How to Resist Mental Compulsions: Retraining the Brain
“I’m sure I love my girlfriend. Do I really love my girlfriend? Am I feeling love right now when I look at her? No, I just feel a pit in my stomach. Does that mean I don’t love her? I feel love for her sometimes. Is it frequent enough? I know you can’t have that feeling of love all the time. But do I feel it enough? How much is enough? My dad told me it’s normal to get annoyed at your partner. It must be normal. What if it’s not? I was more attracted to other girlfriends, I think. But she supports me so much better than others have. And I am attracted to her. That must be enough. Every relationship is different. What if it’s not enough? What am I doing?”
Many people who seek OCD therapy perform physical compulsions. These are overt and able to be observed by others, like hand-washing, checking, tapping, or repeating actions. However, not all compulsions are like this. Sometimes compulsions are performed entirely in one’s head. These are called mental compulsions. Whether mental or physical, all compulsions serve the same function: to relieve anxiety or distress, to find certainty, and/or to prevent a feared outcome from happening.
What Do Mental Compulsions Look Like?
Mental compulsions are covert and cannot be directly observed by others. However, others might be able to notice someone appearing to be distracted or “spacing out.” Mental compulsions are not the same as intrusive thoughts. Intrusive thoughts are not controllable or intentional, but mental compulsions are. Intrusive thoughts are often the trigger for anxiety, guilt, or distress, while mental compulsions are meant to relieve anxiety.
As an OCD therapist, I know that it can be hard to spot mental compulsions since others can’t see them. Some common types of mental compulsions are:
Prayer - Prayers that are said in one’s head as a compulsion are mental compulsions
Counting - Counting objects in the environment, counting up to a certain number, etc.
Tracking - tracking something in one’s mind (e.g., tracking everything that a contaminated pencil touched)
Repeating specific words or phrases mentally
Self-Reassurance - Reassuring oneself that everything is “Ok”
Neutralizing - intentionally thinking a positive thought in response to a negative thought to “cancel out” the effects of the negative thought
Thought suppression - Trying to push away thoughts that come into one’s mind
Mental Checking - reviewing or analyzing a situation or an event in one’s mind in an attempt to gain certainty
Checking Sensations or Emotions - Analyzing one’s physical sensations or emotional state
Mental Comparing - Comparing things, people, or situations in an attempt to gain certainty or figure something out
Rationalizing - Attempts to use logic to “figure out”
How Can You Stop Mental Compulsions?
Mental compulsions can be tricky to address in OCD treatment because they are not observable to the therapist and because they can become automatic if they’ve been done intentionally for a long time, almost like a reflex. The good news is that there are sound strategies for decreasing and eliminating mental compulsions over time.
Gaining Awareness
Before stopping mental compulsions, it’s necessary to build awareness of one’s mental compulsions. Often, people with OCD may not even notice how much they are engaging in mental compulsions and may not realize they are doing it in the moment. In order to gain awareness, tracking one’s mental compulsions may be important.
There are many ways to do this, from making simple tally marks to a thorough record of when, where, and why the mental compulsion was engaged in. By working on recognizing that it is happening in the moment, people become more aware of the behaviors, which will make it possible to stop them instead of accommodating them.
Undoing
Since mental compulsions can become somewhat reflexive, it may not be possible to fully prevent oneself from performing the mental compulsion. For example, if I were to intentionally think “I would never do that” every time that I have an intrusive thought about harming someone, the thought “I would never do that” would start to come up unbidden even if I wasn’t trying to think it. If that happens, one option in response is to “undo” the compulsion. How to do this depends on the type of mental compulsion. Undoing could look like:
Intentionally thinking the negative thought again after it was neutralized by a positive thought
“Poking holes” in the logic that was used to self-reassure or “figure out” something
Keep counting, but stop at a “bad” number
Look For Uncertainty
OCD wants commitment to its endless and impossible quest to gain absolute certainty. It uses fear to train people to search for certainty at all costs. Mental compulsions are just another way to stay stuck in this cycle. Instead of looking for certainty, one way to combat mental compulsions is to intentionally look for uncertainty. It’s a skill, and it needs practice, but it is possible to retrain your brain to approach rather than to avoid uncertainty. When you really think about it, anything and everything is uncertain. Life is full of it!
