Podcast Summary: Get to Know OCD – "Expert-Approved Tips To Take Control of OCD In 2026"
Host: Dr. Patrick McGrath, Chief Clinical Officer, NOCD
Release Date: January 3, 2026

Episode Overview

In this actionable episode, Dr. Patrick McGrath revisits NOCD’s most impactful OCD tips, reflecting on what’s worked for people in the community and detailing proven strategies for making real progress in OCD recovery. The focus is on practical advice—centered around exposure and response prevention (ERP)—and on living a healthier, value-driven life alongside OCD.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Timeless Treatment Principles for OCD [00:00–02:00]

• ERP as the Gold Standard:
  Dr. McGrath affirms that the foundational recommendation for OCD—Exposure and Response Prevention therapy (ERP)—remains unchanged:

  “Exposure and response prevention therapy is still the treatment of choice to do. If you have obsessive compulsive disorder, that recommendation remains.” [01:09]

• Medication as a Tool:
  Proper medication dosages can be helpful if chosen as part of one’s treatment plan.

2. Lifestyle Factors Matter [02:00–03:00]

• Emphasizes the importance of sleep, exercise, and an active lifestyle for brain and body health:

  “All of these things are very good and restorative for the brain and the body. And why wouldn't you want yourself at optimal performance levels in order to help yourself get through life both physically and mentally?” [01:33]

3. Living Your Values, Not OCD’s Values [03:00–05:00]

• Central question:

  “How much are you going to value the life that you want to live versus valuing the life that OCD wants you to live?” [01:49]

• Dr. McGrath highlights the power of not believing every thought or compulsion:

  “Just because you think something doesn't make it true. It also doesn't mean that you have to do anything about it whatsoever.” [02:10]

4. Treatment Engagement: A Practice, Not a Performance [05:00–08:00]

• Draws a creative analogy comparing therapy to music lessons — it requires consistent commitment outside of therapy sessions:

  “If you're not interested in playing the instrument...you only got half an hour better every week.” [02:49]

• The real change happens with practice in daily life, not just during sessions.

5. Breaking Safety Behaviors & Compulsions [08:00–11:00]

• Lists common safety behaviors: avoidance, reassurance seeking, distraction, substance use, and compulsions.
• Recommendation:

  “We want people learning that you can handle whatever it is that pops into your head. ... And there's a two-component treatment for it. Number one, you can be exposed to whatever those thoughts, images, and urges are. But that's not enough. ... The curative part of the experience is really the response prevention.” [08:55]

6. The Importance of Response Prevention & Accepting Uncertainty [11:00–13:00]

• Core lesson: Exposure alone isn’t enough without response prevention.
• The crux:

  “If you do a safety behavior, you stay stuck. If you do response prevention, you walk away from a life that’s growing OCD, and you walk into a life that is subtracting the influence that OCD has upon you.” [09:36]

• Encourages embracing uncertainty — everyone lives with doubt, but OCD wants you to overfocus on the few doubts it “chooses”:

  “OCD seems to hone in on one or two or just a couple of things and say, those other ones, whatever, they're fine. But these, these are so important. These are so absolute. These are the ones that must have an answer.” [12:37]

7. Concrete Advice for the New Year [13:00–End]

• Summarizes the recurring but effective advice:
  • Do ERP
  • Use medication if appropriate
  • Live by your own values, not by OCD’s
  • Prioritize sleep, nutrition, exercise
• Motivates listeners to take action now:

  “There’s nothing like the present to get started. Today’s the day.” [15:03]

• Encourages reaching out for help and connecting with NOCD’s support system.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Therapy Practice:

  “Look at therapy in a similar way. Yes, we can go over some amazing things in the session, but the goal is to practice those things out of the session, to take them out... to challenge things with them.” [03:08]

• On Doubt and Uncertainty:

  “Who doesn't live with doubt? Who doesn't live with uncertainty? I don't know. Anybody.” [11:36]

• On OCD’s Selectiveness:

  “OCD seems to hone in on one or two or just a couple of things... and say, these are the ones that must have an answer. And if you do not have an answer for these, you are in danger.” [12:37]

• Hope and Motivation:

  “There are people waiting to talk to you right now at NOCD—people who have been through treatment, who understand the life that OCD wants you to live and also know what it’s like to walk away from that life and to live the life that they want to live.” [15:18]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:00] – Reflections on NOCD’s most resonant advice of 2025
• [01:09] – ERP and medication as foundational treatments
• [03:08] – Therapy is like learning an instrument: the importance of practice
• [08:55] – Two components of ERP: exposure & response prevention
• [12:37] – How OCD makes certain doubts feel urgent and absolute
• [15:03] – Motivational wrap-up: “There’s nothing like the present to get started.”

Final Thoughts

Dr. McGrath’s episode is an honest, motivating refresher on what truly works for OCD. By emphasizing the ongoing need for ERP, healthy habits, and value-driven living—not just in the therapy room, but in daily action—he offers listeners practical, immediately usable wisdom.
Listeners are encouraged to seek support and remember: “Today's the day”—recovery is a daily, doable commitment.