There was a time in my life where I was utterly miserable, completely consumed by anxiety and dread. Each day was a struggle, yet no one else could see or even knew what I was facing. I felt like I was in a bubble, suffering alone silently, while others went about their lives seemingly without any troubles.
The problem was that I just couldn’t stop thinking about bodily processes like breathing, blinking and swallowing. I didn’t want to be conscious of them. I wanted them to happen automatically so I could get on with my life. But the more I tried to avoid thinking about them, the more they followed me and the more anxious I got, until every waking moment I was thinking about them. It wasn’t just anxiety though, it was dread and a constant pain I felt deep inside. I remember I kept thinking “Am I going to be haunted by this for the rest of my life?”. There was only thing I wanted, and that was somehow to be free of this affliction.
I can now say that I am. My darkest period was many years ago now, way back in 2012. It took several months initially, and it wasn’t always smooth, but I eventually got back to living a normal life.
What is sensorimotor OCD?
I didn’t know it then, but what I was suffering from something known as sensorimotor OCD (SOCD for short). Essentially you become aware or conscious in some way of some bodily sensation; it could be breathing, blinking, swallowing, or a whole host of other things. But you don’t want to have this consciousness of it. Perhaps you think it means you can’t enjoy life, do things normally, or maybe you’re worried about health effects from not doing them properly. Whatever the reason, you want it gone.
The problem is, each time you think about the thought, the awareness is there. You try to stop thinking about the thought; but that doesn’t work; all that you can think about IS the thought, and so the awareness is constantly there; exactly what you don’t want. And you feel terrible anxiety and pain every moment you remember it. You might try other rituals (mental or physical) such as trying to ‘do it properly’ or distracting yourself, but these don’t really help either. It’s easy to get negative and think that this will ruin the rest of your life, and this makes you feel even worse.
It may not seem like it, but this is actually a form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Although quite different from classical forms of OCD like hand-washing, the fundamental principles are the same. There’s some faulty beliefs involved and anxiety, and you feel like doing behaviours/compulsions to mitigate it. However, these only make the anxiety worse.
But what makes SOCD worse than your usual kinds of OCD is that you can’t escape from it. There’s no respite. You can’t run away from your thoughts. And the more you’re worried about, the more you remember it, and it can make every waking moment a living hell. Unfortunately, often suicidal thoughts aren’t far away. There’s also often a constant gnawing feeling of pain, dread and discomfort, which is not the case for other forms of OCD or anxiety.
Note: Throughout this guide, when I use the word ‘obsession‘ or ‘sensation‘, I’m referring to becoming obsessively aware or conscious of some bodily sensation that you can’t stop thinking about, such as breathing, blinking, swallowing, eye floaters, your nose (there’s a never ending list of these!).
A Step by Step Guide to Overcoming Sensorimotor OCD
Having been through this and been blessed to be on the other side, I want to help people overcome this rare, difficult to diagnose, yet very debilitating condition. I’ve written a step by step guide based on principles used by psychologists as well as my own experience. I’m also here to help with any questions or issues you might be facing personally.
My guide is structured as follows (see all units listed here):
Module 1 – Getting Your Mind Straight (CBT): This is all about understanding what’s going on in your mind with sensorimotor OCD. We’ll explore the right way to think about SOCD, consider problematic beliefs causing your anxiety and how these can be challenged, and then finally how to develop the right attitude to overcome this. This is the foundation to change, and can be completed relatively quickly.
Module 2 – Exposure and Response Therapy (ERP): This is where we actually start taking action and begin facing the OCD head on. Essentially we ‘expose’ ourselves to what we’ve been afraid of, and eventually our brains will habituate to the sensation and anxiety will diminish. We’ll first look at what your existing triggers and compulsions are, then the different kinds of exposures you can do, and finally discuss your mindset and putting this into practice. This can be quite difficult, but this is where with consistent effort, the anxiety will really begin to decrease. This stage usually will take a month or two, after which the anxiety should be significantly reduced.
Module 3 – Moving Beyond Sensorimotor OCD: This is where we look beyond to a life free of body-focused obsessions. Generally, people find it can return, months or even years later. Sometimes, some anxiety lingers as well. This is about dealing with these kinds of things so you can be anxiety free in the long run. We want 100% recovery, not 80% or that it comes back again and again.
I wish you all the best in your recovery. A normal life, completely free of this, is possible for you 🙂 . I’d love to hear your stories in the comments, and feel free to leave a comment or ask a question!
Hi,
I’ve read a bit of your article and I’ve noticed this for months now, it started when I was feeling pretty anxious and then out of the blue I was just conscious of my blinking! The first few weeks I noticed it were quite hard and I did start feeling down because of it but I wouldn’t let it stop me from seeing people and going about my daily life, I found this article before which told me to just think about my blinking but that didn’t really help with me and luckily I started seeing a therapist in January to do with my anxiety and depression after being on a 9 month waiting list and he said it’s best to accept it and then focus on other things and to try not to be anxious when I am conscious of it.
After speaking to him I felt relieved and it did go away for a couple of months but came back in March, I have been trying to do the same thing but i am still aware of it however this time round I see the blinking in a more relaxed way, I can get anxious sometimes though still, usually if I’m in a busy place or even just on my own at home but the anxiety’s not as bad as before and speaking to my therapist has helped a lot as well, I find this article really interesting from what I’ve read so far too but I’ve got a bit more to read yet, sorry for the essay by the way haha, I thought I’d just share my experience!
Leah 🙂
Hi Leah,
Thanks for sharing your story! What you described sounds quite familiar (blinking was one of my major obsessions). It’s good you’re seeing a therapist and have someone to talk about it with.
The only thing I’d say is don’t worry if awareness of blinking ‘comes back’. When you learn to accept it and it ceases to cause you any anxiety, it won’t matter whether the awareness is there or not. The main thing is for you to have no anxiety and be able to just live your life normally.
All the best and I’m happy to answer any questions if you have any 🙂
Hi there – great article! I’m hooked on blinking at the moment and starting ERP. One of the main things my mind is telling me is that my mind will never ‘unlock’ the thought of blinking. I’ve gone most of the day today without any anxiety (it was mostly this morning). Hoping to make some progress soon
Great job on starting ERP.
Regarding that thought, the key to overcoming sensorimotor style obsessions is to actually be comfortable with the obsession. So yeah, perhaps you DO remember the awareness or thought of blinking for the rest of your life. But as long as you have no anxiety, and it doesn’t affect your day to day life, then it doesn’t matter. So its about reframing your goal here. https://sensorimotorocd.net/1-1-the-goal/ really gets into this.
It’s impossible to guarantee a thought not appearing, but we can affect whether we anxious about it and whether it affects our lives.
This makes so much sense, thank you Aadil!
Hi I suffer from the OCD swallowing. You mention that I should resist the urge to swallow, however I find that actually tends to make it worse then if I were to just swallow whenever feels “natural”. To be clear, I’m not so much obsessed with swallowing, but more the saliva just keeps building up in my mouth at times which forces me to swallow it.
OK, thank you
Thanks again for the advice. Is there anywhere that supports this approach of letting the saliva sit and not swallowing it consciously / the swallowing being the compulsion? Because I find that when I use that approach I’m often debating when to swallow the saliva which makes it worse. And I’ve seen many other resources say to just swallow whenever and not care – why would this be the wrong approach?
