Contamination OCD is the most widely known subset of OCD and consists of the fear of being contaminated by germs, bodily fluids, food, or any other substance.  Some people with this subset of OCD also struggle with the fear that they can be contaminated by words, names, places, images, people, colors, etc.

Health OCD is the fear of something being wrong with one's own health, or that of someone they care about.

Following these thoughts are compulsions or coping mechanisms designed to ease the anxiety such as hand washing, going to the Dr., googling symptoms, avoiding people/places/ things/words/etc., frequent sterilizing, changing clothes often, not allowing others in their space, and even avoiding leaving home.  Mental compulsions also exist with contamination OCD such as checking and reassurance seeking.  While these compulsions do offer short-term relief, they only keep you in the OCD cycle and fuel more intrusive thoughts and anxiety.

Existential OCD involves intrusive (unwanted, disturbing, or anxiety provoking) thoughts (aka obsessions) about the meaning, purpose, or reality of life.  Additionally, you may question the existence of the universe or even your own existence.  While everyone has these questions from time to time, you may spend hours contemplating this topic and the feelings following these episodes cause high levels of anxiety and discomfort.

Following these thoughts are compulsions or coping mechanisms that our brain creates to ease the discomfort, such as the need to mentally contemplate these ideas, looking at yourself in the mirror and questioning your existence, or physically doing things to prove that you (or the universe) actually does exist.  Unfortunately, these compulsions only keep you in the OCD cycle and fuel more intrusive thoughts and anxiety.

People with False Memory OCD obsess and compulse about false memories that didn't actually happen.  Or they may have the fear of forgetting.

The compulsions then become mentally reviewing or checking memories, asking others for reassurance about the memory, making lists to ensure they don't forget, and many more.  Unfortunately, these compulsions only keep you in the OCD cycle and fuel more intrusive thoughts and anxiety.

People with Harm OCD experience intrusive (unwanted, disturbing, or anxiety provoking) thoughts or images (aka obsessions) about harming oneself or others.  Examples of these thoughts include "what if I stab myself?" or "what if I drown my child?"  Images of these, or similar scenarios, can also seem to just pop into one's mind.  While these thoughts are not uncommon to those without OCD, people who struggle with OCD get "hooked" into these thoughts and fear that they may actually act on them.

Similar to harm OCD is Suicidal OCD, intrusive thoughts about suicide.  Examples are "what if I commit suicide?"  "Do I really want to commit suicide?"  "What if I get depressed and commit suicide?"  Note, a person with Suicidal OCD doesn't actually want to commit suicide, they are experiencing intrusive thoughts or fears about it.

Following these thoughts are compulsions, coping mechanisms that our brain creates to ease the discomfort, such as avoidance of the person, situations, or feared objects/places.  Reassurance seeking, from others or repeating reassurance statement to ourselves, is another common compulsion. Mental rituals are also common such as reviewing past memories looking for evidence that their thoughts are or are not true.  While these compulsions do help alleviate the anxiety in the short-term, they actually reinforce the OCD and fuel more intrusive thoughts, leading the person to stay in this fearful, OCD loop.

Perfectionistic tendencies are a common trait of those who struggle with OCD, but people with Just Right OCD experience intrusive (unwanted, disturbing, or anxiety provoking) thoughts about the "rightness" or "symmetry" of things often saying "it just doesn't feel right" or a sense of incompleteness.  This sense of incompleteness creates more feelings of discomfort and tension, as opposed to physical symptoms of anxiety, than other subsets.  Additionally, someone with this subset will feel a lot of discomfort and anxiety if things are not in the right order or arranged the way they see perfect.  This can attach to anything in life, like work, home, relationships, etc.

Following these thoughts are compulsions, coping mechanisms that our brain creates to ease the discomfort, such as the need to put things in order or in the "right" place, rearranging, reassurance seeking over mistakes, checking repetitively for completeness, mental rehearsal, counting rituals, procrastination due to imperfections, etc.  Unfortunately, these compulsions only keep you in the OCD cycle and fuel more intrusive thoughts and anxiety.

