Do not treat OCD as if it's a normal problem

When something unpleasant happens in your life, you react to it. When you get a bad feeling, you do something about it. When you have normal problems, you interact with them and you fix them, as you should.

When we are obsessing, we get the same feelings as if it's a normal problem. It makes it so damn confusing. If you get a random thought, such as "I do not love her", the feelings this gives you are the same as another real problem. So, you want to interact. You want to tell yourself you do love her. Just like a normal problem, you want to interact with it. That's just how humans are programmed, we're obviously going to try to fix our problem.

But, with OCD, you cannot do this. If you do, it just makes it worse. I don't care what it is, do not, in anyway, try to use your obsessional content to make yourself feel better. So many people do this. A lot of people will grasp major things like needing to resist compulsions, yet they still interact with the content in some way. If you are trying to make yourself feel better, by interacting or using the content of your obsessions in anyway, you are doing it wrong.

Treatment is all about responding to obsessional content correctly. Treatment for OCD involves specific things, that are entirely unrelated to how you would deal with normal problems. If you're new here, this information is incomplete, research CBT, specifically ERP, and you'll know what I mean by "treatment".

One of the most common things I see is, "What is an OCD problem?" "How can I tell if it's OCD or a normal thought?" Don't! Just apply the therapy. Yes, it's important for you to come into realization that what you are experiencing is OCD, so you will apply your therapy.. but if you're obsessing about whether it's OCD or a normal thought, just apply the therapy. "ehh this feels bad, I can't tell whether it's OCD or not. It feels terrible. Don't react to this, don't perform a compulsion.." and so on. You don't have to say that out loud, it's just an example of a possible thought process.