OK thank you again for all the help, it’s really appreciated. Yea I’d say whenever I feel the saliva build I often try not to pay attention to it and just let myself swallow whenever I get the urge / it feels natural – usually it’s every ~30 seconds but could be more / less frequent depending on how engaged or distracted I am in another activity. If I’m engaged in another activity usually it happens without me thinking about it – but it’s when I have nothing on my mind that things get tricky and I find my body doesn’t swallow the saliva as “subconsciously”. But it sounds like we are saying basically the same thing?
For me the thing is the swallowing saliva is not pleasant, if anything it’s kind of painful. So (I think) my compulsions are reaching for food or water which feel good to swallow. But I hear you on your point here.
I actually got over this swallowing issue before and it wasn’t an issue for a few years – I started a super busy job and I think my brain basically just didn’t have enough space to think about the OCD. Whenever it arose I would just tell myself don’t fight it, let it be and within minutes it was gone. But then out of nowhere a month or so ago it returned but using the same approach as always it persisted that day and has basically been 24/7 since then, probably because I started doing a bunch of googling and I turned it into a bigger problem than it is. At the core this definitely is mental, but I do wonder if there could be anything physical that’s making this harder to deal with too (I’m seeing an ENT soon to confirm).
Hello, thank you for putting this together. Have you really overcome this issue? My ocd is focused on saliva and social interactions. Would you say that the acceptance is more important than the erp?
Hi, I have swallow OCD. I swallow every second and it feels horrible. I don’t know how to stop it. I tried to swallow after 5 minutes (I put a timer) but I can’t resist.
I feel saliva in my mouth and I swallow.
Do you know any tips to not doing it?
I need help, I feel so frustrated
Thank you
Hi i have swallowing ocd but now only 10% almost gone.. 1st remove fear if u have fears.. see theres nothing scary in ur sensation its ur mind making up problems and staying focused on it!! Key tip is acceptance and not judging what ur feeling .. if u have awareness accept it to be there .. let that second or moment pass without judging or getting anxious like oh no i started noticing again !! Keep silent!! Dont try to do certain things to swalow in controlling ways!! When u do it consiously u get stuck for more minutes hrs focusing!! If u have addiction or urge to swallow each time u feel it!! Try reducing try to keep saliva in ur mouth more and let it wait!! Its all training ur mind!! And dont be afraid if u dnt control it it happens automatically!! When talking also dnt be afraid read books and train ur focus to nt focus on the mouth! Let sensations awareness be there and try to mindfully focus on smtn else ! Base tip is to remove anxiety and irational beliefs that it will be stuck!! As thoughts dnt try to fight them resist them ! Let it come and pass like clouds ! Engagement wt sensation n thoughts makes it worse! Show ur mind fake it that u dont care! Remove the fear response ! So ur brain learns theres no danger! And slowly by time during months of practice u change! Bt repetition is important! Deciding ur atitude and moving working through it! U can also put reminders and swalow conciously during the day! To see n train ur mind its boring! Bt when u get sensation and try to swalow in controling ways that keeps u stuck! And offcourse change beliefs/attitudes/ avoidances !! Whatever u do u have to show ur mind no fear! No rejection! No fighting to stop! Checking if its there! Needs time and practice !
U can also chew gum and train ur mind to focus on somethings else.. and Erp is to expose urself to salivating response prevention is to remove fear !! Anxiety!! Get used to being uncomfortable!!
And remind urself that the sensation is always there ! And everyone notices from time to time!! Its us making a problem !! Just swalow if u need to and move on!! When u feel it and start thinking abt it all day!! That thinking process should stop! Put a reminder on ur phone every 10 mints! And see wheres ur focus! On thoughts / sensation! Excercise ur brain muscle to be flexible in shifting focus! On anything possible! Present moment! Nature! Books! Tv! With people! With the sounds near u! Exercise to focus on smtn else ! By time u have great benefits!
Great advice Arpie. Glad to see you’re doing better!
Hi, I have a breathing obsession. It is seriously affecting my life. Whenever I feel anxious, I try to breathe calmly (Is this an obsession?) Also, have you taken pills for recovery?
Hi Mars,
If it’s giving you a lot of anxiety and mental anguish, and the anxiety is centred around not wanting to be aware of breathing, then it sounds like sensorimotor OCD.
There’s nothing wrong with trying to breathe calmly necessarily…it just depends. If you are trying to run away from awareness of breathing and so are trying to control it, it could be a problem. But simply taking some time to do conscious breathing is often good for anxiety in most situations.
Nope, I personally did not take any pills.
Hi Mars, has it got better? I am also going through this. I cannot breathe properly when i think of it.
Hi.
I feel even worse than people with typical SOCD. Since I have awareness of my fingers or the fingers touching or something like that. It came originally from me needing to touch certain places or else “somebody close to me would die”. But then, later on, it just morphed into feeling this unpleasant sensation in or around my fingers instead. Sometimes it’s lips and tongue too. Is that too somatic OCD even if it’s not a bodily process? This whole question may be one giant compulsion lol, but all I see is people with breathing OCD or blinking one.
Hi Pavel
I would consider that a kind of sensorimotor OCD, since it’s to do with the body. But even if it’s not to do with the body, if it’s about being ‘aware’ of something it falls under hyperawareness OCD, and the principles are pretty much the same.
Hi, since one month i became concious about my breathing. Now i cannot remove my focus from it. I am unable to breathe properly whenever i think of it. Please help me. It has become very frustrating. I feel like crying everytime.
That’s what this guide is for! Breathing is one of the most common ones. Please read through and I hope it can be of benefit.
I have all of them, but the swallowing triggers me the most. I try to stop thinking about swallowing, but every second I remember it and I end up swallowing again. My throat hurts now and I don’t know what to do I can’t find peace will this end or something
If you do the right things, God-willing you can get better. Many others have improved. The key is, dont try to ‘stop thinking’ about swallowing. Rather let it be, and get comfortable with the awareness.
Hello. I have gone through therapy three times and I still have it. It is better but still here. I also have extreme anxiety seeing were I am in my life. I loved my life. This pandemic messed me up. What am I doing wrong? I still work from home like I always have. Should I be going out every day? Would that help me get back on track? I got a puppy to fill my life with something else other than work and obsessing. I don’t have children and I had to give the puppy away because she needed more love and attention than I could muster to give her as I am truly depressed about this. Where do I go no? I am so tired.
Hey Rosa! I’ve replied to your email. I’m probably not the best person to answer some of the questions you’ve raised here, as I’m only really comfortable answering questions about OCD. Hang on and all the best; remember that recovery is possible and has happened for others! Praying for you
I have become intensely aware of my breathing lately and now, I try not to think about it or focus on something when I’m reminded of it, but often I can’t help but begin to panic as I’m afraid that I’m breathing too much and not enough, and I make myself dizzy trying to breathe normally. thanks for sharing. i do have ocd and i guess this is just yet another presentation. definitely makes it less scary to know it really is in my head in a way and that others relate
Hi Olivia,
Get used to it being there (so no need to try to stop thinking about it), and get used to not breathing ‘normally’ (i.e., no need to try to breathe any certain way). That’s when you will have nothing to fear.
I have swallowing OCD. Probably made worse by now having been diagnosed with it and doing tons of research. I have experience panic and anxiety for the past 7 years, but now for the last month this bout of OCD has popped up. At first I was hopeless and useless. I honestly can say that I wanted to die. I could not sleep, for my swallowing would wake me up.
