How to Stop Paying Attention to OCD Thoughts
A Practical Exercise for Intrusive Thoughts and Rumination
If you live with OCD, you may find yourself asking:
“How do I stop thinking about this?”
“Why can’t I turn off these thoughts?”
“This thought loop is ruining my life.”
The mental loops of OCD, often called rumination, can feel exhausting and impossible to escape. Many people spend hours analyzing their thoughts, trying to prove they aren’t dangerous or meaningful.
Unfortunately, the more you try to solve or analyze the thought, the stronger the loop often becomes.
One helpful approach comes from psychologist Dr. Michael Greenberg, who has written extensively about the role of rumination in OCD. In this video he walks through an exercise called “How to Stop Paying Attention,” he introduces a simple exercise that helps you practice not engaging with obsessive thoughts.
Why OCD Thoughts Feel So Powerful
Intrusive thoughts are a common part of OCD. These thoughts might involve themes such as:
Harm OCD
Contamination OCD
Relationship OCD
Sexual intrusive thoughts
Existential fears
Identify fears
When an intrusive thought appears, OCD usually pushes you to do something about it mentally, such as:
Rumination (mentally analyzing the thought)
Reassurance (trying to prove the thought isn’t true)
Checking your feelings
Trying to force the thought away
These are called mental compulsions.
While they may temporarily reduce anxiety, they actually train your brain to pay more attention to the thought, which keeps the OCD cycle going.
An Exercise: Practice Not Engaging With the Thought
In Dr. Greenberg’s exercise, you intentionally bring up a thought that normally triggers anxiety.
For example, someone with harm OCD might think:
"Knives might make me think about hurting someone."
Normally, this thought would trigger a spiral of rumination, such as:
“What if this means something about me?”
“Do I secretly want to hurt someone?”
“Let me analyze whether this thought feels real.”
Instead of engaging with the thought, the goal of this exercise is to stop paying attention to it.
What “Not Paying Attention” Actually Means
When the intrusive thought appears, try the following:
Notice the thought
Allow it to be there
Let your attention naturally move elsewhere
You are not trying to:
Push the thought away
Replace it with a positive thought
Distract yourself on purpose
Argue with the thought
As Dr. Greenberg explains, this is a passive process, not an active one.
Rather than fighting your mind, you simply stop participating in the mental debate.
Why Fighting Thoughts Makes OCD Worse
One of the most counterintuitive parts of OCD treatment is that trying to control thoughts often strengthens them.
When you:
Analyze a thought
Fight it
Reassure yourself
Try to prove it wrong
…you are still paying attention to it.
From your brain’s perspective, that thought must be important.
Over time, learning to allow the thought without engaging with it can reduce the amount of attention your brain gives it.
Approach the Exercise With Curiosity
If you try this exercise, approach it with curiosity rather than perfection.
You may notice:
The thought comes back repeatedly
Your brain tries to pull you into rumination
Anxiety rises and falls
That’s a natural part of the process.
The goal isn’t to eliminate intrusive thoughts.
The goal is to practice not engaging with them.
With repetition, many people find that the thoughts become less sticky and less distressing over time.
