Podcast Summary: "Why Delaying Works Well In OCD Recovery"

OCD Recovery with Ali Greymond
Release Date: September 29, 2025

Overview

In this episode, Ali Greymond explores the power and practicality of delaying compulsions and ruminations as a strategy in OCD recovery. Pulling from her 19+ years of experience in OCD coaching and her own recovery, Ali explains how even if stopping rumination entirely feels impossible, delaying it can significantly lower anxiety and gradually weaken OCD’s grip. She mixes practical advice with encouragement, focusing on achievable steps for listeners at all stages of recovery.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Challenge of Stopping Rumination

• Ali empathizes with listeners who find it “very difficult…to completely stop rumination about a certain topic” (00:15).
• She acknowledges the common feeling of wanting to “keep a door open a little bit to maybe ruminate later,” as stopping cold turkey often seems too daunting.

2. The Power of Delay

• Delaying, Not Denying: Instead of eliminating rumination, Ali suggests postponing it:
  • “If you say, ‘Okay, I’m not gonna ruminate right now. I’m gonna go do whatever—it is something. The more interactive, the better.’” (00:33)
  • She encourages doing activities that take your mind off things, however slightly: “Make a phone call, go to the store, whatever…[it] will kind of shift your focus a little bit elsewhere.” (00:39)
• Reducing Daily Rumination:
  • “When you do that, you are reducing your overall rumination minutes for the day.” (00:50)
  • Ali stresses that any reduction, even if partial, has a cumulative effect on anxiety and recovery.

3. Tracking and Progress

• Ali describes a method of tracking rumination minutes, highlighting that “the less the person ruminates, the lower their anxiety starts to drop” (01:05).
• She clarifies: this isn’t just about ruminating on intrusive thoughts, but includes “rumination about recovery, about tracking, about how bad your life is—about everything.” (01:16)

4. Building on Daily Success

• Ali advocates building your capacity to delay:
  • “Let’s say today, every time I’m gonna get a thought, I’m not gonna ruminate right away. I’m going to give myself an hour before I even let myself ruminate at all.” (02:03)
  • Over time, even small increments matter: “Build on it the next day.” (02:00)
• She is realistic: “I’m saying, it’s better if you don’t ruminate…but in an emergency situation…at least delay.” (02:13)

5. Understanding the Anxiety Curve

• Ali explains the “anxiety curve”—the experience of escalating anxiety that peaks and then drops off.
  • “Anxiety goes up, goes up, goes up, hits a peak…If you sit through that peak, through delaying…an hour from now, it might not even feel so important…” (02:44)
• Delaying often reveals that the compulsion or rumination is “not so important” after all.
• She adds: “Then maybe by the time you delay…you might give yourself a delay of another hour. Hopefully that’s now two hours that you didn’t ruminate.” (03:10)

6. Practical Outcome

• The ultimate aim:
  • “Reduction in rumination equals reduction in anxiety equals reduction in OCD.” (03:30)
  • She motivates listeners: “Don’t you want to reduce your anxiety from where it is right now? Do the tracking, do the reduction through refusing, through delaying, whatever you need to do, that rumination needs to go down.” (03:39)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the power of accumulating non-rumination time:
  • “Even if you ruminated later, maybe for a little bit of time, you already carved out the space where you’re not ruminating.” (01:50)
• On facing urges:
  • “Sometimes situations—especially when a person is just starting out with OCD—you can say, ‘I just can’t not do a compulsion or I just can’t not ruminate.’ It helps to at least delay because it carves back time where you didn’t engage in OCD behavior…” (02:18)
• On the value of sitting through discomfort:
  • “If you sit through that peak, through delaying and do nothing, then…your anxiety will drop and you’ll start to see the situation more rationally…” (02:55)

Important Timestamps

• 00:15 – Introduction of the delay concept and initial empathy for listener struggles
• 00:33-00:50 – How delaying works in practice and the importance of substituting with activities
• 01:05-01:16 – Connection between reduced rumination and anxiety drop
• 02:00-02:20 – Building the practice of delay and advice for difficult moments
• 02:44-03:10 – The anxiety curve explained and how delay changes the urgency of compulsions
• 03:30-03:39 – Final summary: reducing rumination is the goal

Takeaways

Ali Greymond drives home that delaying rumination—even without achieving complete elimination—is a powerful, realistic, and effective tool for OCD recovery. Tracking ruminations, carving out non-rumination time, and understanding the natural curve of anxiety are all essential concepts. Her tone is practical yet encouraging, urging listeners to prioritize reduction—by any means necessary—on their path to freedom from OCD.