I just wanted to know if anyone also starts to feel a “lump” sensation when they hold off from swallowing for a long time or even 30 seconds. The saliva, yes, does bother me. However, even when I am not salivating much and am not thinking about that aspect of it I get this sensation in my mouth and throat like I NEED to swallow. It’s like when you get anxious and you need to gulp. It’s certainly worse or can be when I’m around others and it’s quiet. My partner, who has suffered from OCD in the past, I notice swallows when I do which makes me insane with anxiety. I just want to know that I am not alone I suppose. If anyone has any advice or information on this I would be forever grateful.
Sorry I seemed to have missed this comment. if you still need help, feel free to comment again or reach out.
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Hello, I am from Kazakhstan. (I’ll say right away I’m writing through a translator). I have been suffering from sensorimotor OCD for over 5 years. At first I got stuck on swallowing, then after a certain time on blinking, breathing, etc. Correction, it all started after a panic attack at the age of 15. Then, over time, the number of things I obsessed over increased. I began to get hung up on how I write, eat, talk, walk and much more. Over time, the tension grew, and he began to lose weight. Now I don’t understand how I’m talking, how this process happens. It’s terribly hard for me, I have to think over every word and understand the essence of every word. Does this apply to sensorimotor OCD as well? I have practically no money left, in Kazakhstan and Russia there are no experienced specialists who know how to treat this disease. All the time I fell for charlatans and only lost money and time. Over time, my condition has only worsened. please answer me. Can I chat with you about this?
Hi, I’m dealing with the breathing issue. It keeps me up when trying to sleep because I feel like my breathing will stop if I don’t control it. Even though I know it won’t. Any tips?
Sorry I seemed to have missed this comment. If you still need help, pls reach out!
Hi Aadil,
I think I have breathing OCD .
I focused on my breathing whenever i am ideal and the thought goes away when i am occupied with some work.
Especially during night when i try to sleep with no distractions like Mobile / books , i focus on my breathing . Its challenging for me to be ideal as i fear i will focus on my breath again.
Any tips to fight this ?
Hi there,
That’s very common. The guide should hopefully help. You need to get used to be okay with having the awareness of breathing and being okay with it, while being idle. So you can practice by setting some time each day to be aware of breath and do nothing else, til you get more and more used to it.
Hi did you find any relief from this?
Hi Aadil,
Quick question…..So I’ve been practicing acceptance for about a month now and the anxiety has definitely gone down, but I’m noticing that even in moments with very little anxiety, my brain is still reminding me of my sensations over and over again and that’s what has been scaring me because it feels like its never going to go away. Did this happen to you at all when you started getting better?
Hi Levi,
Yeah that happens in my experience. You can keep thinking about it with less anxiety, or sometimes a bit of anxiety pops up here and there. Again, it’s about acceptance of all of it in my opinion; like accepting those sensations might keep being there. Of course when you really accept it, after a while your brain will not remind you of it probably, but you can’t force it. You just kind of focus on getting on with your life I think.
I have somatic ocd and many people advised me to learn the skill of letting go of control . and they say controlling the breath is compulsive behavior. but I can’t stop doing it. they advised me to give up. but how? is it possible. i know i will never find the right breathing pattern when i am suffering from ocd. so how to welcome it without interfering
I’m stuck on how to experience it. for example I see my nose when I talk. yeahhh it’s okay. but I don’t know when I talk my teeth touch or not. I don’t know the words that make my teeth touch. So how should I experience it? how it will be. I will try to talk without control (this is super hard). Or it would be: “Oh, I’m paying attention to how the mouth works. I don’t know what it usually looks like. I’m not going to find the answer. And so I’ll try to talk teeth touching (just whatever I choose) for a while I thought hmm I’m controlling my teeth so they don’t touch so now I’m going tove on to let them touch .it’s exciting !!!! “I find method 2 very good, but people say proactive control is compulsive behavior. they said I should not control but let the brain work on its own. what should I do
I think something like method 2 makes more sense to me. Not trying to get to some ‘answer’. But I think it’d be like it doesn’t matter whether the teeth touch or not, or how it feels, just go on talking. No need to test and try out different methods or consciously observe them I think.
Great point. I’m planning on revising this guide and I think this is a key point which I haven’t made clear enough. I think I would advise caution with mindfulness insofar as it can be a reason to focus on the sensation, whereas as you say, you just want to be inviting awareness but not doing anything to keep it there.
Ultimately in the end, I think what you want is to have an attitude of acceptance and inviting the awareness, but then not doing anything about it at all. Even strategising about what to do is something which draws unnecessary attention to it. That said, I feel initially mindfulness can be useful.
Yo
My name is Noah and for the longest time I thought I just had Anxiety induced swallowing but after reading this I can say I have sensorimotor OCD. I’ve had this problem for about 8 years now and it’s challenging just living regular life but I’ve gotten by. I live alone and work in a loud factory I limit my time with my family whom I love very much and usually decline to hang out with any work friends or other friends. While I don’t mind swallowing or thinking about it I cannot swallow in front of other people and that’s something I thought I would never over come, until reading this. I’m very interested in anyone else who has this problem and would like to normalize it by being around one another or if you’d just like to talk online.
My email shswhirled@gmail.com
Discord Blue Banquet#0802
That sounds really challenging, and I’m sorry to hear about your difficulties.
There is a social component here for you, perhaps tied to social anxiety which complicates things. If you check out Dr Seay’s articles on the resources page he touches on these kind of fears more than I do, which may help. I hope you can get back to being able to spend time with your family and friends, it is DEFINITELY possible for you.
My problem started 10 years ago, suddenly got cured after joining a very stressful job .After quitting the job the problem started again I feel like I’m holding back my blinking, I always think that I am going blind Everyone asks why you are so upset and I can’t give any answer .Because of noticing everytime my eyes are always burning, because of it my smoking habit has been increased . How can I avoid it?
Hi there,
Hmm. It seems to me perhaps it wasn’t cured, but just were distracted, and now with less to keep your mind occupied it returned.
Long term recovery involves applying the principles in the guide. I am guessing your smoking habit has increased due to your anxiety, which is not good to hear.
As per the guide I think ultimately you need to shift your mindset and stop any rituals. Become okay with having the awareness there, without doing any compulsions like holding back your blinking.
all the best
Aadil
Hey, are you still here Aadil?
Hello Tolgahan. yes I am!
Hey nice to see you still here. 🙂 I have a question.
I have Somatic OCD since 2015 but now I have a big outbreak since 02. April 2023 and this time it started with the hyperawarness of my toes, then it went over to breathing, swallowing, blinking, body movements after I searched up online unfortunately… as you can see there are many of them… some are more present and some are less present. Sometime all of them leave me alone for several minutes. But is it „normal“ that there could be multiple topics at the same time.
I think your guide helped me a lot to reduce my anxiety until now and (thanks god and you of course ;)) I can lead my normal life more or less. I even fly to Turkey next week by myself. It’s definitely better than in the beginning. I think I’m on a good way towards recovery but still wanted to ask my question.
Thank you :))
Hi Tolgahan,
It’s great to hear you are doing better!
I would say firstly don’t worry about all the questions, you don’t need to know the answers or have certainty about a lot of them.
To answer your question though, it’s very normal that it jumps around from sensation to sensation. Especially once you have reduced anxiety a bit with one, it will jump to another. That shows you it isn’t really logical; why should you feel it more on one sensation today and then a different one tomorrow?
it is also not unusual to have multiple at the same time, it does happen. My experience is though usually one is the ‘main’ one at any given time though.
Don’t worry about ‘hiding’ from exposing yourself to sensations. True recovery is being fearless and not worrying about that. You have nothing really to fear if you are doing the right things, in fact I’d say you almost want to get yourself exposed and prove to yourself that there isn’t anything to be scared of 🙂
Thank you Aadil for taking your time to write me such a good answer!
