How You Can Actually Stop Intrusive Thoughts - OCD Recovery

Summary3 min read

Podcast Summary: "How You Can Actually Stop Intrusive Thoughts"

OCD Recovery with Ali Greymond
Date: September 30, 2025

Main Theme

Ali Greymond explores the mechanics of intrusive thoughts in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and shares actionable techniques for reducing their intrusiveness. Drawing from her years of coaching and personal experience with OCD, Ali challenges the prevalent belief that intrusive thoughts cannot be stopped, and instead empowers listeners to change how they react to such thoughts.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Reframing the Nature of Intrusive Thoughts

Everyone gets intrusive thoughts, but not everyone finds them upsetting.
- "If you listen to anybody on YouTube, anybody online, they'll tell you you cannot stop intrusive thoughts. Everybody gets intrusive thoughts. That is true with one, but you are the one who's making OCD thoughts intrusive through your reaction to the thought." (01:00)
Intrusive thoughts are neutral until given emotional weight.
- Ali compares intrusive thoughts to “a box of content... neither good or bad. It’s just a box. But what do you do with it?” (01:40)

2. The Power of Reaction

Our emotional response is what gives a thought its power.
- "That reaction is what’s intrusive. That’s what makes the thought intrusive." (02:05)
- Not all people find the same thoughts intrusive, proving it’s subjective.
You can choose a different response.
- “Just like you're creating it, you cannot create it. So you could say like, that's dumb. Not buying it.” (03:00)
- Practicing dismissiveness trains the brain to not take intrusive thoughts seriously.

3. Techniques: Tracking and Reducing Rumination

Tracking is a tool; reducing rumination is the goal.
- Every intrusive thought is an opportunity to practice a neutral reaction.
- “Every time... instead of giving it that reaction, giving it intrusive power, you’re saying it’s, I don’t care. Doesn’t matter. It’s nonsense.” (04:00)
Consistency and Repetition are Crucial
- The brain learns via repetition; “before you had repetitive, incorrect reaction, which is what trained your brain the wrong way. So now we have to walk it back.” (06:00)
- Accountability—with every thought, deliberately practicing non-engagement.

4. The Long-Term Result

Gradually, the brain learns to deprioritize these thoughts.
- “If you do this over and over again, eventually on autopilot, it starts to not flag it anymore. So then you won't even notice them coming in.” (05:00)
Empowerment
- “You don’t have to be a slave to these intrusive thoughts, you don’t have to be a victim to them. You can actually take charge and change how your brain processes this information.” (05:40)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Ali on subjective intrusiveness:
“If you tell your super intrusive OCD thought to somebody who doesn’t have OCD, they’ll be like, ‘That’s not intrusive. That’s stupid.’ Right? So you’re creating intrusiveness.” (02:30)
Ali on neuroplasticity:
“You can actually take charge and change how your brain processes this information. But it needs to be repetitive, correct reaction.” (05:35)
Ali on accountability:
“When the thought comes in, I’m giving it zero reaction. Two seconds later, another thought: again, zero reaction. Because they're going to keep coming in. You can't stop that right now.” (06:20)

Timestamps for Important Segments

01:00 – Can intrusive thoughts be stopped? Are they universal?
01:40 – The “box of content” analogy for intrusive thoughts.
02:05–02:30 – Assigning power to thoughts through reaction.
03:00 – Choosing dismissiveness (“that’s dumb, not buying it”).
04:00 – The process of tracking and reducing reaction.
05:00–05:40 – Retraining the brain and the promise of autopilot disinterest.
06:00–06:40 – The importance of repetitiveness and accountability in practice.

Key Takeaways

Intrusive thoughts are a normal part of human cognition; reacting to them is what creates distress in OCD.
You have the power to retrain your response to these thoughts through deliberate non-engagement and repetitive neutral or dismissive reactions.
Over time, the brain learns not to prioritize or “flag” these thoughts, reducing their impact on your life.
Consistency, tracking, and accountability are essential in this retraining process.

Ali closes with encouragement for listeners to subscribe and information about personalized coaching opportunities, emphasizing the importance of consistent practice for real, lasting change.

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Transcript1 lines

[00:00]
A
I'm Ali Graymond. I'm an expert in OCD recovery because for the last 19 years, I've been helping people fully recover from OCD. If you would like to do personal coaching with me, all the information is on younhubocd.com you can sign up from there. Let's talk about how you can stop intrusive thoughts. So first of all, can intrusive thoughts be stopped? Or would do. Does everybody have intrusive thoughts? If you listen to anybody on YouTube, anybody online, they'll tell you you cannot stop intrusive thoughts. Everybody gets intrusive thoughts. That is true with one, but you are the one who's making OCD thoughts intrusive through your reaction to the thought. When the thought just comes in, it's just a bunch of words strung together. With ocd, sometimes you get a feeling. Okay, you get a feeling. Do you get a thought? It's just content. You received a box of content. It's neutral. It's neither good or bad. It's just a box. But what do you do with it? Are you in the mindset? Oh, my God, why do I have this? I'm a bad person. This means this and that about me, right? Right. That reaction is what's intrusive. That's what makes the thought intrusive. If you're and. And different thoughts are intrusive to different people, what's intrusive to one person is not intrusive to another. Which again proves my point that this is just a box of content. If you tell your super intrusive OCD thought to somebody who doesn't have ocd, they'll be like, that's not intrusive. That's stupid. Right? So you're creating intrusiveness. And just like you're creating it, you cannot create it. So you could say like, that's dumb. Not buying it. And if you train yourself to do this from the beginning all the time, then your brain will eventually start to do this on autopilot. Where on autopilot, it won't take things seriously. And how do you do this again? Tracking and reducing rumination. Tracking is a tool, and the goal is reducing. So every time a thought comes in, your intrusive, disturbing thought, instead of giving it that reaction, giving it intrusive power, you're saying it's, I don't care. Doesn't matter. It's nonsense. Even if you might not feel like it's nonsense right now, even if you feel like it's important, you're still making that choice and you're not buying into solving it, figuring it out and all of that. So you're retraining how your brain processes information. And if you do this over and over again, eventually on autopilot, it starts to not flag it anymore. So then you won't even notice them coming in. Just like you don't notice other thoughts that other people find intrusive, but you don't even register them, you know what I'm saying? So you don't have to be a slave to these intrusive thoughts, you don't have to be a victim to them. You can actually take charge and change how your brain processes this information. But it needs to be repetitive, correct reaction. Because before you had repetitive, incorrect reaction, which is what trained your brain the wrong way. So now we have to walk it back. So that's why it's important that you take every opportunity. And again, this is where the tracking comes in, that you're accountable for every opportunity. When the thought comes in, I'm giving it zero reaction. Two seconds later, another document. Again, zero reaction. Because they're going to keep coming in. You can't stop that right now. This mechanism is already going. So they're going to keep coming in and. But your reaction is setting you up for the future one way or another, right? They're either going to be super intrusive or not intrusive at all in the future, depending on your continuous reaction starting now. Thank you for listening. If you have not subscribed, please subscribe. If you would like to do private coaching with me, please sign up through you have ocd.com I'll see you tomorrow.