When OCD Comes Back w/Jess Marriner | EP 355When OCD Comes Back w/Jess Marriner | EP 355
The Anxious Truth - A Panic, Anxiety, and Mental Health Podcast
Drew Linsalata and OCD therapist Jess Marriner talk about what it really means for OCD to "come back", focusing on remission, agency and compulsions. Jess shares her own experiences with rabbit-hole rumination and practical ways she notices and steps out of the cycle.
40:39•21 Oct 2026
When OCD "Comes Back": Jess Marriner on Rabbit Holes, Rumination and Recovery
Episode Overview
- Intrusive thoughts are part of being human; OCD is defined by how someone responds with obsessing and compulsions.
- Reframing relapse as "I’m doing it again" highlights personal agency instead of failure or defect.
- Body sensations of anxiety can be used as signals that rumination or compulsions have restarted.
- Holding to the rule that "no rumination is good rumination" helps reduce mental compulsions and their impact.
- Periods of life stress can reduce resilience, making OCD processes more likely to reappear, without erasing progress.
“My kind of number one rule is, no rumination is good rumination.”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This conversation will resonate with anyone who knows what it’s like for anxiety or OCD to "flare up" just when life seemed to be back on track. Therapist and host Drew Linsalata talks with UK OCD therapist Jess Marriner, who openly shares how her own OCD reappears at stressful times and what she does about it.
Jess explains that strange, disturbing thoughts aren’t OCD in themselves – that’s just "being a human with a brain and a body that will give you weird and wonderful things at times." OCD is what happens next: the obsessing, checking, reassurance seeking and ruminating. When she says her OCD is "back", what she really means is, "I’ve re-engaged with compulsions." That shift gives her agency rather than shame.
You’ll hear Jess’ rule of thumb: "My kind of number one rule is, no rumination is good rumination." She describes catching herself in the "rabbit hole" – like spending 30 minutes trying to work out whether she might secretly be a serial killer – and using body sensations (tight stomach, anxiety) as clues that she’s ruminating again. From there, she refocuses on simple, concrete actions: finishing an email, making a cup of tea, training her attention back into the present.
Drew and Jess talk about remission rather than cure, stressing that OCD "coming back" during major life stress isn’t failure, defect, or proof you’re a bad person. It’s a sign you got scared enough to start doing old compulsions again – and that means you can choose to interrupt the cycle.
With metaphors like trampolines loaded with bricks and snow globes that settle when you stop shaking them, this chat makes complex ideas feel accessible, practical and even a bit funny. If you’ve ever thought "I’m doing it again" and feared it meant you’re back at square one, this episode might change how you see relapse, agency and recovery. What would it be like to treat your next flare-up as a skill-building opportunity rather than a catastrophe?
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