Yes like you are writing above, in last time I catch myself how I literally want to go to exposing and triggering situation. I like the feeling afterwards, that I’ve mananged the situation. ☺️
I am doing everything I did before this acute SOCD outbreak. I think this helps a lot! Thank you again ☺️
i started noticing every single sensation in my body after my stepmom passed suddenly. i focus on breathing, heartbeat, little pinches inside, i feel i can feel my BP raising, every single function. It is so annoying and i want it to stop
Hi Erin,
I’m sorry to hear that your stepmom passed away, and that now your awareness is causing you discomfort. What I can say is that through using the right techniques, you can get to a stage where this doesn’t bother you at all. The key will be becoming used to it, rather than than trying to avoid the awareness.
Hello. I’ve been struggling with swallowing ocd for several years now, but this year it got worse. I have to swallow in a certain way, and when I don’t, my mind forces me to swallow again. The thing is that I’m trying not to repeat the swallowing, but everytime I try to hold it or distract myself with something, this very uncomfortable feeling in my throat arrives, it’s as if someone started pouring water into my mouth, my throat tightens, and there is nothing else I can do to relieve this feeling other than to swallow. So in the end I’m forced to swallow again. This uncomfortable feeling makes me more anxious and it’s like a vicious cycle. Is there anything that can be done about this?
My guide is all about this I’d say. In general, you don’t need to worry. There’s no need to have some perfect consistent ‘method’ to swallow. If it feels uncomfortable, you can swallow consciously. Don’t try hold it or distract yourself either. Just let it go. If you feel like you must do something, you can. You will have an element of consciousness, but that’s ok. There no ‘method’ or something you need to get to.
Hi, I was diagnosed with SOCD 2 months ago after a sudden onset of breathing symptoms (constantly felt like I wasn’t breathing deeply enough). After a thorough workup in the hospital, I was referred to a CBT therapist who diagnosed me with SOCD. I’ve been working with him for 2 months but still have the breathing symptoms (although a lot less now), and have also developed blinking and saliva symptoms. I’ve been practicing your methods of setting up daily reminders and conscious reminders. I generally have good days now when I’m busy, but when I’m bored/not working/have an idle mind, my symptoms are much more noticeable and my anxiety is quite bad.
My main question is how long did you have to practice doing the reminders before your anxiety (and hence your obsessions) completely went away? Is 2 months a long time, or does it take some people even longer to conquer this?
Thank you
Hi Kishan. Firstly thanks very much for your generous support.
Glad to hear you are doing better. It is completely normal for it to jump around to different sensations once you start recovering, its actually a good sign.
I would say you have to ‘expose’ yourself to those more ‘idle’ situations. So you can say ok I’m going to do more ‘idle’ tasks and welcome the sensations, but without focusing on them consciously or doing any rituals. Practically it might mean taking regular walks or something like that, or just relaxing somewhere nice. You have to get ‘used’ to this kind of activity.
If you do the right things, I think a couple months you should see most of the symptoms drop down. To go basically back to normal, I think it can take a bit longer. For me, mine largely went down after a couple months except with the odd fear here and there. To get to a point where it was basically completely gone took longer, and I really had to make sure I didn’t have any thought patterns or rituals, however small, which were problematic. I think the more you are doing the right things the faster it will be, but is very much something you can’t force and you have to let it happen.
Cheers
Aadil
Hello, i am suffering from swallowing ocd from past 6 months i fear to eat food because whenever i eat i give attention to it and do conscious swallow not automatic and my neck and swallowing muscles also becomes very tight at the time of eating i lost much weight i cant eat i cant focus on anything i cannot eat outside and because of conscious swallow i have sore throat also from 2 to 3 months please help me i feel like i have forgotten how to eat and swallow food normally i want to eat food ver much but i cannot please help me🥺😔😢😭😭😭
Hi Subhash,
I’m sorry to hear about what you are going through, it sounds really tough! Don’t worry about it being automatic or not, just focus on eating, even if it feels weird. You can’t help it feeling weird or being conscious of it. Just accept the feelings as much as you can and carry on eating.
Don’t try to get back to eating ‘normally’ or anything like that.
You might also want to see a doctor to check anything is not wrong physically.
Please have a read of the guide, I hope the principles can help you.
My thoughts are with you!
Aadil
Hello Aadil
I have suffered from OCD, specifically, sensorimotor OCD. When I first found out it was OCD, it was very difficult to find anyone else who suffered similar symptoms. I finally found a therapist who suggested that traditional “ERP” treatment was not as effective as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for this subtype. Basically, we accept are just “people that think about their blinking” and continue to practice accepting it, even if we are thinking about it all day!! Many people have strange thoughts – this just happens to be ours. This helped me tremendously. In fact, while I don’t like to measure my OCD by how long I haven’t thought about my blinking, I will say that my mind is virtually free from any thoughts of this obsession and have decreased my symptoms by about 90%. This is not to say that I never did ERP, as I have found it very helpful, however, the acceptance was a huge boost to my
current remission.
I am now a licensed therapist in California and specialize in OCD. I thoroughly enjoyed your full synopsis of this subtype, as it appears you have spent many hours of research.
I am writing an article on sensorimotor OCD for the Anxiety and Depression Association of America at the present time, as there appears to be more sufferers of this than I was aware.
Thanks!
Christopher
Thanks for your comment Christopher. I agree; acceptance and taking a different approach seems to go a long way to recovery.
Dear Christopher,
Thank you for your insight here and thank you for working as a licensed therapist! I’m wondering if I could reach out to you over the phone or email to talk more about this. And also, what does your current remission feel like?
Hi Neil. No problem. cweston@comcast.net. Send me an email and we can exchange numbers. Chris
Hello, I’ve been really struggling with sensorimotor OCD for about 2 years. My obsessions revolve around the eyes, the way that they feel and move, seeing my nose and a pulling/tingling sensation around the right temple area (never the left side). I went for an eye test earlier this year and they found nothing wrong. I do have glasses for a very minor prescription but the issue still persists when wearing them. I am 90% sure this is OCD but do keep wondering if maybe there is something physical.
This has been ruining my life and I can barely function anymore. Daily activities like reading and watching television are stressful. From the moment I wake up it just doesn’t ‘feel right’ and the obsessions start immediately. Any attempt at ERP or acceptance fails because the sensations are just so distracting I can’t help but do the compulsions.
I’m at my wit’s end at this point and don’t know what to do anymore. I don’t feel like a therapist would be much help in my case. Most people experience the breathing, blinking and swallowing obsessions but mine is so bizarre. I haven’t mentioned this to anyone except my parents who dont really understand. I just want to live life without these horrible obsessions.
Hi Joe,
That sounds like OCD to me, especially as you have some other symptoms which are classic SOCD (e.g. seeing your nose). I don’t think your obsessions are out of the ordinary; how eyes ‘feel’, and noticing other things like that are pretty common.
Ruining your life sounds about right. Unlike other types of OCD, this is one where it seems to often either take over your life or be almost not a problem at all.
firstly I’ll say like many others you can definitely recover and live a life where this doesn’t bother you. it’s just about getting there.
Do you think you know what your rituals/compulsions might be? I would say acceptance looks something like accepting some odd feelings or noticing things and then carrying on with your life, even though it doesn’t feel ‘normal’.
