Tips for Dealing with Bad OCD Times?

If you download the NOCD app, it will help you arrange your exposures into a hierarchy so you can take it slow :) I also enjoy asking my loved ones to hang out for a sense of stability. For example, if going to the store triggers anxiety, ask someone to go shopping with you - you don’t even need to tell them your OCD is flaring up! Game nights also can really help, because even if intrusive obsessions keep coming up, you can direct your mental energy into playing the game (especially strategy ones!) so that you aren’t as focused on compulsions. I have a special secret Spotify playlist with music that encourages me and helps snap me out of episodes as well. :)

I can’t speak for anyone but myself on this, but sometimes when i’m feeling more stable, I set aside a part of my brain to act from a more rational medical perspective so that when my obsessions and compulsions get really bad, I can try to separate myself and rationalize through the situations from the perspective of medical and chemical imbalances rather than my own irrationalities and panic. I just kind of try my best in the situation (much easier said than done, I understand) to remind myself that I’m not crazy, this is medical, this isn’t me, and that it will calm down. I also hated the grounding method for years because different therapists advised it and it never worked for me but I finally reached a point where it started helping so I use it pretty often. I just try my hardest to sneak in observations about my environment when i’m panicking until I can calm enough to, for example, notice the detail on a painting, or look at every blade of grass in my vicinity, etc. I’m not sure if any of this made sense but if any of it does, I hope it helps :)