Today I'm sharing my secret weapon for managing OCD urges.

If you've ever felt completely terrified of your strong intrusive unwanted OCD urges,

this is going to be the episode that will change the game for you. I'm going to break down what an OCD urge is,

why it feels so real and most importantly teach you my secret weapon for improving your

reaction to these urges. I'm here so happy to meet with you. My name is Kimberly Quinlan and welcome back to your

anxiety toolkit. Today we're going to talk about compassionate management of anxiety, OCD and all the tough emotions that come along with it.

So let's start by understanding specifically what these OCD urges are.

OCD urges are intense experiences or feelings that make you feel like you have to act on a certain

thought or an impulse, even though it completely contradicts your

values. In that moment, the urge makes you feel like you are going to lose control of your body

completely. Some people say it's like an out-of-body experience, whereas others might say that they feel like

there is this force inside them that makes them feel like they're going to act in ways they do

not until. These urges could involve either some thoughts, sexual thoughts, maybe blurting out

words, maybe while you're driving your car,

when you're with your kids or with your loved ones. Whatever it is, OCD makes these urges feel

overwhelmingly real. OCD urges feel real because OCD always has a way to target exactly what we value most,

making the stakes feel incredibly high.

And in addition, these urges are often accompanied by other emotions that make them feel even more dangerous,

such as high levels of anxiety, panic, uncertainty,

anger, guilt, or even this whoosh sensation that goes throughout your body.

For instance, if you might experience harm OCD, you may see content online about intrusive thoughts. It's really common. However,

instead of just having intrusive thoughts, you might also experience these intense intrusive

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