Why does it help to “name” our OCD?

In Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, I encourage my clients to choose a “name” for their OCD.   A name helps a client understand that their OCD is a bully inside their brain and does not represent their authentic thoughts.  We are much more than our anxiety, and certainly much more than our OCD. 

Detaching from our OCD is a big step in believing that we can conquer it.

When introducing this exercise as a therapist, I often share my own silly name for my OCD.  The name I chose reminds me of authoritarian parenting in the former USSR where I spent time as a child.  The image of a dissatisfied, disgruntled authority figure perfectly captures the voice that my OCD plays in my head when it gets out of control.  My OCD will tell me that I am not good enough, not hard-working enough, not practical enough, etc.  If I am trying to quiet and neutralize my OCD, I often do things that would have invoked praise in the impoverished village where my younger self lived.  The OCD has no sensitivity to the changed circumstances but rather clicks into its original, rigid programming. 

Once we name our OCD, we can much more easily externalize it.  When an intrusive thought pops into our heads, we are more likely to recognize that it is not our thought but rather, the OCD’s thought.

A person from suffers from OCD often feels like they “need” to do something.  The OCD monster is demanding, but we do not have to acquiesce.  We have another part of our brains, our true us, that can refuse these demands.