Below are some of the best resources for OCD.
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.
Helplines
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Helpline: Information and support for people suffering with mental illness. Phone: 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) (Monday – Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST)
Crisis Text Line: Support and guidance via text message, for people with mental illness. Text: “home” to 741741
Information
OCD-UK a dynamic UK charity aims to bring the facts about OCD to the public and to support those who suffer in silence from this often debilitating anxiety disorder.
International OCD Foundation one of the best online resources for those interested in learning more about OCD.
BeyondOCD.org aims to increase awareness and understanding of OCD.
OCD Challenge a completely free, self-guided program that those with OCD can utilize to help manage their symptoms.
Books
Blog Posts
- How to Cope With OCD Flare-Ups During Stressful Times?
- Everyday Habits That Help Manage OCD
- 8 Steps to Challenge an OCD Thought
- Living With Someone Who Has OCD: How to Be Supportive Without Enabling
- What to Do After an OCD Relapse? Reset Guide
- Can OCD Be Episodic? Understanding Fluctuations in Symptoms
- How to Explain OCD to Someone Who Doesn’t Understand?
- Relationship Anxiety or Not In Love? Top 4 Ways to Overcome ROCD & Relationship Anxiety
- What Causes OCD to Flare Up? Top 10 Causes
- Top 35 OCD Coping Skills
- Dating Someone With OCD: 7 Practical Ways You Can Help Someone With OCD
- Dealing With OCD Without Medication In 6 Effective Ways
Journaling Prompts for OCD
- What kinds of intrusive thoughts come up most often for you?
- How do you usually feel when an intrusive thought appears?
- Do you ever judge yourself harshly for your thoughts? Why?
- Write about one intrusive thought and how real it feels in the moment.
- What’s the difference between an intrusive thought and your true values?
Apps
GG OCD (Android/iphone): aims to improve symptoms of OCD, specifically negative thinking, by increasing the user’s awareness of negative thoughts and training the brain to challenge them.
NOCD (Android): an app for individuals with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. NOCD helps consumers with two types of treatments: Mindfulness and Exposure Response Prevention Treatment.
OCD Podcasts
- The OCD Stories — Stuart Ralph
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One of the most extensive OCD-specific podcasts. It includes hundreds of conversations with OCD specialists and people with lived experience covering ERP, intrusive thoughts, mental compulsions, contamination OCD, harm OCD, relationship OCD, scrupulosity, relapse, and recovery. - Your Anxiety Toolkit — Kimberley Quinlan, LMFT
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Hosted by an anxiety and OCD specialist. Many episodes focus specifically on OCD treatment, ERP, intrusive thoughts, uncertainty, mental compulsions, reassurance-seeking, rumination, and responding differently to obsessive thoughts. - The OCD Whisperer Podcast — Kristina Orlova
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Hosted by a licensed therapist with lived experience of OCD. Covers intrusive thoughts, compulsions, uncertainty, perfectionism, rumination, ERP, anxiety, and common mistakes people make when trying to manage OCD.
Specific OCD Podcast Episodes
- 9 Things I Tell My Patients in Their First Session of OCD Treatment — Your Anxiety Toolkit
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A practical introduction to OCD recovery and ERP. Kimberley Quinlan explains key ideas she teaches clients early in treatment so they can understand intrusive thoughts differently and stop responding to them in ways that strengthen OCD. - Managing Mental Compulsions With Jon Hershfield — Your Anxiety Toolkit
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Particularly useful for OCD that happens mostly inside the mind. It covers rumination, mental reviewing, internal rituals, intrusive thoughts, and ways to stop repeatedly engaging with thoughts in an attempt to get certainty. - GAD vs. OCD and How to Tell the Difference — Your Anxiety Toolkit
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Explains how OCD differs from generalized worry and describes several forms of compulsions, including physical rituals, mental compulsions and reassurance-seeking. Useful when OCD looks more like constant analysis than obvious checking or washing. - Story: Clare — Intrusive Thoughts, ERP and Research — The OCD Stories
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Discusses intrusive thoughts, harm-themed OCD, ERP, research, and recovery. Helpful for understanding that disturbing intrusive thoughts can occur in OCD without reflecting someone’s wishes or character. - Story: Kristen Bailey — The OCD Stories
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Covers harm intrusive thoughts, fear of “going crazy,” ERP, mental compulsions, perfectionism, shame, relapse, and the difference between obsessions and less obvious compulsive responses. - Story: Kelly — Postpartum OCD, Harm OCD and ERP — The OCD Stories
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Discusses postpartum OCD, violent intrusive thoughts, health anxiety, physical sensations, getting appropriate help, and doing ERP.
TED & TEDx Talks About OCD
- Debunking the Myths of OCD — Dr. Natascha M. Santos
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A short TED-Ed talk that challenges the idea that being neat, organized, or particular means someone has OCD. It explains OCD as a serious condition involving intrusive obsessions and compulsive responses. - “I’m So OCD”: The Reality of OCD — Jayde Edgren
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Explains how disturbing intrusive thoughts and compulsions can affect identity, daily functioning, and quality of life. Particularly useful for challenging stereotypes about what OCD actually looks like. - #OCD: Starving the Monster — Tauscha Johanson
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A parent’s account of her daughter’s OCD and the family’s experience learning not to keep feeding the disorder through compulsive patterns. It gives a relatable picture of how OCD can affect an entire household. - OCD — Amber Herwegh Vonk
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A personal account of what daily life with OCD can look like, including the pressure to complete compulsions and the amount of time and attention they can consume.
