September 24, 2025
Managing & Coping vs. Recovery
Coping gets you through the day; recovery changes who you are. The difference between the two — and why your intention decides which one you're actually doing.
The blog
Notes on breaking the loop
Plain-language writing on OCD, anxiety, and what recovery actually looks like — from Matt and the Restored Minds team.
September 24, 2025
What If Anxiety Isn't a 'Disorder'?
What if anxiety isn't something broken to be fixed, but a universal human experience? Why resisting fear is what cements it in place.
August 20, 2025
Healing Isn't Linear: What That Really Means in Recovery
Recovery isn't a mountain you climb — it's a mountain you put down. Why healing comes in waves and layers, and why that isn't a setback.
August 20, 2025
Why You Don't Need Certainty
Matt on why no answer ever satisfies fear, and what to do instead of chasing one more piece of reassurance.
June 30, 2025
How to Hold Space for Setbacks in OCD and Anxiety Recovery
Symptoms coming back isn't the setback — the behaviors that keep the loop spinning are. How to treat setbacks as feedback instead of failure.
June 23, 2025
Control Comes From Fear: What's Really Driving It
Control almost always comes from fear, not care. How it shows up in relationships, faith, and recovery — and how to start moving toward trust.
June 23, 2025
Why Obsessive Thinking Is a Symptom, Not the Real Problem
Rumination isn't the disorder — it's a symptom. Why obsessive thinking is a compulsion to escape uncomfortable emotion, and how to break the loop.
June 23, 2025
The Paradox of Certainty: Why Answers Keep You Anxious
The more certain you try to become, the deeper the loop gets. Why fear latches onto unanswerable questions — and what to do instead.
June 23, 2025
OCD and Anxiety: Why You Can't Outrun What Lives Inside
No matter where you go, OCD and anxiety travel with you. Why escape only distracts — and what facing fear head-on actually looks like.
June 3, 2025
Obsessions vs. Obsessing: The Difference That Matters
An obsession arrives on its own. Obsessing is something you do. Why that distinction matters for stepping out of the OCD loop.
May 28, 2025
Overcoming Disappointment After an OCD or Anxiety Spiral
A spiral during a wedding, a vacation, a milestone — and then the guilt afterward. Why showing up matters more than how you felt while you did it.
May 28, 2025
Busting the Myth of Linear Recovery
Recovery peels back in layers rather than climbing in a line. Why a messy process isn't a sign you're failing at it.
May 13, 2025
3 Practical Steps to Stop OCD and Anxiety Spirals
Spiraling itself is the problem — not what you're spiraling about. Three steps to recognize the spiral, slow it down, and refocus on what matters.
May 13, 2025
Breaking the Guilt and Shame Cycle in OCD Recovery
Guilt and shame ride along with OCD and anxiety, and they keep you stuck. Why the symptoms aren't your fault, and what it takes to put the weight down.
May 7, 2025
Radical Acceptance for Anxiety and OCD
Acceptance isn't a tool for making anxiety go away — it's letting go of the fight with what already is. Why resistance is what creates suffering.
May 7, 2025
Why Most Anxiety Fixes Don't Work
Most anxiety fixes treat a normal feeling like a disease. Why resistance is what traps you — and what allowing the feeling actually looks like.
April 30, 2025
The 3 Lies OCD and Anxiety Make You Believe
The three lies OCD and anxiety tell: you are your thoughts, you are your feelings, and you must change both to be okay. Why none of them are true.
April 30, 2025
Why OCD and Anxiety Aren't Who You Are
You are not your thoughts or feelings — you're the awareness behind them. Why identifying with anxiety keeps the loop running, and how to step back.
April 13, 2025
How to Use ACT for Intrusive Thoughts
ACT isn't for getting rid of intrusive thoughts — it's for psychological flexibility. The six pillars, the paradox of resistance, and ACT with ERP.
April 13, 2025
The Hidden Link Between Chronic Pain and Suppressed Emotions
What if chronic pain isn't purely physical? Dr. Sarno's TMS theory, why suppressed emotion shows up in the body, and the role of emotional release.
February 17, 2025
The Paradox of Trying to Fix Yourself
Treating anxiety and fear as problems to eliminate is what keeps them alive. Why emotions are communication, not enemies, and what non-resistance changes.
February 17, 2025
You Are Not Your Intrusive Thoughts
The automatic nature of intrusive thoughts is itself the evidence: you are not the mind producing them, you are the awareness observing them.
September 3, 2021
The Voice in Your Mind: Why You Are Not Your Thoughts
The voice in your mind works like propaganda — selective facts and emotional triggers aimed at influencing you. How to hear it without obeying it.
August 31, 2021
ERP With Pure O OCD: How the Treatment Works
ERP does work for Pure O — the compulsions are just mental. How to spot them, what ERP is actually for, and the two mistakes that derail it.
August 13, 2021
HOCD: Understanding Homosexual OCD (Sexual Orientation OCD)
HOCD isn't about your actual sexual orientation — it's intrusive thoughts that conflict with your true desires. What it looks like, and how ERP treats it.
August 6, 2021
Hit and Run OCD: Intrusive Thoughts While Driving
Why the mind generates "what if I hit someone" thoughts behind the wheel, how the checking loop forms, and steps to manage it.
August 4, 2021
Intrusive Thoughts About Hurting Animals
Why violent thoughts about a pet you love are the opposite of who you are — and how avoidance and mental checking keep them coming back.
