Reading things over and over

Hello, Thank you for sharing this symptom of OCD. I know it is aggravating and I am sorry that you are going through this. An effective way to combat this is through Exposure Response Prevention (ERP). This technique will involve starting with reading things that are low stakes, such as a short article from Sports Illustrated, and eventually getting to more challenging things such as an important work related email. You will begin by choosing to read something that you view as unimportant, and then read it ONCE without going back to reread anything from the article. You will initially feel anxiety and a strong urge to reread it as you are concerned that you misread or misunderstood something. You will sit with this anxiety, embrace it, and then eventually it will decrease and your urge to reread will lessen. After practicing this with items you view as unimportant, you will get better at reading these pieces without having an urge to read them a second time. Then you will progress to reading things that you view as more important, such as an email or text from a friend/family member. You will practice reading these only once and embracing the intrusive thoughts that will come, such as, maybe you skipped a critical part of the message and thus you will be unable to help your friend/family member. As with the first step, the anxiety will exist, but eventually, will decrease if you do not give in to the compulsion to reread it. By practicing this many times you will improve and be able to read these pieces much more quickly and with less anxiety. Lastly, you will advance to doing this same exposure and response prevention with things that you view as truly important, such as messages about upcoming medical procedures or important work projects. You will then practice reading these things once and fight off the subsequent anxiety brought on by the urge to reread them. Once you master this you will be able to read in a more relaxed manner which will allow you to open a book, newspaper, email, or text with a sense of joy instead of dread.

Yes! I do this from overthinking, not necessarily that something bad will happen but that I’ll be judged or look stupid

yeah i do this too. i think this can be a symptom of perfectionism ocd from what i remember

Yes!