Dear Tammy Meaney:

“when you have a voice in your head telling you that ‘you do not deserve xyz’. I don’t actually mean an actual voice but the voice of OCD”-

– it’s the voice of your inner critic, criticizing, berating and scolding you for mistakes imperfections, real or imagined. An inner critic exists in the mind of every person. When a person has an over-active/obsessive, vicious inner critic, it’s because it takes after an over-active, vicious real-life critic in the person’s early life, usually a parent.

“the OCD flared up last year after my Uncle passed”- his passing increased your anxiety, and anxiety fuels OCD.

“I struggle immensely with ‘all or nothing’ thinking or ‘black and white’ thinking”- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) specializes in correcting these types of thinking, referred to as distorted thinking. There are online exercises (and actual workbooks) on the matter.

If you would like to address any or all of what I mentioned here, please do and I will reply further.

anita