July 28, 2021
How to Deal With Intrusive Thoughts About Self-Harm
How intrusive thoughts about self-harm differ from suicidal ideation, why they feel so alarming, and practical steps for breaking the loop.
July 22, 2021
How to Deal With Harmful and Violent Intrusive Thoughts
Why harmful and violent intrusive thoughts are ego-dystonic, and five steps — from cognitive diffusion to ERP — for loosening their grip.
April 9, 2021
What Is Existential OCD?
Existential OCD fixates on questions about life, death, and existence that can't be answered. The real problem isn't the question — it's the emotion.
April 6, 2021
Scrupulosity: Is It a Religious Problem or an OCD Problem?
Scrupulosity treated as a religious problem keeps you looping. Telling beliefs apart from fear — and spotting the compulsions fear drives.
March 2, 2021
Rumination: Why It's a Mental Compulsion, Not a Thought
Rumination is chewing on the same thought over and over. Why it fuels anxiety instead of solving it, and the behavioral steps that break the cycle.
February 18, 2021
Overcoming the Fear of Unwanted Thoughts
Intrusive thoughts aren't the real problem — the behaviors you use to manage them are. What keeps the loop going, and how the cycle gets broken.
February 16, 2021
Overcoming the Fear of Embarrassment
The fear of embarrassment shrinks your life one avoided situation at a time. Why we chase prevention — and what actually loosens the fear's grip.
February 11, 2021
Overcoming the Fear of Stealing
The fear of stealing is rarely about stealing. What drives it, why chasing certainty keeps it alive, and the strategies that loosen its grip.
February 4, 2021
The Fear of Blurting Out Bad Words
Why the fear of blurting out something obscene hits conscientious people hardest — and the three-part approach to moving past it.
January 28, 2021
Overcoming the Fear of Making a Mistake
Fear of messing up makes mistakes more likely, not less. How to spot the thoughts, change the behaviors, and get at the fear underneath.
January 26, 2021
Overcoming the Fear of Losing Control
Why the fear of doing something wildly out of character is a loop, not a warning — and how it differs from an actual problem with impulse control.
January 22, 2021
Overcoming the Fear of Germs (Germophobia)
What germophobia actually is, how the fear of contamination develops into a cycle of compulsions, and the treatments that break it.
December 3, 2020
Helping a Family Member With OCD and Anxiety
Five steps for supporting a loved one with OCD and anxiety — understand the loop, focus on behavior, see your role, talk honestly, and stop accommodating.
October 28, 2020
How to Support a Partner With Relationship OCD
What Relationship OCD is, and how to support a partner through it without reinforcing the compulsions that keep the cycle going.
October 21, 2020
Relationship OCD: What It Is and How to Handle It
Relationship OCD turns love into a question the mind can never settle. Three strategies for handling the doubt without letting it run the relationship.
September 17, 2020
How OCD Develops: Unraveling the Factors
How genetic predisposition, environmental triggers, and a self-reinforcing loop of obsession, anxiety, compulsion, and relief combine to create OCD.
May 20, 2020
Why Telling the Truth Matters
Honesty is not just an ethical mandate. Why self-integrity is the foundation of real recovery, and what lying costs us along the way.
February 5, 2020
Contamination OCD: Why Facing Fears Aggressively Matters
Contamination OCD, and why an aggressive approach to ERP — attacking the fear on purpose, leaving no safe zones — is what many describe as the turning point.
January 29, 2020
What Is Contamination OCD?
What contamination OCD is, the four components that keep the loop running, the compulsions it hides behind, and the treatments that work.
January 15, 2020
What Is Pedophilia OCD (POCD)?
POCD is an OCD problem, not a pedophilia problem. What the intrusive thoughts look like, how they differ from actual pedophilia, and how POCD is treated.
December 10, 2019
What Is Responsibility OCD?
Responsibility OCD centers the fear of indirectly harming others. The forms it takes, real case examples, and how ERP is used to treat it.
October 17, 2019
Scrupulosity OCD: Intrusive Religious Thoughts
Intrusive religious thoughts are an OCD issue, not a religious one. What scrupulosity looks like, and how to separate the compulsions from your faith.
August 21, 2018
How to Do ERP for Pure OCD
How exposure and response prevention works when the compulsions are mental: identifying them, and resisting the urge to neutralise.
August 7, 2018
How to Do Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) for OCD
What ERP is, why it works, the mistakes that derail it, and how to build a hierarchy that lets you face fears gradually instead of all at once.
June 27, 2018
How Do I Stop My Thoughts?
Trying to suppress intrusive thoughts only strengthens them. Why acceptance, not control, is the paradox at the heart of OCD treatment.
May 23, 2018
What Is Pure OCD?
Pure OCD isn't obsessions without compulsions — the compulsions are mental. The OCD cycle, and the three subcategories Pure OCD tends to fall into.
July 17, 2017
Ego-Dystonic vs. Ego-Syntonic Thoughts in OCD
The difference between thoughts that clash with who you are and thoughts that fit who you are — and why that distinction matters in OCD treatment.
July 17, 2017
Intrusive Thoughts: What They Are and Why You React
What intrusive thoughts are, the three types they usually take, and why having them isn't the problem — how you react to them is.
July 17, 2017
Pure O OCD: Understanding and Treating Pure Obsessional OCD
The four-part cycle behind Pure O, and the mental rituals — checking, analysing, reassuring — that keep it turning.
July 17, 2017
Thought Suppression: Why Pushing a Thought Away Backfires
Wegner's white bear experiment explains why pushing a thought away makes it louder — and what to do instead of suppressing it.
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