Regards
Aadil
Hi Aadil
Thanks for the reply. I have many compulsions which I wrote down. The main ones are covering my face/nose with my hand, opening and closing one eye at a time rapidly, massaging the temple area, tilting my head and tensing the muscles around one or both eyes until they feel ‘equal’. Some are less physical and not immediately obvious like avoiding certain activities or trying to figure it out in my mind. Sometimes I’ll be doing this without even realising for a while!
The annoying thing is I KNOW these are compulsions and that they don’t help the problem, but I do them anyway because of the distraction and discomfort. Anything that requires visual focus sets it off, like reading, television or looking at items in a shop. Just looking at things can make me hot and stressed.
I’ve been trying to accept the sensations as best as possible. Maybe I just need to be more persistent over several weeks not days. It’s tough to live like this but this guide has been very helpful and I’ll keep trying with ERP. The last thing I want is to give up!
That’s a great attitude you have and I’m confident you’ll be doing well soon! It definitely does take time, if often takes weeks to see changes and then months for it to really go away.
it sounds like you have your compulsions down part, so it will just be about doing those exposures. You know it’s while you are looking at something, so that makes it simpler. Take it slow and get used to doing things ‘wrong’ and notice how it feels.
I’d also advice to keep a journal tracking what happened each day and anxiety levels…hopefully you see a drop off over time, even if it spikes up and down in the short term.
Hey ,i am having breathing ocd…i don’t have any anxiety or fear but i am unable to focus on my studies . whenever i read i am stopping my breath and it causing shallow breath which in turn causing acidity neck pain and backpain..and i am unable to involve in anyother work.please help me
Hi Shiva,
Sorry to hear that. At least there isn’t much anxiety/fear. In this case, you need to learn to get used to having the awareness of breathing while you are reading. It might be you are doing some kind of ritual to adjust the breathing which is causing the problem. You should keep exposing yourself to being aware of it while reading and try and get ‘used’ to the sensations…I’d hope after some time you do get used to it and the other symptoms also go away.
Hi, thanks for this post.
I’ve only just realised that I’m possibly suffering from sensorimotor ocd around hearing tinnitus – especially in relation to sleeping. I’d never considered ocd until I came across a post about it a few days ago.
I’ve always had issues with obsessing over bodily sensations when I think about it, and one that suffered a few years ago was sleep – how it worked, how it felt to be asleep, analysing if I was asleep or awake, the sensations around sleep, trying to work out how to control sleep, convincing myself that I’d forgotten how to sleep and the health implications of that. I hated the awareness of being awake. I worked my way through that and made it back to baseline.
However recently I’ve had an onset of tinnitus and it has retriggered things massively, but this time I have the tinnitus too that is really scary to me. I have convinced myself that the tinnitus will mean I’ve forgotten how to sleep and any sounds I use at night (that are meant to be helpful) are stopping me from sleeping, and I hyperfixate on even the ‘relaxing’ sounds I hear until my heart is pounding and I’m in tears. I have a huge desire for silence that I am having a hard time letting go of. The anxiety is overwhelming and I am pretty sleep deprived. Sometimes when I take sleeping medication, I feel calm, shut everything out and can sleep. It’s like the sleeping medication removes the anxiety because I know I’ll sleep!
I know I have ‘rituals’ in some form or another to try and get rid of the anxiety around hearing the tinnitus and struggling with sleep. (I’m trying to work them out, the sleeping medication may be one, plus the amount of googling and reassurance I seek) because I do things that temporarily relieve the anxiety only for it to come flooding back at a later point. The future absolutely terrifies me.
Is this something that would count under sensorimotor/hyperawareness ocd?
I am seeking medical help for this because I know it’s very complex, thanks for your help!
Hi Luna,
Thanks for sharing. You show a high degree of awareness of your own patterns of thinking, so I am hopeful you will move through this sooner rather than later. Yes, I think what you have described is textbook hyperawareness; the problem IS being aware itself, rather than anything else. In all cases it’s the same kind of treatment; letting go and being okay with whatever it is (hearing sounds and not having silence etc) and stopping rituals, until the anxiety subsides.
All the best, and I hope you find the best medical treatment
regards
Aadil
Hello, I thought I’d reach out as a long shot that someone may have experienced similar feelings related to SOCD. I have been through an extremely stressful time with a toxic job and redundancy that brought on panic attacks. My anxiety really heightened and it triggered this awful awareness of existance and myself and then led to feeling trapped in my own body as I couldn’t escape the anxiety and uncomfortable feelings.
Recently it seems to have snow balled to some obsessive internal bodily thoughts related to feeling trapped and finding ways to escape and I guess, feel less trapped and in control. I started having obsessive thoughts over fixed things in my body like my nails and teeth and getting anxious I couldn’t like, remove them if I wanted to. But I know it is TOTALLY irrational thinking as I could if I wanted to and I am totally in control of my own body. I am very very self aware of my thought processes and how they have developed and also that I need to accept that its all normal and SOCD but I just thought I’d reach out and see if anyone could relate/ had similar feelings.
Thanks
Hi Claire,
Can definitely relate to noticing bodily sensations, knowing it doesn’t make sense, yet feeling horrible about it. Not necessarily to nails and teeth, but certainly to parts of the body or other sensations. They’re all examples hyperawareness OCD at the end of the day though. The principles to dealing with it are the same; learning to accept it and getting used to it, after which the anxiety and bad feelings will diminish. I hope the site is useful and I think it should apply
Aadil
Hi Aadil,
Thanks for the reply. So would you say these are normal feelings and come under the same principles? I’ve felt like I’m going mental at times like its totally not normal
C
Hi Claire. Absolutely. It’s in my view a classic, normal case of hyperawareness OCD, and similar symptoms have been experienced by others. You aren’t going crazy at all! I would highly recommend seeing a trained specialist with experience in hyperawareness OCD/sensorimotor OCD if you can!
Hey Aadil,
Thanks so much for the post, I’ve found it very helpful. I am currently suffering with Sensorimotor OCD and finding it very distressing.
In terms of the CBT side, getting your mind straight and challenging your problematic beliefs, how often should I do that? I just don’t want it to become compulsive or reassurance seeking, as it does seem to make me feel better in the moment.
Also I think I struggle with the challenge, to the “I can’t enjoy anything else while it’s there”. Saying that other people have got rid of the anxiety and that I won’t feel any anxiety. My brain then just says that if others have been able to, that doesn’t mean you will and that there isn’t a reason that because they have, that I’ll feel better.
But honestly thanks so much, it’s a really helpful and detailed a guide. .
Hi Chris,
I’m sorry for the late reply. This comment seemed to have not come into my inbox as usual.
Glad to hear it’s useful!
I think with the CBT side, it only needs to be done once. It can become compulsive, so I agree there’s no need to remind yourself continuously. But once in a while you might need to remind yourself of them, especially if you’ve identified you’ve fallen into bad patterns.
Fair enough re: what your brain says. Ultimately, no one can ‘prove’ it to you 100%. You just try it, and as you see the anxiety diminish over time, you should get confidence that it does work. Point is to do the exposures and stop the rituals though, and then things should work out!
Cheers
Aadil
Hey Aadil,
Thanks very much for the response and for the resources. This is the most helpful resource I’ve found on sensorimotor OCD.
I’ve noticed my anxiety reduce significantly and while I’m still struggling (breathing at the moment), I’m getting more confident that I will fully recover and get to the point where I feel no anxiety when I notice my breath or other sensations.
Thanks again,
Chris
Great to hear Chris. Thanks for the kind words and for sharing your progress 🙂
It often shifts to another obsession, especially when you reduce anxiety on one. Sometimes it shifts back. But sooner or later, it should all get better. So sounds like you are on the right track!