Magical Thinking OCD is when someone has irrational beliefs or superstitions and has rituals that must be done, usually to keep "something bad from happening" or to make something good happen.  For example - "if I don't touch the Budda statue 3 times, something bad will happen to my family."

These rituals are the compulsions that feed the irrational beliefs and responsibility for the outcome.  Avoiding certain people, places, numbers is another common compulsion.  Unfortunately, these compulsions only keep you in the OCD cycle and fuel more intrusive thoughts and anxiety.

Meta OCD is when OCD attached to OCD and/or recovery.  Often as someone starts recovery, their discomfort decreases, and they start to worry about what that means.  Common Meta OCD intrusive thoughts also include "what if I'm not doing recovery right?"  "What will happen if/when I get better?"  "What if this isn't even OCD?" "What if I should be getting help elsewhere or a different modality?"

The compulsions then become ruminating and obsessing over the thoughts, seeking many avenues for help and becoming confused or overwhelmed, seeking perfectionism in one's own recovery skills.  Unfortunately, these compulsions only keep you in the OCD cycle and fuel more intrusive thoughts and anxiety.

People with Moral Scrupulosity or Religious OCD experience intrusive (unwanted, disturbing, or anxiety provoking) thoughts or images (aka obsessions) about beliefs, morals, faith or religion.  While this is common with those who grow up with a religious background, it can also manifest in those without such history.  

Following these thoughts are compulsions or coping mechanisms designed to ease the anxiety such as trying to be a "good" person, avoiding people/places/things/words that trigger you, praying, perfectionism, trying to change others into "who you want them to be."  Mental compulsions also exist with scrupulosity OCD such as checking, ruminating, analyzing and reassurance seeking.  While these compulsions do offer short-term relief, they only keep you in the OCD cycle and fuel more intrusive thoughts and anxiety.

People with Pedophilia OCD (POCD) experience intrusive (unwanted, disturbing, or anxiety provoking) thoughts or images (aka obsessions) about children and the possibility that they might do something inappropriate with one.  While these thoughts can be very disturbing, they are just thoughts and the intention to do anything harmful or inappropriate with children is not actually there.  Unfortunately, the thoughts themselves persist when it goes untreated, further convincing the sufferer that they may actually do something to act on them, despite the desire not to.

Following these thoughts are compulsions or coping mechanisms designed to ease the thoughts and anxiety such as mentally reviewing time spent with children in the past, avoiding being around children alone or all together, trying to "get rid of" or "argue with" the thoughts.  Unfortunately, these compulsions only keep you in the OCD cycle and fuel more intrusive thoughts and anxiety.

People with Prenatal (or post-natal) OCD experience intrusive thoughts about their pregnancy, unborn baby, or child once born.  These thoughts can include anything, but may center around your feelings about your baby, your ability to care for them, or even harming or sexual thoughts involving your baby.  

The compulsions then become ruminating, avoidance (thoughts of ending the pregnancy or giving up your child), comparing, reassurance seeking from your partner, friends or family, mentally checking your past experiences with children, analyzing and many more.

 Unfortunately, these compulsions only keep you in the OCD cycle and fuel more intrusive thoughts and anxiety.

I have yet to work with someone who has Pure-OCD (aka Pure-O).  It was originally thought to be a subset where intrusive (unwanted, disturbing, or anxiety provoking) thoughts (aka obsessions) existed with mental compulsions only, and no physical compulsions.  But, when I dig deeper, I've always found that the person is also doing physical compulsions like reassurance seeking, avoidance, checking, confessing, and other physical compulsions that DO exist.

Unfortunately, these compulsions only keep you in the OCD cycle and fuel more intrusive thoughts and anxiety.  It is usually easier for most to eliminate physical compulsions before fully eliminating mental compulsions, but both usually exist until treatment is started.  All compulsions need to be completely stopped, so learning yours is crucial to getting to the recovery stage for OCD.

