The OCD Clinic · theocdclinic.ca
My OCD Cycle
Understanding your cycle is the first step to breaking it.
Free Tool
Map Your OCD Cycle
The OCD cycle is a six-step loop: a trigger, an intrusive thought, an interpretation of what it means, anxiety, a compulsion, and short-lived relief that teaches your brain to do it all again. The loop runs the same way for everyone. The content is yours. Fill in each step with what actually happens for you, and the chaos starts to look like a pattern.
This is for personal insight. It is not a diagnosis.
Trigger
A situation, object, person, thought, or physical sensation that starts the cycle.
What sets it off?
Intrusion
The thought that shows up uninvited, the one you didn't ask for and can't shake.
What's the unwanted thought, image, or urge?
Interpretation
The story your mind tells about the intrusion: why it's dangerous, what it says about you.
What does your brain say it means?
Anxiety
The physical and emotional experience of the fear once the interpretation kicks in.
How does it feel, in your body and your mind?
Compulsion
The action (physical or mental) you take to reduce the anxiety. Even small things count.
What do you do to make it stop?
Relief
The temporary relief, and what comes next.
Does it work? And then what?
Your ERP therapist can use this map to build exposures that target your specific triggers, interpretations, and compulsions, not a generic protocol.
The OCD Clinic · theocdclinic.ca · Toronto, Ontario
Once you can see the pattern clearly, ERP gives you a way to break it. Learn how ERP works →