The Restored Minds framework
The Triple-A Response®
A practiced way to meet fear without feeding it.
The Triple-A Response® is Matt Codde's practiced response to fear and intrusive thoughts — created out of his own recovery from OCD, and refined while coaching hundreds of clients since. A simple, repeatable way to meet an intrusive thought or wave of fear — without spiraling, and without spending the rest of your day chasing certainty.
What it does
Here's what happens.
Fear
Fear activates in your nervous system.
The Triple-A Response®
You meet the fear without resistance.
Resistance drops
The fuel begins to disappear.
Pressure decreases
The urge toward safety behaviors weakens.
The loop loses its fuel
It softens and begins to dissolve.
The core idea
It's not the theme that keeps the loop running. It's the resistance.
Most approaches treat contamination fears, harm thoughts, health anxiety, and relationship doubts as separate problems, each needing its own fix. The Triple-A Response® starts from a different premise: whatever the fear is about, it runs on the same fuel.
The theme is where fear shows up. Resistance is what keeps it coming back.
Checking, analyzing, avoiding, seeking reassurance, trying to reach certainty — these all feel like solving the problem. Each one is actually resistance, and resistance is what feeds the loop. Remove it, and the loop has nothing left to run on.
To avoid the common misreadings
What the Triple-A Response® is not.
- Thought elimination. It doesn't exist to stop intrusive thoughts.
- Anxiety elimination. The goal isn't to become someone who never feels fear.
- Positive thinking. You're not replacing a scary thought with a reassuring one.
- Reassurance. You're not proving that everything will be okay.
- White-knuckling. You're not forcing yourself not to check while secretly fighting the urge.
- A morning exercise. It's a response you run when fear flags something — not a practice you schedule.
An integrated approach
The Triple-A Response® is the core response.
Restored Minds also draws on established, complementary approaches where appropriate. They support different parts of the work — they don't replace the central move: changing your relationship with fear rather than organizing your life around eliminating it.
ERP
Exposure & Response Prevention
ACT
Acceptance & Commitment
Nervous-system regulation
Somatic & nervous-system work
Emotional release
Emotional release work
Belief reprogramming
Belief & identity work
Where it lives
Named here. Taught in the work.
Understand
From Stuck to Unstuck
Matt's book on the fear loop and the Triple-A Response® — where it's fully explained, step by step.
Learn morePractice
The Restored Minds App
Practice the response in daily life — a daily plan and guided tools for the moment fear shows up.
Learn moreImplement
Taking Back Control
Structured coaching to put it to work with support, community, and Matt's team.
Learn moreQuestions
Common questions about the Triple-A Response®.
Is the Triple-A Response the same as ERP?
No, though it draws from the same evidence base. ERP (Exposure & Response Prevention) is the gold-standard, structured approach for OCD. The Triple-A Response® is Matt Codde's own practiced response to fear as it shows up in daily life — it works alongside ERP, ACT, and nervous-system work rather than replacing them.
Do I need a diagnosis to use it?
No. The Triple-A Response® targets the mechanism common to OCD, anxiety, panic, and phobias — resistance to fear — not a specific diagnosis. It's built for anyone caught in a fear loop, whatever it's about.
Why doesn't this page explain the steps?
The Triple-A Response® is a practiced response, not information to skim — teaching it properly takes more than a page. The framework and what it does are here; the step-by-step practice is taught in From Stuck to Unstuck, the Restored Minds App, and Taking Back Control, the way something you're meant to actually use has to be taught.
Where did it come from?
Matt Codde developed it through his own recovery from OCD and anxiety, then refined it coaching hundreds of clients. It's the framework behind his book, From Stuck to Unstuck, and the core of the Restored Minds app and program.
Ready to see your own loop?
The assessment shows you where fear shows up for you — and how the Triple-A Response® applies to it.
Free · No pressure