In this podcast episode, Sariah Harrison and Lydia Pitt share pieces of their experience with Religious OCD or Scrupulosity. They discuss how an experience with scrupulosity can feel like having a contingency based relationship with God that's driven by anxiety and fear.

They discuss resources that have been helpful in their efforts to navigate this struggle. They also discuss pieces of their personal experience with exposures, the gold standard treatment for OCD.

Youtube "The distance between me and God just decreases" Video: https://youtu.be/DBIlMxIFpUQ

Website: Navigating Religious OCD https://www.navigatingreligiousocd.com/

Email: navigatingreligiousocd@gmail.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/navigatingreligiousocd/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/navigatingreligiousocd

Contents of this episode:
00:00- Intro
00:34- Lydia’s Story
06:16- OCPD
07:24- Living by the letter of the law instead of the spirit of the law
09:07- Getting access to help in the mission field
10:34- Pieces of Sariah’s journey to get help
12:02- Lydia’s experience seeking help in the mission field
14:08- Your best looks different everyday
18:01- Jesus wants to wash YOUR feet- perspective shifts on mental health
21:22- God is good at connecting
23:58- Pieces of Lydia’s experience with exposures
27:01- “The Gifts of Imperfection”
27:59- Experiencing Exposures
37:40- Lydia’s message to those struggling & her witness of Jesus
39:53- Conclusion

Resources:
Music: Vlad Gluschenko — Waiting for this Moment
License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported: Deed - Attribution 3.0 Unported - Creative Commons

In this podcast episode, Sariah Harrison shares a moment of anxiety and concern where she turned to God in prayer and then realized that her prayer was actually fueling an experience with OCD. She shares what God told her when she recognized this.

Sariah discusses how her perspective on prayer has changed. She discusses how she's had to consider what role prayer is playing in any given moment or her instead of just believing prayer is always good.

She had no clue prayer at different times could be fueling an experience with OCD.

OCD can also be so disguised- especially for religious OCD because it’s centered on legitimate religious beliefs and practices.

YouTube “My prayer was fueling the OCD” Video: https://youtu.be/Lj4SawUG_70

Website: Navigating Religious OCD https://www.navigatingreligiousocd.com/

Email: navigatingreligiousocd@gmail.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/navigatingreligiousocd/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/navigatingreligiousocd

Contents of this episode:

00:00- Intro

00:34- Welcome & Episode Overview

00:41- Real OCD Moments Intro

01:28- The Beginning of the Story

01:49- I was obsessively concerned…

02:42- Why it’s difficult to recognize anxiety when you’re experiencing it

03:03- Becoming increasingly concerned

03:42- Turning to God was fueling the OCD?

04:05- What God told me

05:07- This was a massive breakthrough for me because…

05:46- I’m not saying don’t pray. I’m saying…

06:43- Experiencing deeper connection with God

08:20- Conclusion

Resources:

Music: Vlad Gluschenko — Waiting for this Moment
License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

In this podcast episode, Sariah Harrison explains many different subtypes of OCD including purely obsessional OCD, real event OCD, relationship OCD, responsibility OCD, suicidal OCD, and religious OCD or scrupulosity. She shares pieces of her personal experience with many of these, breaking down what obsessions and compulsions- the O and C in OCD- can actually look like.

OCD can be so debilitating and it can also be so disguised- especially for religious OCD.

YouTube “What real OCD can look like Part 2” Video: https://youtu.be/OLNStlHbIRw

Website: Navigating Religious OCD https://www.navigatingreligiousocd.com/

Email: navigatingreligiousocd@gmail.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/navigatingreligiousocd/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/navigatingreligiousocd

Contents of this episode:
00:00- Intro
00:35- Welcome & episode overview
00:44- Purely Obsessional- OCD Disguised
01:06- I didn’t recognize my experience with OCD as OCD. Here’s why…
02:15- Common compulsions with purely obsessional OCD
02:49- Real Event OCD
03:03- Real Event OCD- Analyzing past experiences
03:49- Common obsessions with Real Event OCD
04:10- OCD Obsessions do not align with your real desires & values
04:48- With OCD, there’s often intense anxiety. Here’s why…
05:00- Reassurance seeking- a common compulsions with real event OCD
05:29- Life with OCD becomes very narrow
06:32- Relationship OCD
07:54- Responsibility OCD
09:00- Intrusive suicidal thoughts that go against your true desires
10:13- What is Suicidal OCD?
10:24- Pieces of my experience with Suicidal OCD
13:03- Summary of Subtypes of OCD
13:48- Diving into Scrupulosity- What this can look like
14:38- How scrupulosity hijacks your religious experience
15:07- Scrupulosity defined
15:23- With Religious OCD there can be a lot of concern about doing things “right”
16:05- Pieces of my experience with Religious OCD
17:35- With Scrupulosity there’s serious anxiety around…
17:44- With Scrupulosity, it feels like your spiritual wellbeing is being threatened
19:23- Religious OCD can be so disguised
20:19- Real OCD Moments Introduction
20:36- Conclusion

Resources:

Johnson, J. C. (2018). Silent souls weeping: Depression- sharing stories, finding hope. Deseret Book.

Therapy in a Nutshell. https://therapyinanutshell.com/

McClendon, D. T. (2023). Freedom from scrupulosity: Reclaiming your religious experience from anxiety and OCD. Religious Studies Center & Deseret Book.

McGrath, P. (2025, May 22). A quick guide to some common OCD subtypes. NOCD / Treat My OCD. https://www.treatmyocd.com/blog/a-quick-guide-to-some-common-ocd-subtypes
This article was used as a guide to describe the different subtypes of OCD.

Music: Vlad Gluschenko — Waiting for this Moment
License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en