, so that intrusive thoughts no longer have to dominate attention or behaviour.