What is the anxiety loop and how does OCD reinforce it?

Anxiety at its core is an unhelpful triggering to the sympathetic nervous system.  Our sympathetic nervous system is our Fight, Flight, Freeze response, which is biologically important but usually, in modern times, alerted during non-dangerous situations.  

The anxiety loop is essentially a spiral when we react to an anxiety response with further anxiety.    

OCD, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, reinforces this anxiety loop because it causes us to react to anxiety with physical or mental compulsions.  Rather than find respite in the parasympathetic nervous system (our “rest and digest” system), our bodies remain on the alert.  

Compulsions, which temporarily make us feel better, are an anxiety reinforcer.  When you take action against a supposed danger you are legitimizing that it is, in fact, dangerous.  

Therefore, while we may temporarily feel better, we constantly find ourselves returning to the fear thought (or “obsession”) that led to the initial spike in anxiety.  We return, more and more quickly, to that anxious state.  

For some with OCD, obsessive thoughts feel like they are never not on their minds.  Only occasionally do worries feel more like a tolerable buzz as opposed to an alarm bell ringing.  

Many living with OCD find their bodies in a near constant sympathetic nervous system reaction, not unlike those dealing with ongoing abuse or trauma.  

In our cases, the abuse is coming from within; and we need to reclaim power back from the OCD to stop the vicious cycle.  

Contact Kairos Wellness Collective today for a free 20 minute consultation to see if OCD therapy is right for you.