Podcast Summary: OCD Recovery with Ali Greymond

Episode: 🧠 Full OCD Recovery - Show Your Brain What IS "Normal"
Date: February 8, 2026
Host: Ali Greymond, OCD Specialist & Author

Episode Overview

This episode centers on a core principle of OCD recovery: actively teaching your brain a new sense of what “normal” is by practicing healthy responses to intrusive thoughts. Ali Greymond, expert and creator of The Greymond Method, discusses the importance of mimicking normal behavior—even when it feels deeply uncomfortable—to reshape the brain’s responses and speed recovery from various OCD themes. The guidance is practical, compassionate, and bolstered by Ali's personal and professional experience.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Teaching Your Brain “Normal” through Disregard

• Ali highlights that making the choice to disregard intrusive thoughts or compulsions is not passivity—it’s active recovery.

• Repeatedly acting as if the triggering thought or situation is not a threat is fundamental in retraining the OCD brain.

  “By making the choice to disregard, you are actually showing your brain what normal is.”
  — Ali Greymond [00:00]

• Initially, this “normal” may feel wrong or uncomfortable, but this is a crucial part of the healing process.

  “You might be uncomfortable right now with that normal, but the more you practice it, the more your brain will habituate.”
  — Ali Greymond [00:09]

2. The Role of Consistent Practice

• Ali emphasizes the need for repeated, intentional exposure to “normal” responses.

• The discomfort is expected and is the signal that your brain is relearning.

• Mimicking the reactions of people you trust (friends, family, role models) is a practical strategy.

  “Keep mimicking normalcy. Keep acting like your friends would act in this situation, how your parents would act in this situation. Someone you trust.”
  — Ali Greymond [00:13]

• This approach applies to a broad range of OCD themes, including Pure-O, Relationship OCD, Harm OCD, SO-OCD, Scrupulosity, and contamination fears.

3. Utilizing Social Norms as Recovery Guides

• Ali encourages listeners to observe and follow the reactions of those not affected by OCD:

  • If a trusted friend or parent isn’t anxious or performing a compulsion, it’s safe to mimic their behavior.
  • Over time, this “borrowed” normalcy becomes authentic and internalized.

  “If they don’t care, then you shouldn’t care. And after a while it will also become normal to you. But at first it’s going to be very uncomfortable, and that’s okay.”
  — Ali Greymond [00:20]

4. Tolerance of Discomfort as Evidence of Recovery

• The discomfort encountered when acting “normal” is framed as positive evidence of change:

  • The brain is actively learning, even as it resists.
  • With patience and consistency, discomfort shrinks as the brain adjusts.

  “This is the part of where your brain is actually changing how it’s viewing these thoughts. This is completely normal.”
  — Ali Greymond [00:28]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Power of Mimicry:
  “Keep mimicking normalcy. Keep acting like your friends would act in this situation, how your parents would act in this situation. Someone you trust.”
  — Ali Greymond [00:13]

• On Trusting the Process:
  “If they don’t care, then you shouldn’t care. And after a while it will also become normal to you.”
  — Ali Greymond [00:20]

• On Discomfort as a Marker of Progress:
  “You might be uncomfortable right now with that normal, but the more you practice it, the more your brain will habituate.”
  — Ali Greymond [00:09]

• On the Normalcy of Change:
  “This is the part of where your brain is actually changing how it’s viewing these thoughts. This is completely normal.”
  — Ali Greymond [00:28]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:00-00:09 — Introduction: Disregarding OCD thoughts trains your brain for “normal.”
• 00:09-00:20 — Embracing discomfort; the importance of practice and mimicry.
• 00:20-00:28 — The role of social modeling, internalizing normal, and normalizing the challenge of brain change.

Overall Tone and Takeaways

Ali Greymond delivers this episode in a warm, reassuring, and practical tone. She emphasizes patience, self-compassion, and the value of consistent effort. Her advice is actionable: act “as if” you’re unconcerned, use the responses of trusted others as a guide, and allow time for the brain to adapt. Discomfort is to be expected—and is, in fact, proof that recovery is taking hold.

For listeners seeking to recover from OCD, Ali’s message is clear: persistent practice of healthy reactions—even before they feel natural—is the fastest route to lasting change.