I suffer from heart rate obsession. I check it probably 50 times a day. It’s become a real problem. I can’t exercise any more out of fear that my heart rate is too high. I have daily anxiety attacks due to this issue. It’s horrible.
Hi Mel,
That sounds really difficult :/ I would strongly advise getting professional help from a therapist or psychologist. This is a common issue with health anxiety.
ultimately like in all these cases, it will be a combination of CBT/ACT (thinking right about it and accepting it) and then ERP (exposures and stopping rituals).
Regards
Aadil
I am suffering from the obsession of when the eye is blinking .I tried out the step of focusing more on obsession of blinking instead not focusing on it.but still my ocd is not cured
Hi Evan,
I hope reading the guide helps. I would say it’s about letting go of focusing on anything at all, and just letting the awareness be there and be okay with the uncomfortable feelings/thoughts etc…
Cheers
Aadil
Aadil,
Thank you so much for this article. I have been struggling with being hyper aware of my breathing , as if I’m controlling it. Especially when my mouth is closed. But this article has given me so much hope. When i was younger I had a similar problem with my swallowing but that went away. It went away when I finally wasn’t scared and truly accepted it, the next day it was gone. This one is harder for me , it feels like I’m always checking for it. Any tips for that lol? But I’ve done it before, so I know I can do it again. I just have to truly be ok of the awareness and have no fear. So many people have conquered this, I can too. 🙂
Hi Ruth,
Thanks for sharing your story! You can conquer it and I think you will quite soon!
I think that acceptance is so key, and the stopping of trying to ‘solve’ it. That’s it in a nutshell, but it might take some time for some.
I had breathing awareness too and I don’t think I have any particular tips, other than what’s in the guide already 🙂 It’s not so different to any other awareness!
Thank you Aadil. You are such an inspiration that everything will be ok. 🙂 May God bless you.
Aw thank you for the kind words 🙂 God bless!
Is there a way i can find you on social media to ask a few more questions?
How about my case? It’s different. I am hyperfixated with my nose. This started after watching a story of a girl on tiktok having the problem. After watching the video, I adopted the behavior. I can’t stop looking at my nose using my peripheral vision. It strains my eye that’s why I’m resisting the urge to do it. But it’s really difficult. I feel very anxious and irritated. It’s not even an automatic sensation. It’s a body part so its more difficult. What can I do?
Hi Aileen,
I thought I replied to you earlier but maybe I didnt! Ive had this same one. I think its easier to manager than the other, because you just ‘notice’ it, without any control. It’s quite simple; you get used to being okay with noticing it. Learning to live with it there. I assume the issue is that you don’t want the awareness there, which is what is common.
If you are consciously analysing something on the nose or something like that, then that should also be stopped.
Sensorimotor OCD, for me, is caused by prescribed psychotropic medications.
I have to take these medications to fade psychosis.
I keep trying to hope there’s a way back to medication-freedom eventually while my therapist thinks SOCD is also being caused by trauma.
It’s been debilitating for me since the end of 2013.
I was focused on breathing, blinking, and swallowing until a medication was removed, and then SOCD became mostly focused on blinking.
I did read that antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, stimulants, and corticosteroids can all cause OCD.
Hi Amanda,
I’m sorry to hear that. I have heard that various things can exacerbate or trigger OCD symptoms, including changes in medication (and also things like trauma). But I don’t know too much about it myself. I will say that I think these techniques should give you some relief anyway, regardless of the situation. I really hope you’re able to find what works 🙂
Hi Aadil
I am suffering from swallowing and salvating ocd. How long did it take you to overcome this? How did it start feeling when it subsided? Less swallowing? Less salvating?
Hi Aadil,
My 13 year old is suffering from SOCD. So far, all professional help has not worked given many therapists are not overly familiar with this form of OCD. I really want to support my son and to follow the programme you have set out. Are there any modifications you think l I’ll need to consider for a child? Many thanks
Hi Kirsty,
As a 13 year old, hopefully he should be able to understand most of the principles himself if they are explained to him clearly.
The main thing will be for him to realise the overall principles; the he should accept the awareness without trying to manage or escape it. As well as to identify the rituals and to stop them. Ideally, he would read it himself.
I know sometimes also with children there is a ‘personification’ of the OCD, e.g. the OCD bully. For example with people with cleanliness OCD, it’s something like the OCD bully wants you to go and wash your hands again, don’t give in, that’s how you can beat him. But whether that’s appropriate depends on his personality and maturity level…I will leave it to you to judge.
All the best and hope it goes well. My gratitude and thanks to you for helping others through this!
Hi Aadil, thank you so much for creating this guide. I have gone round in circles for a long time trying to resolve this. It really helps to hear of success stories and your guide gives me hope. I’m looking forward to tackling this head on! Much love and gratitude 🙏 Heidi
Thanks for the lovely comment and support Heidi! Feel free to reach out…hoping to hear about your success soon.
Hey Aadil! Thank you for writing this out. I really appreciate it. I’m looking forward to facing this head on! My problem is basically like I’ll have a thought about blinking or breathing and then I become consciously aware of it, and then I try to control it. It started with the breathing which has fortunately gotten significantly better. But now the OCD has shifted towards blinking primarily.
The Obsession – Am I aware of my blinking?
The Compulsion – Consciously control my blinking
How might I break out of this loop? Additionally, I also have looping thoughts in the background evaluating and constantly checking whether I’m feeling better and all that. I guess that is anxiety?
Hey Neil. Sorry for the delay in reply. It’s a good sign if it is switching…probably means you dealt with it well!
You sound like you are very aware which is great. There is usually a set of limited ritauls people do around this. One of them is what you said, evaluating and checking in the background. Another is self talk contiously. Another is trying to solve it. And another is once you are aware, directing extra attention to it and trying to control it.
The approach I would say is something like accepting the awareness, but not directing any extra attention to it. This is what a normal person would do anyway. It may feel strange, but you carry on with some level of awareness but without directing any extra attention.
The below articles explan it well. I am considering incorporating the below into my guide as it explains it all quite clearly.
https://drmichaeljgreenberg.com/how-to-stop-ruminating/
https://drmichaeljgreenberg.com/how-to-stop-paying-attention/
Dear Aadil,
First of all, I must thank you for pitting together this website, it has been of great help to me in managing my blinking obsession. Even though I haven’t really followed the steps very closely, my anxiety diminished for over a year, but now it has appeared again and blinking troubles me once more, during a rather boring and uneventful period of my life, being triggered especially when reading due to persistent eye-strains I have. I’m trying to manage it again, but I still hope for a memory erasal type treatment of not even thinking of the sensation again, or perhaps some medicine that can help with that.
What I would like to ask is if you perhaps plan to take this project further. There are many of us who suffer from this, but very few people even know this problem exists, even among therapists. Very few articles are written about it, and nobody has ever studied it in a scientific setting, to perhaps evaluate different treating options, including medication, or to try and understand the underlying neurological mechanisms. You have managed to compile all the knowledge that exists to date regarding somatic OCD, and I believe you have the advocacy skills needed to raise awareness and get some more people to try to help us.
Every single year there are people all over the world who struggle with this. Let’s give them hope and try to help them more actively. The mental health community, especially psychological research, must be made aware of somatic OCD and the many aspects that differenciate it from regular OCD. Only thus could new and more effective treatments be developed for it.
Yours truly, Patrick of Lugoj
Thank you Patrick for the kind words. I’m glad to hear you doing somewhat better, and hope you go on getting better.
