Purpose 🎯

Help clients clarify values and identify behaviors that move toward meaningful life directions while allowing uncertainty or discomfort to remain present.

Let’s Talk About It 🗣️

Create two columns:

What Matters to Me

• Relationships
• Independence
• School or work participation
• Health
• Creativity
• Spirituality
• Rest
• Personal growth

What OCD Wants Me to Do

• Avoid
• Check
• Repeat
• Confess
• Research
• Seek reassurance
• Review
• Delay decisions

Identify one small behavior that moves toward a value while allowing uncertainty or discomfort to remain present.

Ask:

• What does OCD pull you away from?
• What would you choose if OCD were not making the rule?
• What small values-based action could you practice this week?

If the Conversation Gets Stuck 💡

• What matters more than feeling certain?
• What has OCD made smaller in your life?
• What would be a tiny step toward what matters?

Telehealth / Whiteboard Version ⚖️

Create a two-column values map and draw an arrow from one OCD rule toward one values-based action.

Why This Works 🌱

Values work helps clients build motivation for ERP and response prevention by connecting practice to meaningful life goals rather than symptom reduction alone.

Clinical Pearl 🧠

OCD often demands that clients wait for certainty before living. Values-based practice helps clients move forward while uncertainty is still present.

Documentation Language 📝

Therapist utilized a values clarification intervention to support client in differentiating OCD-driven rules from meaningful values and identifying values-consistent behaviors while tolerating uncertainty.

Clinical Focus: Values Clarification, OCD Rules, Motivation for ERP