Podcast Summary: OCD Recovery with Ali Greymond

Episode: You Must Ignore OCD Thoughts Passively

Date: November 27, 2025
Host: Ali Greymond

Episode Overview

In this focused daily episode, Ali Greymond addresses a crucial nuance in OCD recovery: the importance of passively ignoring OCD thoughts rather than engaging with them in a heightened or urgent way. Drawing from her extensive experience as a coach and someone who has lived through OCD, Ali explains why trying too hard to disregard thoughts paradoxically strengthens them, offering listeners actionable advice to support genuine recovery.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Disregarding OCD Thoughts: The Passive Approach

• Ali emphasizes that how you ignore intrusive OCD thoughts is just as important as that you ignore them.
  • “You cannot be in the mindset of, oh my God, I have a thought, I got to disregard. If you act like this... you create a state of emergency.” (00:24)
• The brain interprets urgency and high alert as validation that the intrusive thoughts are important or dangerous.
  • “What actually happens is you’re making the situation more relevant because your brain sees that you are on guard.” (00:42)

2. Pitfall: Active Disregard and Its Consequences

• Many people make the mistake of disregarding thoughts with high effort—setting timers, obsessively tracking progress, or anxiously waiting for thoughts to vanish.
  • This “obsessive” approach only underlines the importance of the intrusive thoughts and can worsen symptoms.
  • “A lot of the times people will say, well, I’m trying to disregard, but it’s not working... what I see is that the person is obsessively trying to disregard, trying to do it in a perfection way.” (01:37)
  • “It just... becomes kind of an overwhelming thing, which, again, underlines it.” (01:54)

3. Adopting a Dismissive, Casual Attitude

• The effective approach is to treat OCD thoughts nonchalantly, seeing them as background noise rather than emergencies requiring action.
  • “You want to do it very passively. Like, yeah, okay, I have this thought. I have it every day. Whatever. I’m going on with my day. Thanks, but no thanks. I don’t care.” (00:52)
• The mantra is to continue daily life, recognizing the ‘parade’ of thoughts but deciding they are not worth engagement.
  • “At this point, the thought is not going to go away. The thought is still going to be here, but you are just going on with the day and ignoring the fact that there is literally a parade in your brain.” (01:06)
  • “Passively ignoring, yelling at the top of your lungs, saying, when are these thoughts going to go away? Is not passively ignoring. That is underlining it, making it important.” (01:14)

4. Why This Nuance Matters

• Ali stresses this subtle shift can make a notable difference in recovery:
  • “This is a small nuance, but for a lot of people, it makes a big difference...” (01:27)
  • She reminds listeners that passiveness is a skill to practice and that persistent, gentle reduction of importance is key.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On urgency versus passiveness:
  “If you start to disregard from the state of emergency in your brain... your brain sees that you are on guard.” (00:41)

• On ruminating about disregarding:
  “Obsessively trying to disregard, trying to do it in a perfection way... it becomes kind of an overwhelming thing, which, again, underlines it.” (01:37-01:54)

• On the right mindset:
  “Like this passiveness in disregarding. Just please remember this, because this will make a difference in your recovery, I promise.” (02:18)

Important Timestamps

• 00:24 – Introducing the concept of passive disregard
• 00:52 – How to strike the right tone: “Yeah, okay, I have this thought… whatever”
• 01:14 – Warning against active, emotional responses to thoughts
• 01:37 – Describing the mistake of obsessive disregarding
• 02:18 – Emphasizing the importance of passiveness in recovery

Closing Thought

Ali Greymond’s episode delivers a clear, compassionate message: meaningful OCD recovery hinges on exactly how you respond to intrusive thoughts. Passive, dismissive ignoring weakens their grip—while hypervigilant, effortful disregard can inadvertently empower them. Practicing this nuanced skill is a key step toward lasting recovery.