OCD often goes undiagnosed, especially if a provider is not nuanced in some of the more subtle ways OCD presents itself. Some may be familiar with the DSM-5, which details the following when diagnosing OCD: the presence of recurrent, unwanted, and intrusive thoughts (ie, obsessions) and/or repetitive behaviors or rituals (ie, compulsions) intended to relieve the fear, anxiety, and/or distress associated with obsessions. 

Something clients ask me a lot is if they’re going to manifest their intrusive thoughts by thinking them.It’s generally after they’ve Googled something and stumbled upon the law of attraction or manifestation. (Gotta love SEO!)While the law of attraction may empower some people, for those with obsessive compulsive disorder, it can actually cause confusion at best and harm at worst.

In your brain, there’s this area called the amygdala. Understanding the amygdala is important when we talk about anxiety and OCD because this little cluster is your body’s alarm system.