OCD Training - Show Your Brain Normalcy In OCD Recovery - OCD Recovery

OCD Recovery Podcast Summary

Episode: OCD Training - Show Your Brain Normalcy In OCD Recovery

Host: Ali Greymond
Release Date: September 8, 2025

Main Theme

In this episode, Ali Greymond discusses a foundational principle for OCD recovery: teaching your brain ‘normalcy.’ She explains how using normal, everyday behavior as a benchmark—rather than aiming for perfection—helps retrain the OCD brain and fosters true, lasting recovery.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Guiding Principle: Show Your Brain Normalcy

Ali emphasizes that a major challenge in OCD recovery is uncertainty—wondering what one should do in various situations ([00:14]).
Instead of striving for perfection, moral rightness, or absolute cleanliness, Ali suggests a very different question:
- “What would be the normal thing for an average person to do in this situation?” ([00:28])
The goal is not to be perfect, but to be “standard” or "normal" in thoughts and actions.

2. Normalcy as the North Star

Ali highlights that “normal” does not mean perfect—"Even if it’s imperfect, even if you don’t 100% agree with it… use that as your guiding light" ([01:08]).
The faster you show your brain this normalcy, the faster you recover ([01:18]).

3. Practical Applications

Stop Ruminating: Most people without OCD do not ruminate excessively ([01:22]).
Stop Doing Compulsions: Compulsions are not common in those without OCD ([01:32]).
Stop Avoidance: While everyone avoids things a little, people without OCD do not let avoidance dictate their lives ([01:36]).
Ali encourages modeling yourself after an “average person without OCD”—to emulate their responses and behaviors.

4. Personalizing the Model

If abstract “normal behavior” is hard to pin down, Ali suggests using a real person, like a family member or friend, as your “normalcy model.”
- “You can also pick somebody you know… you kind of know how they generally behave and can predict what their behavior would be. So based on what you predict their behavior would be, do that.” ([02:14])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“What would be the normal thing for an average person to do in this situation? That is the question I always want you to ask yourself.”
— Ali Greymond ([00:28])
“We’re not trying to be perfect. We’re not trying to sanitize our environment, our thoughts, our actions, anything. We’re trying to be normal.”
— Ali Greymond ([00:38])
“The more you show your brain normalcy, the faster you recover.”
— Ali Greymond ([01:18])
“Most people don’t ruminate as much as you do, right? Don’t do compulsions, because people who don’t have OCD don’t do compulsions.”
— Ali Greymond ([01:20])
“If we want to be like an average person without OCD, that is what we need to be doing. And use that as your principle in how you live your life going forward.”
— Ali Greymond ([01:45])

Timestamps for Important Segments

00:14 — Introduction to the principle of showing your brain normalcy
00:28 — Key question: “What would be the normal thing for an average person to do?”
01:18 — Link between normalcy and speed of recovery
01:20 — Examples: ruminating, compulsions, avoidance
02:14 — Using a known person as a behavioral model

Summary

Ali Greymond offers clear, simple, and practical advice: to combat OCD, constantly ask yourself what normal, average people would do—not what’s perfect, moral, or safe. By repeatedly showing your brain this “normalcy,” you send corrective signals, reduce compulsions and ruminations, and accelerate your recovery. Having a relatable human as your behavioral template can make this approach even more effective.

Transcript

A (0:00)

I'm Ali Graymond. I'm an expert in OCD recovery because for the last 19 years I've been.

B (0:05)

Helping people fully recover from OCD.

A (0:07)

If you would like to do personal coaching with me, all the information is on you have OCD.com you can sign up from there.

B (0:14)

The simplest way to approach OCD recovery, when you're in a situation where you're saying, I'm not sure what the right thing to do is, I don't know how I should behave in this or that situation. The guiding light in the all these situations that you should have is showing your brain normalcy. What would be normal thing for an average person to do in this situation? That is the question I also always want to want you to ask yourself not what would be the perfect thing to do? What would be the moral right thing to do? What if would be not these questions. What would an average person do? Because we're not trying to be perfect. We're not trying to, you know, sanitize our environment, our thoughts, our actions, anything. We're trying to be normal. So that's what you should be asking yourself. What is normal in this situation? And I know normal. There's. There's no normal. There's kind of. But, but standard, standard behavior of a standard average group of people, what would they do and do that Even if it's imperfect, even if you, you don't 100% agree with it because you want everything perfect and sanitized. Use that as your guiding light. They most people would do this. So I'm going to do. The more you show your brain normaly, the faster you recover. So normalcy in the way of not ruminating, because most people don't ruminate as much as you do, right? Don't do compulsions because people who don't have OCD don't do compulsions. Don't do avoidance behaviors because most people don't avoid. I mean everybody avoids maybe something a little bit, but not much. So if we want to be like an average person without ocd, that is what we need to be doing. And use that as your principle in how you live your life going forward. You can also pick somebody, you know, like a family member or friend, because somebody you know well, you don't need to actually ask them in every situation what they would do, but you kind of know how they generally behave and kind of can predict what their behavior would be. So based on what you predict their behavior would be, do that.

A (2:45)

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 dot com. I'll see you tomorrow.