Are you a terrible person, or does your brain just really, really want you to think so? This week Jess and Laura get into moral scrupulosity OCD — the subtype where intrusive thoughts aren't about harm or contamination, but about your fundamental character, your values, and whether you've done something unforgivable.

Laura gets personal about her own moral OCD compulsions (yes, really), and they unpack why this subtype hits so differently — the shame, the thought-action fusion, and why reassurance-seeking feels almost morally necessary in itself. Plus: a detour into horse willies, a neurodivergent shout-out, and an unexpectedly deep dive into manifesting.

🧠 Brain Spam, an Exposure Lab, and a listener question about supporting a loved one with moral OCD round things out nicely.

Podcast by

Laura Mole, Adv. Dip, MBACP OCD specialist therapist

and

Jessica Hayes, Msc PGDip, BABCP Accred OCD and perinatal specialist therapist

Edited by Laura Mole

Time stamps

00:43 Stuff you might Google with Moral scrupulosity OCD

02:50 Introduction and catch up

09:00 Brain 🧠 Spam

14:30 Horse willies

15:30 What moral OCD is

18:00 Laura's moral OCD compulsions

26:30 Why does it feel so bad?

28:11 What if i have actually done something bad?

31:35 Differences in therapy to help moral OCD; tolerating uncertainty, compassion, and thought-action-fusion.

40:46 Autistic shout-out

42:00 OCD irony

44:25 Manifesting and OCD

50:22 Question from a listener: Supporting a loved one

59:02 Exposure Lab

1:02:45 Upcoming episode themes

1:03:23 Goodbyes

Get in Touch:

Got intrusive thoughts to share or questions for us:

Email us at ocdcollectiveuk@gmail.com

Follow us on Instagram and TikTok: @justcheckingpod

Please check out our privacy policy https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YJZ4Sdh4OpxjRR9twGY6dOMH9n55Mq6qTqLBxOtN3Fw/edit?usp=sharing

Content Warnings:

We do reference some thoughts that people may find distressing so please listen with caution if this is you, and take a break if you need to.

Disclaimer

This podcast provides educational content only and is not a substitute for professional mental health support, please contact a mental health professional for advice and support.

Ever wondered what goes on behind the therapy room door? This week Jess and Laura answer your questions about therapist life — from why therapy costs what it does to whether we actually have our own therapy (spoiler: yes). It's honest, a little unfiltered, and probably not what you'd expect. Dive in and get to know us better, and listen to what we worry about in OCD therapy too.

Podcast by

Laura Mole, Adv. Dip, MBACP OCD specialist therapist

and

Jessica Hayes, Msc PGDip, BABCP Accred OCD and perinatal specialist therapist

Edited by Christian Nickson

Time stamps:

00:00 Introductions and hellos

04:30 Today's themes

05:14 Brain Spam

13:00 Question for a therapist: what are you writing?

18:18 Therapy costs and the ick

27:26 People selling OCD dreams

32:20 What if you don't like your therapist?

39:55 Do therapists have therapy?

43:50 How we juggle work and look after ourselves

48:00 EMDR therapy for OCD

50:57 How does your therapist feel?

57:00 What your therapist finds hard when working with OCD

1:00:40 Therapist Weekly Wins

1:03:15 Exposure Lab

1:08:40 Goodbyes

Get in Touch:

Got intrusive thoughts to share or questions for us:

Email us at ocdcollectiveuk@gmail.com

Follow us on Instagram: @justcheckingpod

Please check out our privacy policy https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YJZ4Sdh4OpxjRR9twGY6dOMH9n55Mq6qTqLBxOtN3Fw/edit?usp=sharing

Content Warnings:

We do reference some thoughts that people may find distressing so please listen with caution if this is you, and take a break if you need to.

Disclaimer

This podcast provides educational content only and is not a substitute for professional mental health support, please contact a mental health professional for advice and support.

Do you love your partner? Are you sure? What about now? Still sure? If your brain won't stop cross-examining your own feelings, this one's for you.

In this episode, Jess and Laura dig into relationship OCD (rOCD) — the subtype that turns love into a courtroom and your own mind into the world's most annoying prosecutor. We cover what rOCD actually looks like, why it's so easy to mistake for genuine doubt, and how it gets you stuck in a loop of checking, reassurance-seeking, and mental reviewing that makes everything worse (classic OCD, honestly).

We also get into retroactive jealousy, false memories (yes, including the "did I actually kiss someone at that party in 2009?" variety), where our weirdly perfectionist ideas about relationships come from, and how different treatment approaches can help you stop taking your brain spam quite so literally.

Plus: The rOCD trap, some extra considerations for this subtype, and a surprise cameo in the Exposure Lab.

Podcast by

Laura Mole, Adv. Dip, MBACP OCD specialist therapist

and

Jessica Hayes, Msc PGDip, BABCP Accred OCD and perinatal specialist therapist

Edited by Christian Nickson

Time stamps:

00:00 Relationship OCD Google searches

02:47 Intro and hello

04:40 Brain Spam

07:20 Why relationship OCD?

07:42 What is rOCD and what does it look like?

12:45 What might someone with rOCD do?

15:00 Where we get perfectionist views of relationships

19:49 The relationship OCD trap

23:20 Retroactive jealousy

24:00 Did I just kiss that person? And other false memories

27:20 Is this OCD or normal doubt?

36:19 How do we work with rOCD?

40:00 How different approaches can work for OCD

47:30 Extra considerations for this subtype of OCD

1:02:34 Exposure Lab and Peter's cameo

1:05:55 Goodbyes

Get in Touch:

Got intrusive thoughts to share or questions for us:

Email us at ocdcollectiveuk@gmail.com

Follow us on Instagram: @justcheckingpod

Please check out our privacy policy https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YJZ4Sdh4OpxjRR9twGY6dOMH9n55Mq6qTqLBxOtN3Fw/edit?usp=sharing

Content Warnings:

We do reference some thoughts that people may find distressing so please listen with caution if this is you, and take a break if you need to.

Disclaimer

This podcast provides educational content only and is not a substitute for professional mental health support, please contact a mental health professional for advice and support.