Do OCD urges ever go away?
Written by the clinical team at The Lyceum Clinic. Clinically reviewed by Sanah Younis, Founder and Clinical Director, BABCP-accredited (no. 1000792). Published 28 October 2026. Last reviewed 28 October 2026.
Clinical perspective: The Lyceum's specialist therapist in OCD.
What do you say to someone who has had ERP before and it did not hold?
'I am guessing you did the physical exposures, but the therapist never taught you how to stop the mental reviewing afterward, or you never planned for the 'stealth return' during a stressful life event. ERP isn't a cure that makes the thoughts disappear forever. It's a skill. Your muscles just atrophied. We are going to hit the gym again and tighten up the mental boundaries.'
How are invisible compulsions treated?
Mental rituals (rumination, mental reviewing, counting, self-reassurance) are the stealth bombers of OCD. We treat them by making the invisible visible. The exposure is bringing the trigger to mind (e.g., reading a triggering article), and the 'Response Prevention' is assigning a competing cognitive task, or using a strict '15-minute delay' rule where they are forbidden from analysing the thought. We teach them to notice the urge to figure it out, and deliberately drop the rope.
For more detail, read about OCD therapy.
Why do people delay OCD treatment?
Profound shame regarding taboo intrusive thoughts: thoughts about causing harm, unwanted sexual thoughts, including thoughts about children, and blasphemous thoughts. To that reader, I say: 'You are not your thoughts. OCD is a parasite that specifically attacks what you love most. The fact that these thoughts cause you agony is the absolute proof of your character. I have heard it all, and there is a very clear, scientific way out of this. You do not have to live in secret terror anymore.'