Illustrative example. These people are made up to show how a plan works. They are not real users, and results differ from person to person.
Where Emily started
Emily went back to check the hob up to 20 times before work, asked her partner "are you sure it’s off?" every evening, and lost hours to "what if" thoughts about a fire.
Goal
Leave the house after one check, and go away for a weekend without going back.
Alongside a professional
Emily was on the waiting list for NHS Talking Therapies. She started the plan while she waited, then used it between sessions with her therapist.
The science behind the plan
Every step comes from these methods, each backed by published research.
Exposure and response prevention (ERP)
A ladder of 10 steps, from "check the hob once, then leave" to "go out without checking at all". One step a day, holding off the ritual.
Naming the thought: "I’m having the thought that the house will burn down", then getting on with the day.
Source: Twohig et al. (2010), ACT for OCD, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
A typical day
ERP step 6: check the hob once, then leave for 30 minutesScience · 30 min
Urge log: rate the urge at 0, 10 and 30 minutesScience · 3 min
One reassurance question you didn’t ask todayScience · 1 min
The Lord’s Prayer, said once in the morningFaith · 2 min
Christianity
Optional faith track
Emily chose to add these. They sit next to the science steps, never instead of them. Sources are pending scholar review.
For OCD, the faith track is careful: one set prayer at a set time, said once. It never suggests repeating prayers to feel sure, because that can become another ritual. Intrusive thoughts are never treated as a sign of weak faith.
The Lord’s Prayer, once each morning
Source: Matthew 6:9–13
Why it fits: A steady start to the day, said once, not repeated for reassurance.
Reflection on not carrying tomorrow’s worries today
Source: Matthew 6:34
Why it fits: Fits the ERP step of letting "what if" thoughts be, without solving them.
These practices are data-based suggestions drawn from cited scripture. They are not pastoral counsel or a church teaching. Please speak to your pastor or priest for personal spiritual guidance.
46 days done, 6 partly done, 4 skipped. Missed days never reset progress.
Week by week
Weeks 1–2Logging every check and every "what if", then building her 10-step ladder with the plan.
Weeks 3–4First ERP steps. The urge peaked at 8 out of 10 and fell to 3 within half an hour. She missed two days in week 2, and the plan picked up where she left off.
Weeks 5–6Halfway up the ladder. Her partner stopped giving reassurance, which was hard for both of them for a week.
Weeks 7–8Leaving after one check on most days. The weekly check-in moved her to the final steps.
Score, week by week
OCI-R (obsessions and compulsions)
38 → 14 (out of 72)
Lower is better. Her score moved below the range where OCD usually gets in the way of life.
What helped most
The ERP ladder, one rung at a time
Watching the urge fall on its own
Her partner’s new answer
“The urge still shows up. I just don’t do what it says any more.”
Where Emily is now
In week 8 Emily and her partner went to the Lake District for a weekend. She checked the hob once, locked the door, and didn’t go back.