‘Why don’t you just ignore the thoughts and stop doing the compulsions?’

Imagine you have a toxic friend who is with you 24/7 and is constantly telling you that you are a bad person, and that everything you do isn’t good enough. They constantly remind you of all the possible terrible things that could happen to you, your family, or even the world. They brainwash you into thinking that you are responsible for it and that it would be your fault.

If there was a way to stop the bad things from happening, wouldn’t you do it? If there was any way that you could make them stop, even for just a second, wouldn’t you take that chance?

The ‘friend’ tells you that there is a way to get them to stop, and that you can prevent those things from happening, just do what they tell you to do. ‘Blink 5x or else your mum will die’, ‘If you walk on this side of the road, you will become ill’, ‘You didn’t do this right, do it again’. They manipulate you into thinking that they are controlling you for your own benefit because they know best, so you do it, even if you know it doesn’t make sense, you still do it.

Sounds like hell, right? That’s what it’s like living with OCD every day. And to answer your question, no it’s not as simple as just ignoring the thoughts and not doing the compulsions. Its more complicated than that.