Real Event OCD is a "name" given to someone who has OCD and obsesses over a real event that happened in the past and often co-incides with OCD subsets like ROCD, Just Right OCD, POCD and more.  The person will obsess about what happened, what they did in response, whether or not it was "wrong" or not, or what they should do currently or what they should have done then.

The compulsions are mental and include replaying the situation over and over in the mind, thinking about what happened and what should or could have been done differently.  Compulsions here can also be physical by asking reassurance seeking questions or rehashing the event with friends and family.  Avoidance of this thing happening again is another way the person may try and get certainty around this topic.

It's important to understand that OCD can attach to anything, and often does attach to current or real life events, no matter the subset.  It's not the situation or the thoughts that are the problem, it's the reaction you have to it that causes the suffering with OCD.

People with Relationship OCD (ROCD) experience intrusive (unwanted, disturbing, or anxiety provoking) thoughts or images (aka obsessions) about the incompatibilities or flaws of their relationship or their partner.  While someone without OCD understands that there are going to be incompatibilities in all relationships and flaws in all people, someone with ROCD has trouble letting these go and experiences a lot of anxiety and discomfort when these thoughts come up.  Additionally, this can cause them to have unrealistic expectations of their partner or relationship.  Examples of these thoughts include "what if I don't love my partner enough?" or "what if I'm not in the right relationship?" and MANY others.

Following these thoughts are compulsions to ease the discomfort, such as avoidance of the person, situations, or feared objects/places.  Reassurance seeking, from friends, family, or the partner as to whether or not they're in the right relationship.  Confessing of thoughts and fears, googling about relationships, and mental compulsions such as overanalyzing, reviewing past memories/future scenarios.  While these compulsions do help alleviate the anxiety in the short-term, they actually reinforce the ROCD and fuel more intrusive thoughts, leading the person to stay in this fearful, OCD loop.

events, no matter the subset.  It's not the situation or the thoughts that are the problem, it's the reaction you have to it that causes the suffering with OCD.

People with Sexual Orientation OCD experience intrusive (unwanted, disturbing, or anxiety provoking) thoughts or images (aka obsessions) about their sexuality or gender.  Following these thoughts are compulsions or coping mechanisms designed to ease the anxiety such as looking at one's body to check or question how they feel or identify, avoiding thinking about or seeing stories of those who may be gay or transgender, looking at pictures of attractive men or women to see how you feel, Googling or searching the Internet for articles about the subject.  While these compulsions do offer short-term relief, they only keep you in the OCD cycle and fuel more intrusive thoughts and anxiety.

Note - intrusive thoughts/OCD can attach to sex or any subject around sex.

People with Somatic (or Sensorimotor) OCD become hyperaware of their bodily sensations such as breathing, swallowing, blinking, heartbeat, urge to urinate (anything physical).  They can fear that these automatic bodily functions will cease to work properly,  that there is something "wrong," or just hyper-focus.  The obsession then becomes the sensation itself and when/why it's happening or if it will continue to happen.  This can lead to additional obsessions over one's health and morbidity.

The compulsions then become checking for the sensation or the lack thereof, analyzing or trying to get it to stop, excessive trips to the doctor, etc.  Unfortunately, these compulsions only keep you in the OCD cycle and fuel more intrusive thoughts and anxiety.

Other Common OCD Themes

• Boredom
• Decision making
• Emotional or Metaphysical Contamination
• Forgetting or losing things
• Losing control or going crazy
• Magical thinking
• Magical Impregnation
• Numbers/Signs
• Don't see your theme here?  Remember, OCD can attach to ANYTHING!

Common Co-Occurring Disorders

• Phobias (emetophobia, agoraphobia, and many more).
• BFRBs (body-focused repetitive behaviors) - skin picking, hair pulling, etc.
• Body dysmorphic disorder
• Eating disorders
• Hoarding 

#1 - only 1% of therapists are trained to recognize and treat OCD properly ( with ERP, exposure & response prevention).  It's not their fault, they just aren't taught enough to recognize many OCD subsets (like relationship OCD, sexual orientation OCD, plus more) and how to treat them.  In school, they learn a little about a lot, but unless they work with or under an OCD Specialist after college, or seek out additional training, they won't learn.  They will try working with the anxiety or the intrusive thoughts, but their techniques won't work and often become compulsive for those with OCD. In the long-run, you don't get any better.  ERP is crucial for recovery.