I do have some plans to create more awareness actually. At this point not being officially in the mental health space, I hope to create more sources and support for those dealing with sensorimotor OCD, including videos and perhaps a forum.
However I am conscious I have not sat down and treated people myself so as to become an expert in it. I am hoping professional psychologists can continue specialise in this and do research. Perhaps I’ll do it one day, who knows!
Hello, for about a week now I have been hyperfocused on this tinnitus onset. I have an ear infection (mild) and have been using drops but I feel like no matter where I am I am trying to hear the tinnitus to make sure it is still there! Is this still considered sensorimotor OCD and are the treatments the same?
Hi Angela,
Sorry for the late reply.
It sounds like it could be but I am not sure. The fact that you are thinking about it a lot and have visited this website suggest that there may be some overthinking and research rituals involved. If you are feeling anxious and trying to ‘solve’ something, then it could be.
It definetely sounds like you would benefit from some ACT or related acceptance based therapies.
Hope you are doing better!
Aadil
Hi Aadil, not sure if posting in the right place, not used this site before.
Long time sufferer of socd, started aged 19 when I felt like my 2 front teeth were too big for my mouth, had them filed down, regretted it ever since (am 56 now). Over the years, had blinking,c swallowing and tongue placement themes, also have severe tinnitus (since 2023).
Most recent theme which is distressing me is soft palate hyperawareness. Triggered by a painful and traumatic nasal endoscopy last year. Left me with a constant sensation in my soft palate, hard to describe. At times feels like a bit of cotton wool is wedged in rhs of soft palate, other times feels like soft palate sinking into my throat. Seen 2 ENTs since procedure and an oral maxillofacial surgeon. All say soft palate looks normal and that a scope wouldn’t cause these sensations. Feel like am going mad. Any advice please?
Hi Judith,
Sorry to hear what you are going through. It sounds like in your recent cases you definitely have had procedures which have enhanced awareness and perhaps changed things from what you were used to.
I think it helps to first see a professional and make sure things are okay, which it sounds like you have done.
It is possible after a procedure that something has changed, but honestly there’s nothing more you can do after you’ve talked to an expert who says things are okay.
What I do know is that often having the hypreawareness makes us aware of things we wouldn’t notice, and often even feel things we never noticed before. For example people can start noticing their heartbeat or other things in our body we never noticed before, or even feel certain sensations. Ultimately the solution is the same; acceptance and letting go of trying to control the situation. Surrending to what is happening and trusting that it will be okay. It’s our fervent desire to change things which often perpetuates the problem.
Even if there is something that has changed due to the procedure, I would say the solution is still the same. Perhaps there is an enhanced sensation of something, but there is probably nothing we can do, except learn to accept it. So I would try use this situation as something where we can learn to accept and let go. I do believe that you can find complete peace with this.
I hope that helps.
Thank you Aadil for giving me some hope that I can get past this. It’s been 18 months since the scope and having been told by 3ENTs, a GP and an oral and maxillofacial specialist there’s nothing wrong, I realize I have to change my mindset.
For me, sensorimotor OCD messes with my mind such that it’s impossible to know how much (if any) of this palate sensation is physical (altered oral sensation since scope) and how much is my brain trucking me into thinking something has changed. Had I not been so traumatized by the procedure, maybe my brain wouldn’t have latched on quite so intensely to the sensation/hyperawareness.
I recognize that ruminating over the aftermath of the scope (sore nasopharynx, blocked nose, panic attack, A&E visit) and trying to figure out if the sensation is physical or psychological is keeping me stuck – I will never know the answer and will have to learn to accept this uncertainty.
I am in the process of habituating to severe tinnitus and I suppose the palate sensation will need to be approached in the same way.
I think the regret about having the scope is every bit as distressing as managing sensorimotor OCD aspect.
Hi Judith. That’s very difficult. I really wish you all the best. I think a good counsellor/therpaist and/or spiritual advisor would help. We all make mistakes in the recent or far past which we may not be happy with. Somehow, you have to come to terms with all of this, both the decision about having the scope and the uncertainty with the sensorimotor OCD. Perhaps you will find a new perspective which brings to you a place of peace with both of them. And perhaps then it would have been all worth it.
Thank you for making this website.
I first developed sensorimotor OCD when I was 16. I am 50 now. I had no idea what it was when I first developed it, I knew it was some form of obsession, but it didn’t fit the description of OCD, and I truly thought I was the only person on the planet to have this problem and that I would suffer forever. It was a very difficult time, to say the least.
I didn’t suffer forever, my OCD came and went over the years, the gaps between relapses getting longer and longer.
About 6 years ago I had a relapse, and one day googled ‘I can’t stop thinking about my breathing” and discovered that it was sensorimotor OCD. The relief was immense and enough to lift my OCD. I truly thought that I had recovered and would never be troubled by it again.
Unfortunately after a long period of stress and overworking I relapsed a couple of months ago, and this time it has been very severe.
I have been to some very dark places, but also learnt a lot about myself and my OCD. I am now determined to work hard on my recovery and overcome OCD.
I am so grateful for resources like this, that make help available to all. Understanding how OCD operates is so crucial to recovery, as what you need to do is really the opposite of what OCD makes you think you need to do.
My heart goes out to all of those also on their recovery journey. I know just how painful it is, but there is hope. With hard work and persistence you will get there.
Thank you for your thoughtful and kind comment, Suzanne. You are right; it can be so difficult and painful, but there is hope and you will get there. I would also add that I think we can grow as people in the process, and perhaps that is the point.
I recommend everyone look into an app called curable. This is an app that brings together experts and tools to combat mind body issues which have no physical cause. Bodily sensations that are present and not physical but psychological. Created by our brains. Dr John Sarno is the pioneer of this work followed by others who are currently doing this work- Dr. Howard Schubiner, Dr.john Stracks, Steve Ozanovich, Dan Buglio. They teach you how to work with your nervous system to create a sense of safety which is at the core of the fear and anxiety.
Thank you for making this article. This has helped me so much as a student since it was just in a random day I felt something in my brain change and had my first Anxiety attack, after that I got conscious of everything I did walking, breathing, blinking, it was truly hell for me. I was confused about what had happened to me and was trying my best to find out how to get back the days where I did not feel this way, my general physician have me some meds to help me sleep but I was stuck in a cycle of anxiety for I was thinking if I had been breathing properly or not and why I couldn’t take my mind off of it and go on my daily life without thinking about it. I search online for help but Therapy is not something I can ask my family for since I don’t know if they understand what it will do or how it helps. So I felt truly stuck but then I found your page, it helped me a lot and I was able to do things normally after I overcame my anxiety things were good for 6 months then I relapsed during my exam season and have been stuck in a loop of why I need to keep myself busy otherwise I feel like I will think of my SOCD and it will come back to haunt me and the feeling of my SOCD coming back after I have forgotten about it for a while while going on with my life made me feel anxious in a way I didn’t know how to control( or find logical way to say it’s not affecting you that much so don’t worry too much about it) cause the more it comes back I feel more dread. I don’t know how to calm my anxiety so can you help me on what I should do?
Hi Monit,
Sorry for late reply. Glad to hear the website helped you.
I think what you are going through is quite common. After a while of being ok, it can come back, with thoughts like ‘Oh this time it will be different and it’s going to come back, it was lucky first time it wasn’t as bad’, or something like you have experienced ‘oh well you need to be busy otherwise you will be stuck’.
The fundamental principle is the same. There is nothing you need to do. You just keep living, with it being there or not being there. The more attention we give it and try to fight it, the more it tends to grow. It can be accepted to be there, without needing any extra atttention on it. There is often no need to refute the thoughts or say why they are wrong; they can just be there, like background noise. You just carry on.
