10 Best OCD Exercises Recommended By a Psychologist
Key Takeaway: These therapist-backed OCD exercises can support kids, teens, and adults in learning how to respond differently to intrusive thoughts rather than trying to eliminate them. Each one targets a different skill used in OCD treatment, from reducing compulsions to building comfort with uncertainty, to help build confidence, flexibility, and long-term change.
Living with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) can feel exhausting. Intrusive thoughts can show up without warning, triggering anxiety and a strong urge to find certainty or relief. Over time, this cycle can start to take over daily life. The good news is that the right OCD exercises can help change how your brain responds, without needing to get rid of thoughts altogether.
Hi, I’m Dr. Ayesha Ludhani, a clinical psychologist who specializes in anxiety and OCD. In my work, I use evidence-based approaches to help people break free from unhelpful patterns and build confidence in tolerating uncertainty. Effective mental exercises for OCD focus on reducing compulsions, responding differently to intrusive thoughts, and staying engaged in life, even when discomfort is present.
Below are evidence-based OCD activities for therapy that are commonly used with kids, teens, and adults. While the core principles remain the same, the way exercises are practiced often varies with the developmental stage.
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OCD exercises for kids
1. Externalizing OCD (“bossing back OCD”)
For kids, OCD can feel confusing and overwhelming, especially when intrusive thoughts seem scary or “bad.” Externalizing OCD helps children understand that OCD is something their brain does—not who they are.
How to do it: Kids are encouraged to give OCD a nickname and talk about it as an outside “voice” that gives unhelpful instructions. Parents and therapists consistently label intrusive thoughts as “OCD thoughts” rather than meaningful or dangerous ideas.
For example, your child thinks that something bad will happen if they don’t line up their toys “just right.” Instead of fixing the toys, you say, “That sounds like OCD trying to boss you around,” helping your child recognize the thought as OCD—not a rule they must follow.
How it helps: This reduces shame and fear while helping kids learn that thoughts don’t need to be obeyed, argued with, or fixed.
2. Visual trigger mapping
Children benefit from concrete, visual ways of understanding what’s happening in their minds and bodies. Trigger mapping introduces the idea that OCD follows patterns.
How to do it: Using drawings, charts, or simple worksheets, kids map out what triggers OCD, what feelings show up in their body, and what urges come next. For example, your child draws a picture showing what happens when they have to leave the house: feeling nervous in their stomach, thinking something bad might happen, and wanting to check the door repeatedly.
How it helps: Seeing OCD as a pattern builds awareness and prepares kids for learning new responses later on.
3. Supported exposure practice (ERP for kids)
ERP is the gold-standard approach for OCD and one of the most effective OCD exercises used in therapy. It involves intentionally and gradually facing OCD triggers while choosing not to engage in compulsions. This is a kid-friendly version of exposure work that focuses on safety, collaboration, and adult support rather than independence.
How to do it: With a parent or therapist, kids practice small exposures, such as touching a “maybe dirty” object, while adults help them resist the urge to seek reassurance and rituals. An example might be a child who fears germs, practices touching a playground railing, then waits before washing their hands, with a parent nearby offering encouragement but not reassurance.
How it helps: Kids learn that anxiety is uncomfortable but manageable, and that OCD’s predictions don’t come true the way they expect.
4. Sensory grounding for emotional regulation
Grounding helps kids stay connected to the present moment when anxiety feels big or overwhelming.
How to do it: When anxiety spikes, kids focus on concrete sensory experiences, such as naming things they can see, holding a textured object, or listening for sounds around them.
How it helps: This builds emotional regulation skills without turning grounding into avoidance or reassurance.
OCD exercises for teens
5. Building tolerance for uncertainty
Teens with OCD often feel driven to resolve doubts immediately. This exercise targets the belief that uncertainty is unsafe.
