How do you tell yourself 'no' to repeating compulsions / rituals?!?

Has anyone here successfully stopped doing rituals / compulsions ; or decreased the frequency of them?!? If so ; what did you find successful?!?

I tend to have to repeat tasks a few times until it 'feels' right ; and also so that nothing bad will happen.

What ways do you tell yourself no ; that doing that thing once ; is enough ; and there really is no need to do it more than once ; nothing bad will happen if you only do it once.

I have heard about CBT therapists saying ; visualise someone sitting on your shoulder telling you not to ; for example.

Anyone have any useful strategies or advice ; which you have found to work?!?

Thank you for any help!?!

The thing that helped me the most was talking about it. I had ocd as a symptom of my ptsd & have been lucky enough to have had therapy with a psychologist.
Talking through my obsessions helped me to understand them, for instance I used to check the doors time aftertime when i was going out which only added to my agoraphobia. She suggested i set a number of times i could check & then quickly leave the house. It was very hard often resulting in tears & panic,but over time (about 3mths) I reduced the number of times i checked & now i'm able to just lock the doors & go.
She also suggested i find a mantra i could repeat to myself, mine was 'I am safe'.

I hope you can get some help with your ocd, it is so exhausting.. Being able to manage it comes as such a relief.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by annette1

The thing that helped me the most was talking about it. I had ocd as a symptom of my ptsd & have been lucky enough to have had therapy with a psychologist.
Talking through my obsessions helped me to understand them, for instance I used to check the doors time aftertime when i was going out which only added to my agoraphobia. She suggested i set a number of times i could check & then quickly leave the house. It was very hard often resulting in tears & panic,but over time (about 3mths) I reduced the number of times i checked & now i'm able to just lock the doors & go.
She also suggested i find a mantra i could repeat to myself, mine was 'I am safe'.

I hope you can get some help with your ocd, it is so exhausting.. Being able to manage it comes as such a relief.

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Thank you for your reply!?!

It is great to hear that you improved ; and improved really well!?!

How long did it take for the initial anxiety to reduce ; when you reduced the number of times you checked your doors?!?

Thanks again!?!

do u mean rotuals like the locking of the door and thinking i dont think i locked it so constantly going to check it, especially with ym car locking is a big one for me.