Compulsions

Compulsions are not neat, visible quirks or trivial habits. They are visceral, urgent, and often exhausting negotiations with a nervous system in absolute overload. When your body or brain produces a compulsion, it is taking action to discharge unbearable terror, physical discomfort, or sensory imbalance.

Standard therapy often treats compulsions as irrational behaviors that must be broken through forced compliance and willpower. I reject that clinical shaming. A compulsion is a survival mechanism. Whether your compulsion is physical, mental, or somatic, your body is attempting to regain a sense of safety when its baseline has been shattered.

Somatic Imperatives & Physical Demands

Compulsions frequently live directly in the flesh. They show up as an urgent physical command to clench your jaw, run, touch a surface until an itch disappears, repeat a movement, or follow a specific physical path across a room. For those living with Tourettic OCD or sensorimotor sensitivity, compulsions and physical tics blur together into intense somatic imperatives that demand release.

In my practice, we do not treat compulsions by forcing painful suppression or commanding you to sit in absolute physical torture. We look at the total load on your nervous system. 

I understand the need for safety. I recognize what your body is actually trying to survive or balance when a compulsion takes over. Our work is often distinguishing between compulsions you choose to yield to because it causes less bodily pain, and compulsions that drain your capacity. Seeking safety, co-regulation, and grounded feedback from people you trust is a natural human response to terror and one I encourage, contrary to traditional ERP. Reducing your overall load can look like lowering environmental, sensory, and structural demands so your nervous system does not have to rely as heavily on compulsive loops.

Explore related focus areas across my work:

• Compulsions That Don't Look Like Compulsions (identifying invisible, mental, and somatic compulsions)

• Tourettic OCD (navigating premonitory urges, sensorimotor compulsions, and physical "just right" states)

• OCD & Compulsive Experiences (addressing altered states, intrusive thoughts, and non-dogmatic support)

• Pain (exploring the relationship between physical pain, muscle strain, and compulsive movements)

• Ego-Dystonic Experiences (navigating intrusive thoughts, loops, and urges that directly clash with your core values and soul)

• Emotional Regulation & Overwhelm (building co-regulation, somatic grounding, and demand reduction)

• Case Management and System Navigation/Advocacy (providing concrete backing to secure academic, workplace, and medical accommodations)