I would also recommend a meditation practice. I have found this very helpful to remain on the present moment, rather than engaging in these kind of thought loops.
I have OCD around my lips. they feel uncomfortable, and I keep changing position to relieve it. There’s also a real physical discomfort, but I think OCD is making me focus on it and react compulsively. I want to manage the physical issue without reinforcing the OCD. I also had issues with tongue suction constantly building up pressure in my mouth with my lips cus of this in the past my teeth got pushed back. What would you say to do in my case where im dealing with a real physical issue chronic pain and ocd
Hi Abdi,
It is actually common for the OCD issues to come up as people experience physical issues. Often people have conditions or operations which causes them to experience or notice different sensations.
I agree with you that it sounds like there is something different, but the OCD is making you focus on it more and notice it, in a way you probably didn’t before.
I would say the idea is to learn to accept the new sensations. It will feel different, at least for sometime. That does not mean you need to feel anxious about it, however. Over time, as you accept the sensation and anything associated with it, the anxiety should go down, and you will probably notice it less and less. But for now, the idea would be to just accept everything that comes along with it. Be careful of any negative meaning your brain is creating associated with it; that is the conditioning we want to remove.
Try not to change position too much. If you feel like you have to, that’s okay. But don’t make it something you focus on or feel like you have to do every time. Be okay with everything with happens, without having too much of a strategy. Radical acceptance is the idea.
Hey so i got genuine pain whenever i close my lips my lips suction to my mouth/teeth and constanlty im switching beetween 3 positions would you say i just avoid contact with my lips to not feel the pain or is that a compulsion cus my lips never really have a proper sealed position they hurt whenever sealed and idk it if mentaly cus my teeth seem to shift from this pressure. but then they re allign as i wear a myobrace at night. im constanlty switching beetween 3 rest positions 1. lips fully sealed (hurts) 2. lips touched slight gaps hurts sometimes more sometimes less 3. mouth open no contact.
can this work even with real pain and how can i now when to change position etc should i work and have timers like 10 seconds close lips then open for 20 secs keep repeating throughout the day?
Hi Abdullah,
Sorry for the late reply. Sorry to hear about the pain you are in. This is a real physical pain, so you definitely need to see a specialist who manages that. Generally, there is nothing wrong with avoiding physical pain. When it comes to SOCD, usually we are just avoiding something not painful, but just something ‘unusual’ or ‘uncomfortable’ and we want it to be ‘normal’. E.g the sensation of feeling saliva in your mouth, there is nothing painful about it. It’s just different. And to run away from this experience, people do various rituals like avoiding it or trying to figure it out.
I think you should find out what naturally feels ok and reduces the most pain. I think using timers and trying to manage this is probably not the correct approach. Anything you do that increases monitoring and requires a lot of your attention is usually not right. for SOCD, we learn to just accept the sensations, even if they feel weird, and carry on with your life.
In your case, I think it would be something like finding a natural position or positions which reduce pain, then carrying on.
Hello Aadil!
My Sensorimotor OCD is related to an irrational fear of “forgetting” how to breath, it feels so real and horrifying…
Yet of course, has never happened lmaoooooooooo
My question is: does anything in your guide change to accommodate such a fear? Or does the same advice of simply allowing the discomfort without performing a ritual apply?
I’m not sure how to describe the reasoning of my fear, perhaps since breathing is so effortless, I’m overthinking it?
I can see how my question can fit in the category of compulsions of trying to “fix the issue” rather than just letting it be but I suppose I just need guidance
I will admit however, this guide has given me ALOT of hope
Hi Brian,
I think that kind of fear is exactly what this guide is for. There is some kind of fear associated with the awareness, and that means all these feelings are attached to your awareness any time you notice it.
To some extent we can talk about how the fear doesn’t make sense; as you say, you haven’t forgotten how to breathe, your body will do everything to make sure you stay alive etc, it doesn’t need to be a certain way. There’s a use for thinking here.
But on a deeper level your brain/body/subconscious will realise there is nothing to be afraid of when you expose yourself to the awareness and do nothing. Over time, you are ‘taught’ on a deep level that there is nothing to be afraid of, and awareness coming into focus doesn’t lead to any negative feeling. That is where we want to get to.
Thanks
Aadil
Hi, thank you very much for taking the time to write and share your articles on sensorimotor OCD. They are some of the clearest and most helpful explanations I have found, and they have helped me understand my symptoms and ERP much better. I really value your perspective on this, so I was hoping I could ask for your thoughts on a difficulty I still have with applying ERP to my breathing symptoms.
My main problem appears when I need to concentrate. Once I notice my breathing, it often becomes partly manual. If I stop managing it and put my attention back on the task, I can end up holding my breath for a long time before eventually breathing from discomfort. But if I consciously keep breathing, a lot of attention is still spent initiating breaths and repeatedly judging whether I need to inhale, which makes it very difficult to think normally.
I understand that trying to correct my breathing or trying hard to keep the breathing thoughts away can become safety behaviors. My difficulty is identifying what response prevention should look like once I am already in this loop. If I stop managing the breathing, anxiety does come up, but I may also spend a long time holding my breath, and the physical discomfort itself takes over my attention. I am not deliberately holding my breath as an exposure—it is simply what tends to happen when I stop consciously dealing with it.
For the past year I have tried continuing tasks for a set amount of time despite the symptoms and not judging my performance. It helped reduce some of the urgency to deal with the symptom, but did not change much. I suspect I was still spending a great deal of effort trying to stay out of the breathing-focused state, so I never really stopped fearing the thought itself.
So my main question is: how would you identify the main safety behavior or compulsion in this situation, and what would successful ERP look like? Is continuing the task while allowing the breathing awareness, uncertainty, and even the resulting breath-holding to occur the right direction, or would you formulate the exposure differently?
I would be very grateful for any thoughts you might have, especially if you have encountered something similar. Your writing has already helped me a great deal, and I would really appreciate your perspective on how to understand this from an ERP standpoint.
Thank you again for your time and for sharing your experience and knowledge.
Hi George. Thank you for your comment. And glad to hear it has helped somewhat. You are thinking very clearly about this which is great to see.
Usually a good barometer of whether what you are doing is right is that you should experience a decrease in negative symptoms over time. This might not be over days or even weeks, but definitely over months. So if it’s not getting better, that is usually a sign something is amiss.
From what you say, it doesn’t sound like you have a particular strategy to deal with it. That is usually where we want to be. And yes, it can be that you end up holding it, almost involuntarily, and then your body almost does the breath. Thats okay. Its also okay to somewhat consciously do the breath in response to some discomfort. I wouldn’t get too particular about how it happens, as long as you are not trying to keep it a certain way (ie.holding it on purpose, doing it to a certain pattern etc).
A key aspect is reduing a lot of the tension around it, so it can happen naturally. I actually now view awareness of breath as a bit of a spectrum, in that you can be highly aware or only somewhat aware. If you are highly aware, that usually comes with a lot of control. If you are less aware, there is less control. So as your anxiety reduces around it, there is less and less tension, and you can sort of feel your breath doing itself while you are somewhat aware.
I would recommend meditation as something to help you reduce the tension around this. I can recommend The Way app as a good way to get into this; they have a free 7 day trial, and then you can use the gift option to get another 30 days free.
In way after a while, the problem sort of resolves itself when the tension and anxiety around it is diminshed (and along with acceptance of everything that comes and every stage). It’s not like you ‘figure’ out that much more.