The Mental Compulsions Workbook for OCD: CBT and Mindfulness Skills to Navigate Intrusive Thoughts and Mental Traps

by Lauren K.M. Rosen

It’s time to break free from mental traps, and take back your life! If you have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), you may struggle with mental compulsions—such as ritualistic counting or “emotional checking.” You may even believe that these compulsions will reduce your anxiety or prevent something “bad” from happening. But the truth is that mental compulsions can be debilitating, and greatly impact your life, your career, and your relationships. So, how can you break free from this vicious cycle of overthinking? This workbook offers evidenced-based skills drawn from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness to help you reduce rumination, worry, and other mental traps, so you can live with more freedom and vitality. You’ll gain a better understanding of what mental compulsions are, how they differ from obsessions, and how they interfere with your life. You’ll also learn proven-effective skills and strategies to help you gain control of your mental compulsions, and guided journaling exercises to help you put these tools into practice. You don’t have to let intrusive thoughts, overthinking, and worry hold you back. This step-by-step workbook will help you reduce the rumination and other mental compulsions that keep you trapped in your mind, so you can finally take charge of your life.

Genres: Self Help, Psychology

184 pages, Paperback

Published January 2, 2026

About the author

Lauren Rosen, LMFT, has dedicated her career to providing compassionate, evidence-based psychotherapy to those with OCD and Anxiety Disorders. She graduated summa cum laude from UCLA with her BA in Psychology, earned her Masters in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University, and trained at the OCD Center of Los Angeles. In 2022, Lauren founded the Center for the Obsessive Mind an outpatient clinic serving individuals in California, Florida, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania and select other states and countries. She and her team use ERP, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, to help people take their lives back from anxiety, distress and intrusive thoughts. Lauren is the author of The Mental Compulsions Workbook for OCD. You can find Lauren on Instagram and via the Purely OCD Podcast.

Reviews

[Ellen Pall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will be a godsend to the many people who suffer--and suffer and suffer--from the torment of intrusive thoughts (AKA mental compulsions). It is gentle, insightful, compassionate, carefully organized, and thoroughly researched. It begins by giving the reader a better understanding of the disorder that has been torturing them, follows up with simple questions and worksheets to help them recognize what is happening when it is happening, and step-by-step tools to find relief. Excellent book.

[Michelle Massi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must have book for all clinicians who treat ocd and for individuals who have struggled to manage the mental aspect of OCD. It provides a guide to understanding what mental compulsions are, and best ways to beat them using evidence based cognitive and behavioral techniques.