The “Mission Accomplished” Fallacy
The title of today’s blog post comes from the (now infamous) speech that former US President George W. Bush gave on May 1, 2003, declaring the end of major combat operations in Iraq whilst a giant “Mission Accomplished” banner was displayed proudly in the background. Looking back in hindsight, this was a major gaffe as the United States’ involvement in Iraq would drag on for nearly another decade, with thousands of more deaths, both soldier and civilian. Declaring that the job was done so prematurely ended up aging incredibly poorly in retrospect.
What does this have to do with OCD recovery? It relates to the tendency that some people have to abandon their ERP and ACT work once they start feeling better, without necessarily having fully recovered from OCD. For example, someone may pickup ERP and after practicing it for several months, may feel “mostly recovered” or feel they’ve eliminated most of their anxiety, and therefore they can stop practicing ERP. This is a huge mistake. OCD is a very sneaky disorder, and if you don’t stamp it out 100% and let it linger on in the back of your mind, it will gradually come back even stronger than before and attempt to control your life again. Do not settle for, or stop at, being “only” 90% recovered. You can and you deserve to be 100% fully recovered from OCD, and you should not declare “Mission accomplished” until you have achieved complete recovery. Assuming your recovery is complete and ending your ERP/ACT practice prematurely only invites the risk of letting your OCD fester and continue to nag at you in the background for many more months and years to come.
Why do people tend to stop ERP and ACT prematurely? Simply put - because going through ERP and ACT is not fun. If you are practicing ERP and ACT correctly, you will be exposing yourself to a lot of uncomfortable thoughts, feelings, and uncertainties. You’ll be eliminating your compulsions which will initially result in huge spikes of anxiety. Practicing ERP and ACT requires you to get outside of your comfort zone in order to grow, and that is a process that drains on people over time. However, it is absolutely 100% necessary in order to fully recover from OCD, and no matter how much you want to quit, you owe it to yourself to practice ERP and ACT until you’ve beaten OCD - and not stopping when you’re 90% there.
You might ask yourself - “OK. I understand now the risk of stopping ERP and ACT prematurely. But how will I know when I am fully recovered? How will I know when it is OK to stop doing these things?” I wrote about this topic in more detail here (What does recovery look like?) but in short - you don’t stop. My definition of recovery is this:
My high level definition of OCD recovery means having the knowledge, skills, and mindset you need to handle any uncertainty, thought, or feeling that may pop up in every day life. Note that I did NOT say OCD recovery means "never" getting anxious, or “never” getting intrusive thoughts. Indeed, I think that is a fundamental fallacy that many people who are beginning their OCD recovery journeys fall for.
You may have just read this and had a heart attack. “You mean I have to practice ERP and ACT for the rest of my life??” And my answer to that is… both yes and no. ERP and ACT are cognitive behavioral frameworks. They teach you to think and act in a way that is conducive to living your best life, without being restricted by OCD obsessions and compulsions. As an OCD sufferer, you’ve spent so much time conditioning yourself to respond with compulsions whenever your brain throws up a random intrusive thought or urge. You’ve done this so much that this behavior and mentality has become second-nature to you. You no longer think about it; you just act on it.
ERP and ACT work because they “re-train” your brain into new patterns of thinking and behavior. They teach you that you don’t need to act compulsively to OCD obsessions. They teach you that it’s OK to accept weird thoughts and uncomfortable feelings, without judgment. And after you practice ERP and ACT enough, this mindset and way of thinking becomes second-nature. It replaces your old mentality of compulsive actions, and becomes the default way you think and act. This is recovery - when you are living in accordance to the principles taught by ERP and ACT without even having to think about it.
So yes, in a way that means you will be doing ERP and ACT for the rest of your life. But don’t let that scare you - because eventually, through enough practice, these habits become so engrained in your mentality that they simply become your mindset, and they’re not things you have to actively think about - they’re just things that you do automatically and unconsciously. Think about a newborn baby. They’re born into the world without knowing what’s safe and what’s dangerous. They may see a hot stove for the first time and not think it’s dangerous at all. But as soon as they touch it - PAIN! - and they learn to associate a hot stove with danger. As that baby is growing up into a teenager, and then an adult, do you think they have to consciously remind themselves every time they’re cooking, “Hey, the stove is hot and dangerous, so I probably shouldn’t touch it.” Of course not - they unconsciously avoid touching the hot stove without even thinking about it, because it is conditioned behavior. ERP and ACT are the same way - once you condition yourself into following the principles of acceptance and mindfulness, they eventually become second nature and just something that you do unconsciously. In that respect, the mindset taught to you through practicing ERP and ACT is something that will stick with you for the rest of your life, and once you understand that and embed that into your mentality - that is when you can declare “Mission Accomplished” on your OCD recovery journey. Because at that point, you have the skills, knowledge, and mindset to handle any thought or uncertainty that pops up, without fear or judgement.
Eric