Challenge Unhelpful Thoughts (Part III)
Goal
To learn how to put your unhelpful thoughts on trial.
Putting Thoughts on Trial (Derisley et al., pp. 147-148)
OCD tries to convince you that your thoughts are too important and will come true if you do not complete your compulsions. “Putting your thoughts on trial” will help you to see that there is no evidence for the things that OCD is making you believe. To do this, you’ll need to act as if you are a judge and look for evidence that your OCD thoughts are actually true.
Trial Exercise (Derisley et al., pp. 150-151)
Instructions: Follow these steps to put your thoughts on trial:
- Identify your OCD worry (think of this as “Theory A”)
- Ask yourself how much you believe “Theory A” is true (from 0 to 100)
- Come up with an alternative explanation (think of this as “Theory B”)
- Ask yourself how much you believe “Theory B” is true (from 0 to 100)
- Go through the following questions to examine the evidence for and against each theory:
- What has happened in the past?
- What is more likely to happen?
- What has happened to other people?
- How would this be possible?
- Ask yourself how much you now believe “Theory A” and “Theory B” are true (from 0 to 100)
- Reflect on this process, and determine what your next step is in overcoming OCD
Learn more about challenging unhelpful thoughts by watching the following video:
