Podcast Summary

Podcast: OCD Recovery

Host: Ali Greymond
Episode: How To Disregard OCD Feelings
Date: December 4, 2025

Overview

In this episode, Ali Greymond, seasoned OCD recovery coach and author of "The Greymond Method," explores a central aspect of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): the overwhelming feelings that accompany intrusive thoughts. She explains why it’s crucial to recognize these feelings as symptoms of OCD, discusses practical strategies for disregarding them, and emphasizes the necessity of accountability and gradual progress in recovery. Drawing on both her own experience and more than ten years helping clients, Ali offers direct, encouraging advice for those at any stage of their OCD journey.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Understanding OCD Feelings (00:00–01:18)

OCD does not only manifest as intrusive thoughts—it’s a “package” that can include:
- Distressing feelings (guilt, shame, unworthiness)
- Urges to confess or “figure things out” for certainty
- Sensations, images, dreams, or false memories
Key point: These feelings add to the realness of OCD.

“OCD comes as a package. So it doesn't just come in as a what if thought. It comes in as a what if thought, as a feeling, as an image, as a dream, as a sensation, as a false memory. It can come in with any combination of those things. So having feelings that go along with OCD is, first of all, classic OCD.”
(Ali, 00:34)

2. Identifying and Labeling OCD Patterns (01:18–02:18)

Everyone with OCD experiences these feelings—the specifics just depend on personal themes (harm, morality, future events, etc.)
Essential skill: Track and recognize your own OCD patterns.
When guilt, shame, or unworthiness appears in context with your OCD theme, it belongs in your “OCD box.”

“Any guilt thought, any shame thought, any thought that you're a bad person as connected to this thing immediately has to go in the OCD pile in the OCD box.”
(Ali, 01:54)

3. Choosing to Disregard—Not to Achieve Certainty (02:18–04:33)

Disregarding OCD feelings is a deliberate act; it does not require genuinely feeling “okay.”
Trying to achieve the feeling of being okay with OCD thoughts/feelings is futile. Instead, recognize them as “false alarms.”
Don’t engage in:
- Confessing
- Rumination
- Emotional investment in the feelings
“You can't try to achieve a feeling of being okay with these feelings... You have to make a choice that, yes, I do feel it, but it's a false alarm, and I'm disregarding.”
(Ali, 02:32)
OCD often shifts themes or details, but the emotional pattern is the same.
Not powering up OCD feelings through compulsions or rumination is key.

“If you see through this game and see it as this is just another thing, who cares? Okay. I feel guilt today. Okay, fine. Yeah. So guilty. The worst. The worst person in the universe. Yep, of course. Right. And then moving on from that…”
(Ali, 04:33)

4. The Importance of Tracking & Accountability (05:37–08:45)

Track time spent on compulsions and rumination, aiming to reduce even by one minute at a time.
Consistent tracking brings accountability and accelerates recovery.
Recovery requires active participation—waiting doesn’t work, nor do most quick fixes.

“Track the time, track compulsions, track rumination, track with the idea of reducing. Even if you reduce by 1 minute each time period, that's fine, that's enough to recover, but just do it.”
(Ali, 05:43)
Ali stresses that there’s no magic bullet; various interventions (medication, hypnosis, light therapy, talk therapy) rarely solve the issue alone.
Medication like SSRIs might bring around 10–20% symptom relief, but recovery hinges on proactive behavior change.

“And I'm telling you, it's not effective. It's not effective. Medication, SSRIs. Yeah, okay. You'll squeeze maybe 20% reduction out of it. Maybe 10. 10 to 20% max. So it still comes down to you and what you are doing.”
(Ali, 08:18)

5. Final Encouragement & Recovery Mindset (08:45–End)

Accountability and gradual daily improvement are essential.
Reducing compulsions and rumination—even a little—adds up over time.
If you keep making small steps and stay accountable, you will recover.

“It's just about accountability and pushing forward every single day. No matter what you do this, you stay on track. I promise you, you will recover.”
(Ali, 08:45)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On labeling OCD feelings:
“Having feelings that go along with OCD is, first of all, classic OCD. That's how OCD goes. That's what adds to the realness. So, first of all, viewing it as a symptom.”
(Ali, 00:43)
On why feelings persist:
“Your feelings will always tell you to do otherwise.”
(Ali, 01:59)
On the futility of seeking quick relief:
“When I was going through OCD... you’re like, well, maybe there’s a pill I can take, maybe there’s a vitamin I can take. Maybe I can change my lifestyle… and I’m telling you... I’ve seen it all. ...It’s not effective.”
(Ali, 06:13 & 07:51)
On the solution:
“Sitting and waiting for recovery to happen, guys, honestly, it’s a waste of time. It doesn’t work. This is not like a cold where eventually it will pass.”
(Ali, 06:54)

Segment Timestamps

Understanding OCD and its ‘package’: 00:00–01:18
Patterns and labeling OCD thoughts/feelings: 01:18–02:18
Strategy: Disregard, don’t ruminate: 02:18–04:33
Tracking, accountability, and recovery actions: 05:37–08:45
Closing thoughts, encouragement: 08:45–End

Tone & Style

Ali’s approach is direct, practical, and compassionate. She offers relatable experiences and never sugar-coats the difficulty of the journey, but reassures listeners that full recovery is achievable with consistency and effort. The episode is conversational, motivational, and focused on actionable guidance.

Summary for Non-Listeners

This episode is a practical and reassuring guide for anyone struggling to manage OCD feelings. Ali Greymond breaks down why these feelings show up, how to recognize them as symptoms (not truths), and lays out a realistic path to recovery built on tracking, accountability, and gradual improvement. She demystifies why “feeling right” isn’t necessary for progress, counters myths about cures and shortcuts, and delivers a consistent message: you can recover if you commit to recovery work and don’t fuel the OCD cycle through rumination or compulsions.

Transcript

A (0:00)

Hi, everyone. I'm Ali Graymond. I'm an OCD recovery coach with more than 10 years of experience helping people recover from OCD. Prior to that, I had severe OCD myself that I fully recovered from, and as do my clients. So if you wonder, can you fully recover from ocd? Absolutely. Yes, you can. Today, I wanted to talk to you about how to disregard feelings that go along with ocd. Feelings of guilt, feelings of shame, feelings of not being worthy, feelings of thinking that you're a bad person, wanting to confess, wanting to figure it out to make sure harm doesn't happen because, again, you feel like it does. How do you disregard that? So, first of all, you need to understand that OCD comes as a package. So it doesn't just come in as a what if thought. It comes in as a what if thought, as a feeling, as an image, as a dream, as a sensation, as a false memory. It can come in with any combination of those things. So having feelings that go along with OCD is, first of all, classic ocd. That's how OCD goes. That's what adds to the realness. So, first of all, viewing it as a symptom.

A (1:18)

Second, you need to understand that this is happening for absolutely everybody who has ocd. The only difference between the feelings depends on the theme, right? Depends on the content of the thought. So if you feel like you've done something bad, you feel like you're a bad person, you feel like you're not worthy, versus if you feel someone else has done something bad, you feel like, what if they're not good? What if they, you know, it just. It depends on who it projects on and what the content is, or fear of the future. Something bad will happen. So it's not connected to a person, but connected to an event. It can go on and on. So knowing your pattern is important. And once you know that pattern, that any guilt thought, any shame thought, any thought that you're a bad person as connected to this thing immediately has to go in the OCD pile in the OCD box. Even though your feelings are telling you to do otherwise, you. Your feelings will always tell you to do otherwise. So.

A (2:18)

Basically, robotically, you have to make a choice to view the feelings as being part of the disorder, because, honestly, they are. You won't feel like it. You can't try to achieve a feeling of being okay with these feelings, right? Achieving a feeling of being okay with the feelings. No, that's not going to happen. You have to make a choice that, yes, I do feel it, but it's a false alarm, and I'm disregarding. What I will not do is I will not confess. I will not figure it out. I will not be trying to figure it out. I will not do anything OCD tells me. And I will not buy into. Emotionally buy into these feelings like, oh, maybe I am a really bad person. Maybe I am the worst. Maybe I could have done those things. You know, comparing yourself to other people and so on. Not doing it. Yes, it feels real. It always feels real. Most people who are listening to this have not had just the one thought. Maybe if they just started with their OCD situation, and this is kind of like their first thought. But for most people, you've gone through these thoughts over and over again. You think you've done this, then you think you've done that, or you think you'll do this, and then you'll think you'll do that. It switches from theme to theme. It can switch from. If I find, actually, this is very interesting that for some people it switches theme to theme, and for some people, it really doesn't. It stays on one theme and stays on one thought. Both are okay. It seems to be more of a personality situation. For me, it switched a lot. But I see clients for whom they just stay on one topic and on maybe few different details switch. So however it comes in for you, it's okay. But you've seen some shifts, so you know that this is not the first time you've had this thought, you know, so it's always kind of branches out a little bit to give you that new jolt of anxiety. So knowing that and knowing that you've had all those feelings for all those past situations, but now you're kind of past those because you're onto the thing of the day, right? So if those were with the same feelings, more or less, why don't we just look at it as a symptom? Because clearly, since you've been dealing with it for a while, you start to understand that. Wait a minute. It's the same, right? It starts to be evident after. After a few of these tries, right? A few of these situations, that this is the same thing coming back over and over again with slightly new detail. So if you see through this game and see it as this is just another thing, who cares? Okay. I feel guilt today. Okay, fine. Yeah. So guilty. The worst. The worst person in the universe. Yep, of course. Right. And then moving on from that, it doesn't develop into a deeper OCD issue because you're not powering it up with Rumination, and you're not powering it up with the compulsions. And this whole thing, the whole OCD problem runs on how much you're powering it up with rumination and with compulsions. So you need to stop doing both of those to the best of your ability. And again, I will say this every video because it's honestly true.