Mindfulness
Certain mindfulness strategies can help with resisting mental compulsions. These include noticing one’s thoughts without doing anything with them (mindfulness of current thoughts). If the mental compulsions are done in response to intrusive thoughts, an alternative to the mental compulsion is to work on simply noticing the thought and mindfully moving forward.
Mindfulness strategies involving refocusing attention can also help with more ruminative forms of mental compulsions. To resist further engagement in trying to “figure out” if one loves God enough, mindfulness can be used to notice those thoughts and keep bringing one’s attention back to whatever one is doing. Over time, it gets easier to resist the compulsive rumination.
During Exposures
Many people with OCD have trouble fully leaning into uncertainty during exposures. It’s not uncommon for folks to use self-reassurance during exposures, making them ineffective. When this happens, it can be useful to make a “What If” list. A “What If” list is a list of statements whose purpose is to assist in undoing any reassuring thoughts and move back toward uncertainty.
Usually, I will put the list together with my clients in session so that it targets the thoughts that typically come up as mental compulsions during exposures, and so the statements do not include any inkling of certainty or reassurance. Then, clients can have that list with them to look at during the exposure to help resist or undo mental compulsions.
Tying It All Together: Final Thoughts From an OCD Therapist in Wauwatosa
Mental compulsions can be tricky, but with the right tools, it is possible to resist them and move towards recovery and healing. It is often beneficial to use a combination of the above approaches. For example, creating a “What If” list that helps to “undo” self-reassurance and mindfully bringing your thoughts back toward uncertainty so you can practice sitting with it. At Leap Counseling, we recognize that these strategies are not easy and take time and practice. However, consistency does lead to results. Leaning into that anxiety and uncertainty is the best path to freedom.
Train Your Brain to Resist Mental Compulsions Through Online OCD Therapy in Wauwatosa, WI
If your OCD shows up through constant analyzing, reassurance-seeking thoughts, or mental checking, relief is still possible. OCD therapy can help you recognize mental compulsions and practice responding differently, weakening the OCD cycle and creating more mental space over time.
Leap Counseling and Consultation is a Wisconsin-based solo therapy practice led by Dr. Johanna Wood, who specializes in treating OCD and anxiety disorders using evidence-based approaches. With personalized care, Dr. Wood helps clients retrain their brains to tolerate uncertainty and reduce both visible and mental rituals. Getting started with support is simple:
Get in touch to schedule a free 15-minute consultation
Meet one-on-one with an experienced OCD therapist in Wauwatosa
Begin learning how to resist mental compulsions with guided support
Other Services Leap Counseling Offers in Wisconsin and All PSYPACT States
When OCD is driven by constant mental checking, analyzing, or reassurance-seeking thoughts, it can feel exhausting and hard to escape. Through effective OCD therapy, many people learn how to interrupt mental compulsions, respond differently to intrusive thoughts, and gradually retrain the brain to tolerate uncertainty.
While OCD therapy is a primary focus of my Wisconsin-based online practice, it is not the only type of therapy I offer. Anxiety frequently overlaps with OCD or appears in other forms. As a licensed online therapist serving Wisconsin and all PSYPACT states, I also provide therapy for Panic Disorder, Agoraphobia, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, and specific Phobias.
Wherever you are in your journey, compassionate, evidence-based care can help you move forward. I invite you to explore my mental health blog to learn more about OCD, anxiety, and treatment approaches, and when you’re ready, reach out to schedule an appointment and take a meaningful step toward greater clarity and relief.
About the Author
Dr. Johanna Wood is a licensed clinical psychologist in Wisconsin who specializes in treating OCD with evidence-based approaches, particularly Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). She earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Northern Illinois University and completed her doctoral internship at Rogers Behavioral Health’s OCD and Anxiety Adult Residential Program, later supervising clinicians in residential treatment settings.
Alongside her professional training, Dr. Wood brings personal insight from her own experience with relationship OCD, where intrusive thoughts and mental compulsions fueled anxiety. Through her own ERP work, she learned how resisting mental rituals and leaning into uncertainty can retrain the brain over time, a principle that now guides how she helps clients reduce compulsions and build confidence. She is licensed in Wisconsin, holds PSYPACT authorization, and remains active in the International OCD Foundation through education and advocacy efforts.
