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.