Podcast Summary:
OCD Recovery with Ali Greymond – "Checking Your Feelings In OCD"
Date: June 1, 2026
Host: Ali Greymond, OCD Specialist & Author
Episode Overview
In this focused episode, Ali Greymond addresses a universal and often misunderstood compulsion within OCD: "checking your feelings." Greymond breaks down why this urge emerges, how feelings can be distorted by OCD, and why disengaging from this mental checking is pivotal to long-term recovery. Drawing from over 20 years of clinical experience and her own recovery journey, she provides clear, practical advice for listeners struggling with Pure-O and other OCD themes.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. The Nature of "Feeling Checking" in OCD
- Compulsion Explained: Greymond explains that many people with OCD find themselves compulsively checking their emotional or physical feelings to gain certainty ("Do I feel anxious right now? Am I attracted or repulsed? Am I clean enough?").
- OCD's Manipulation: She emphasizes that OCD "can send you a thought, it can send you a physical feeling, it can send you emotional feeling. It can send you a feeling, a false feeling of attraction, all kinds of false feelings."
- OCD as a Feeling Manufacturer: The podcast reframes OCD as an entity that can manufacture feelings or withhold them at random.
2. Futility of Checking
- No Lasting Relief: Whether you check and get the "right" or "wrong" feeling, it doesn't matter—OCD can always manufacture another feeling or doubt.
- Quote: "It doesn't matter whether you check it, and it doesn't matter how that check ends up, whether you got the right feeling, you didn't get the right feeling, because OCD can manufacture anything."
- Endless Cycle: Checking only strengthens the compulsion and keeps the OCD cycle alive.
3. Breaking the Habit of Checking
- Direct Advice: Ali gives clear self-talk strategies:
- "Say that to yourself. There's no point in checking my feelings. So I'm not gonna check my feelings."
- [00:45, Ali Greymond]
- Living Irrelevant of the Thought: She encourages listeners to "just go on with the day, choosing to live life, irrelevant of the thought that I got."
4. Hope & Empowerment
- Expert Reassurance: Greymond shares her extensive experience to instill hope, asserting that "anybody can fully recover."
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- On the unpredictability of OCD:
“OCD can send you a thought, it can send you a physical feeling, it can send you emotional feeling. It can send you a feeling, a false feeling of attraction—all kinds of false feelings.”
- On the futility of checking:
“There's no point in checking. Say that to yourself. There's no point in checking my feelings.”
- On choosing life over compulsions:
“I'm just gonna go on with the day, choosing to live life, irrelevant of the thought that I got.”
- Empowering recovery promise:
“Anybody can fully recover.”
Important Timestamps
- 00:00 – Introduction to feeling checking as a compulsion
- 00:14 – How OCD manufactures feelings (thoughts, physical, emotional, false attraction)
- 00:33 – Why the outcome of checking is never conclusive
- 00:45 – Assertive advice on stopping the checking habit
- 00:51 – Encouragement to live beyond the thoughts
- 00:58 – Expert reassurance and closing motivation
Tone and Style
Ali Greymond's tone is direct, encouraging, and compassionate. She mixes personal conviction with professional expertise, providing listeners both validation for their experience and clear, actionable steps.
In Summary
This episode delivers a concise, insightful exploration of "checking your feelings" in OCD. Ali Greymond stresses its futility and encourages listeners to refocus on living, not compulsively analyzing their mental or emotional states. Her repeated message is simple but profound: OCD can manufacture any feeling, so relinquish the need to check, and instead, choose life—even in the face of uncertainty.
