Hi! Mental compulsions are tricky to detect. Sometimes I only realize hours later that I did a compulsion. So, common things are (in my experience)
– checking, e.g. how you feel about a topic, are you afraid, comparing thoughts/feelings to “real/wanted” thoughts
– reassurance, e.g. “I am not a bad person because XYZ”
– praying, thinking positive things, counting
– distraction
– avoidance, thought suppression, hoping thoughts don’t come back
– overanalysing your thoughts, trying to gain certainty (I have to think it all through, all possible outcomes, I have to be prepared)
– talking to others about your OCD theme or a related topic to see others’ reactions, e.g. them not seeing it as bad as you do
– researching OCD, comparing your experiences and symptoms with others’
I hope this helped. There may be more, but these are the ones I came up with atm. 🙂 The best is to become aware of them being compulsions and trying to reduce them until you no longer do them at all!