How to do it: When intrusive doubts arise, teens practice allowing uncertainty rather than seeking reassurance, often using neutral responses. For example, after sending a text, you notice the urge to reread it repeatedly, then respond, “Maybe it was fine, maybe not,” and put the phone down.
How it helps: Learning to tolerate uncertainty reduces compulsive checking and reassurance-seeking.
6. Interrupting mental rituals
Many teens experience OCD internally through rumination, reviewing, or mental checking. This exercise brings those patterns into awareness.
How to do it: Teens practice noticing when mental rituals begin and gently disengaging instead of trying to solve or neutralize the thought. An example might be catching yourself replaying a conversation to make sure you didn’t say something wrong, and gently shifting your attention back to what you’re doing instead of continuing to review it.
How it helps: Reducing mental compulsions decreases time spent stuck in thought loops and lowers overall distress.
7. Mindfulness for non-engagement
When used correctly, mindfulness helps teens notice thoughts without reacting to them.
How to do it: Teens anchor attention to the present moment, such as their breath or surroundings, while allowing intrusive thoughts to exist without analysis. An example of this is noticing an intrusive thought pop up during class. Instead of analyzing it, you focus on your feet on the floor and the sound of the teacher’s voice while continuing to listen.
How it helps: This builds non-reactivity and emotional regulation without reinforcing OCD patterns.
OCD exercises for adults
8. Structured exposure & response prevention (ERP for adults)
For adults, OCD patterns are often long-standing and deeply ingrained. ERP helps interrupt these patterns in a systematic, intentional way.
How to do it: Begin by identifying a range of triggers and ranking them from least distressing to most distressing. You then practice exposing yourself to a lower-level trigger, such as sitting with an intrusive thought, leaving something unchecked, or looking at a feared object, and allowing anxiety to be present without performing the usual ritual.
For example, someone with checking OCD might practice leaving their home without rechecking the door, while resisting the urge to mentally replay whether it was locked. During exposure, the goal is to stay with the discomfort long enough for anxiety to rise and eventually decrease on its own. Exposures are repeated consistently and increased in difficulty over time.
How it helps: ERP helps retrain the brain to stop interpreting intrusive thoughts and uncertainty as threats. With practice, anxiety becomes more manageable, urges lose their intensity, and confidence grows in your ability to tolerate discomfort. This is why ERP remains the most effective and widely recommended OCD exercise in therapy.
9. Values-driven action
OCD often shrinks life by convincing people to wait until they feel “certain enough.” Values-based action helps reverse that pattern.
How to do it: Adults identify core values, such as relationships, creativity, or growth, and choose actions aligned with those values even when anxiety is present. Maybe you attend a family gathering despite feeling anxious about intrusive thoughts because connection and relationships are important to you.
How it helps: This shifts focus from symptom control to meaningful, fulfilling living.
10. Testing OCD predictions (behavioral experiments)
Behavioral experiments help adults see the difference between what OCD predicts and what actually happens.
How to do it: Adults intentionally do not perform a compulsion and observe the outcome rather than relying on fear-based predictions. An example of this might be an adult with health anxiety who chooses not to Google a symptom and observes what happens instead. Did something bad happen from not Googling? Did the anxiety stay the same, or did it decrease?
How it helps: This weakens OCD’s credibility and strengthens confidence in lived experience.
A compassionate reminder about healing from OCD
Healing from OCD isn’t about getting rid of thoughts or achieving perfect certainty. It’s about learning ways that allow you to live more freely, even when anxiety shows up. Progress often happens gradually, through small, consistent shifts, and setbacks are a normal part of the process—not a sign that you’re failing.
If you’re feeling stuck or overwhelmed, you don’t have to navigate this on your own. Working with a psychologist who specializes in OCD can provide structure, clarity, and support as you practice these exercises in a way that feels safe and manageable.
If you’re interested in exploring therapy or learning how these OCD exercises can be personalized for you,I invite you to reach out and see if we’d be a good fit. You deserve support as you move toward a life guided more by choice than by fear.