Reference
Fear loop glossary
The words used across this site, defined in one sentence each — the loop and its parts, the compulsions that keep it running, and what recovery actually refers to.
The loop
- Fear loopAlso called the OCD & Anxiety Loop in From Stuck to Unstuck
- The self-reinforcing cycle behind OCD, anxiety, panic and phobias: a trigger sets off fear, fear attaches to a thought, you resist it, you act to make the discomfort stop, and the brief relief rewards the resistance — so it runs again. Read more
- Trigger
- Whatever sets the loop off — a thought, a sensation, a place, a headline, or nothing identifiable at all. Read more
- Intrusive thought
- An unwanted thought or image that arrives on its own and contradicts what you actually want or believe — which is precisely why it alarms you.
- Theme
- The subject matter a loop attaches to — contamination, harm, health, faith, relationships, existence. The theme is where fear shows up, not what keeps it running. Read more
- Brief relief
- The short drop in discomfort that follows a compulsion — the reward that pays off the resistance, so the clench comes back faster next time. Read more
- Lens of fear
- The way a nervous system stuck in a stress response colours everything you see, so ordinary situations read as threats.
Compulsions & resistance
- Resistance
- The inner clench against a thought or feeling — the attempt to make it not be here. Resistance is the fuel the loop runs on. Read more
- Compulsion
- Anything done to make the discomfort stop — visible or mental. What makes an action a compulsion is the intention behind it, not the action itself. Read more
- Mental compulsion
- A compulsion performed in your head rather than with your hands — rumination, mental review, self-reassurance, thought replacement, silent counting or praying. Read more
- Safety behavior
- Anything you do to feel safe enough to proceed — carrying the item, sitting near the exit, bringing the person with you. A compulsion in quieter clothing. Read more
- Rumination
- Continuously mulling a thought over in the belief that the answer is one more thought away — a behaviour, not a thought, and one that fuels the worry rather than resolving it. Read more
- Reassurance seeking
- Asking someone — or yourself — to confirm that the feared thing isn't true. It relieves the anxiety briefly and teaches the loop that the question needed answering. Read more
- Mental review
- Replaying an event in memory to check that nothing went wrong — checking, with the search happening in your head instead of the room. Read more
- Avoidance
- Not going, not touching, not watching, not being alone with it. The sneaky compulsion, because it looks like nothing happening. Read more
- White-knuckling
- Forcing yourself not to do a compulsion while still fighting the urge — resistance in a different suit, which is why stopping the behaviour alone doesn't break the loop.
- Certainty seeking
- Pursuing a level of proof that would settle the question for good. Every certainty bought has a shelf life, which is what makes the search endless.
The way out
- The Triple-A Response®
- Matt Codde's practised response to fear and intrusive thoughts: one repeatable way to meet fear without resistance, so the loop loses the fuel it runs on. Read more
- Non-resistance
- Meeting a thought or feeling without bracing against it — not liking it, not agreeing with it, simply no longer fighting the fact that it's here. Read more
- Managing & coping
- Using tools, techniques or substances to make the discomfort smaller so you can get through the day. Legitimate, and not the same thing as recovery. Read more
- Recovery
- Growing your capacity to experience difficult thoughts and feelings and move beyond them, so they stop dictating your life. Read more
- Living from trust
- The shift the work is aiming at — a life led by trust rather than by fear, where control is no longer the thing holding it together.
- Restored mind
- Not a mind without fear, but one that no longer runs on resistance — the thoughts may still come, they just don't run the show. Read more
Approaches & terms
- ERPExposure & Response Prevention
- The gold-standard, evidence-based approach for OCD: facing what triggers the fear while not performing the compulsion that usually follows.
- ACTAcceptance & Commitment
- An approach that loosens the grip of intrusive thoughts and reconnects you with what actually matters to you, rather than arguing with the thought's content.
- Nervous-system regulation
- Somatic work that calms a body stuck on high alert, so change feels possible instead of threatening.
- Emotional release
- Working through the feelings underneath the loop instead of managing them indefinitely.
- Pure O
- A common name for OCD that appears to have no visible compulsions. The name is misleading — the compulsions are usually mental rather than absent. Read more
- Ego-dystonic
- Describes a thought that conflicts with who you are and what you value — the reason intrusive thoughts feel so distressing to the person having them.
Put it together
The assessment shows you which of these describe what you're actually living with.
Free · No pressure