#2 - Danielle did get better working with 4 therapists who taught her ERP, but she continued relapsing.  Only after learning WHY she was relapsing, and HOW to stop these relapses, did she realize what her (and most therapists) are missing in their approach.  

This is when Danielle created The REAL Method, incorporating ERP and the missing pieces that got her to and KEEP HER IN the recovery stage!  All of our coaches and moderators are trained on this method, just like our clients are.

#3 - We don't just address what's going on today, we take a wholistic and lifelong approach!  We want you to reach and stay in the recovery stage, so our teaching goes beyond what you're dealing with today.  We go deeper, teaching you what's going on in your brain, why it's happening, how to change & rewire your brain, and how this applies to outside areas of life, as these patterns usually exist in many ways and the pattern needs to be stopped to recover.

 Yes!  While therapy can be a great tool for many things, it's not always the end-all, be-all.  Not only did Danielle personally need more information and tools to get to the Lifetime Recovery Stage (after working with 4 OCD Therapists), her clients have said the same thing.  

Here are some examples:

"Danielle's program was a turning point to my life and for the first time in my life, after years of therapy, I could feel more peace in my life, strength and controlling my life."  ~ Milene Matos

"I honestly gained more knowledge and help from this course than I did from going to a therapist - and the one time therapy session was the same cost as an entire month of the online course."  ~ Anonymous

 "I have been working with 4 psychologists and 2 psychiatrists for more than 3 years and I have not made the same progress with any of them as I have with Danielle and her programs in less than 3 months."  ~ Jane Gent

"I can verify in my 27 years of suffering that ERP is the only therapy that truly helps. Don't waste money on any other therapies, reach out to Danielle Thornton for her coaching or The Path membership program. She's changed my life!!" ~ Rachel L.

"I suffer from different OCD subsets and Danielle was genuinely able to help me learn real coping skills tailored to my uniqueness - finally some real therapy!!! My previous therapist just couldn't help me with my OCD." ~ Tara M.

"I am almost to the recovery stage and know how to make it Lifetime Recovery!  Thank you so much for your amazing expertise!  I would recommend you to anyone over OCD therapy any day!!!" ~ James A.

"I went to ERP therapy for my harm OCD and while it was helpful, this The Path PREMIUM  program helped me so much more.  It taught me things that my therapist didn't and I am now in the recovery stage. ~ John B.

The REAL Method was developed by Danielle to teach people how reach get to and stay in the recovery stage (i.e. Lifetime Recovery) for any OCD subset.

It consists of the skills, tools and principles that got her to and keeps her personally in the recovery stage (since 2021).

The foundation is ERP, exposure and response prevention techniques, but additional principles and tools are added, as traditional ERP doesn't typically teach people how to STAY in the recovery stage (sometimes it's teachings lack the "how" to get to the recovery stage).

The REAL Method is taught in a way that people can easily learn &apply it, and wholistically explained to help people with a slew of situations - OCD, anxiety, doubt, uncertainty, and general imperfections in life.

The results speak for themselves.  In our experience using this method, it has NEVER failed to work for those who learn it and apply it consistently!

OCD consists of obsessions and compulsions, and it can latch onto any thought or subject.  The subsets listed above are just common subsets people have come up with names for, and not exclusive of what themes people struggle with.

Regardless of what your intrusive thoughts are about or the subject they latch onto, The REAL Method works, despite the topic of the obsessions.

Our private coaching sessions are 100% confidential between the client and coach.  Video calls are not recorded (unless requested by the client) and they are never saved.

Our membership programs do have a group format, but we've never had an issue with confidentiality.  Members are instructed to keep anything said on the calls or in chat rooms private, and have always done so respectfully.

Group calls are recorded, but stored in our private app where only members have access to view (downloading is not an option).