Podcast Summary: "Why Is Your Brain Doing This?"

Podcast: OCD Recovery
Host: Ali Greymond
Date: November 29, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Ali Greymond tackles one of the most distressing questions faced by those struggling with OCD: “Why is my brain doing this to me?” Drawing from her personal experience and years of coaching, Ali breaks down how the OCD brain operates, demystifies why intrusive thoughts and compulsions occur, and provides actionable advice for building a path to recovery through tracking and accountability.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Everyone Has 'Weird Thoughts' — The Difference with OCD

• Ali explains that both people with and without OCD experience strange or intrusive thoughts:

  “A person with OCD and a person without OCD can get the same thoughts and in fact, do get the same thoughts.” (01:01)

  • People without OCD quickly dismiss these thoughts as unimportant.
  • People who develop OCD interpret the thoughts as deeply meaningful or worrisome, asking themselves, “What does this mean about me?”

• Physical compulsions work similarly:

  • Non-OCD individuals might consider doing something again “just in case” but easily brush it off.
  • Those with OCD fixate, concerned about consequences:

    “But what would that be if I didn't do it? And they start to develop this in their mind and end up falling for a compulsion.” (02:22)

2. How the OCD Cycle Begins

• After the first reaction of fear or compulsion, the brain “flags” the situation as dangerous:

  “Your brain is always taking notice of everything you do and is flagging things accordingly... I will send the same reaction to you on autopilot.” (03:17)

• Repeated fear and reassurance behaviors condition the brain to treat these thoughts as a real threat — increasing their frequency and intensity.

3. Why Reassurance and Compulsions Make Things Worse

• Reassurance behaviors, whether mental or physical, are interpreted by the brain as necessary for survival.
• The more reassurance is sought, the more the brain is “trained” that the thought or compulsion is important and urgent.
• Ali’s central message:

  “The more you are afraid, the more you are doing reassurance behavior... the more your brain thinks, oh, must be scary, still reacting with a lot of fear, and it sends it to you more.” (04:34)

4. The Importance of Tracking and Accountability

• Disregarding thoughts is not enough; deliberate tracking is essential:

  “You really have to be laser focused on this and let only the absolute bare minimum through in terms of rumination and compulsions.” (06:01)

• Start by tracking rumination and compulsions, even if progress is slow.

• All-or-nothing thinking is common in OCD, but steady, incremental improvement leads to true recovery.

• Memorable quote about the necessity of tracking:

  “Without tracking, it's like, well, I'm disregarding. Well, how much are you disregarding compared to yesterday? Well, I don't know, I'm just trying to...” (15:20)

5. OCD Is Not About the Content of Thoughts

• Ali stresses that OCD doesn’t care about the topic — only your fear response:

  “It doesn't even understand what you're worried about... it just understands that this particular package is very scary to you.” (09:13)

• This explains why OCD can shift to nonsensical or even physically impossible themes as recovery progresses.

6. The ‘Bear in the Forest’ Analogy

• To illustrate how the brain generalizes fear, Ali shares a favorite analogy:
  • If you’re scared by a bear in the forest, the next day in the city, every bush might trigger alarm.

  “Because of how scared you got the day before, let’s say. So this is how OCD works. The game is to get you into rumination and to get you into a compulsion. Your brain is doing this to protect you.” (11:05)

7. Action is Required for Brain Retraining

• Rationalizing doesn’t help retrain the OCD brain; only behavioral change will:

  “It's not through rationalization. It's not through explanation. It's not through talk therapy. It's through action, meaning refusing the protective reaction to the thought...” (13:07)

• Refusing compulsions and choosing not to ruminate—even if it feels wrong—is the path forward.

8. Tracking: The Recovery “Game”

• Make tracking into a regular routine, whether on paper, an app, or otherwise — just not in your head.

• Ali recommends checking in every three hours:

  “In three hour increments every single day... The word of every day with OCD is accountability.” (16:47)

• Even the smallest reduction in compulsions or rumination each day adds up:

  “If you do that, no matter how big your mountain of OCD is, you will get there, I promise you... It's just little bit by little bit.” (17:53)

• Personal insight:

  “Compared to how long it took me to recover, compared to how fast my clients are recovering, it's night and day. So this system works so much better because it's basically an improvement from the original system of just disregarding.” (18:39)

9. Community Support and Forum Purpose

• Ali appreciates the positive, proactive atmosphere in her forum, created to avoid counterproductive reassurance-seeking and to encourage real recovery efforts.

  “Instead of just, you know, complaining and not doing any recovery work, we're actually helping people get on the right path.” (20:07)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Can you fully recover from OCD? Absolutely. Yes, you can.” (00:12)
• “Your brain is doing this to protect you. It doesn't understand that there's nothing that you need to be protected from.” (11:55)
• “Rationalization won’t do it. If you want to recover, you have to act your way out.” (13:47)
• “Accountability. Did I do a minute less than yesterday? Did I do one compulsion less than yesterday?” (16:59)
• “I believe in you because I see this every single day with clients from all situations—and they’re all doing well because they’re doing the work.” (19:58)

Important Timestamps

• 00:00 – Introduction: Can you really recover from OCD?
• 01:01 – Intrusive thoughts: Everyone gets them
• 03:17 – Brain ‘flags’ compulsions and rumination
• 04:34 – Why reassurance makes OCD worse
• 06:01 – The necessity of tracking
• 09:13 – OCD is not about the thought’s topic
• 11:05 – The Bear Analogy
• 13:07 – Recovery requires behavioral change
• 16:47 – Tracking, accountability, and making progress
• 18:39 – The benefit of accountability over simple disregarding
• 20:07 – Empowering the OCD recovery community

Tone & Style

Ali maintains a direct, empathetic, and motivational tone, blending practical advice with relatable stories and analogies. Her message is clear: recovery is attainable, but it is a process requiring accountability and consistent action—not just passive hope.

Summary

Ali Greymond’s episode centers on the brain’s misunderstood protection mechanism in OCD and how persistent practical tracking and behavioral change—not rationalization—lay the groundwork for genuine recovery. Her relentless focus on accountability, actionable steps, and supportive community empowerment delivers both hope and a clear blueprint for listeners at any stage of their OCD journey.