A
Before any obsessional doubt has formed, the client thinks: 'People make mistakes when they're in a hurry.'
Answer: Carrier thought
Explanation: A general fact is becoming a possible justification for a new obsessional doubt.
How did the fact that people sometimes make mistakes become a reason to suspect you made one in this situation?
Scenario: The client moves from 'I saw a dark spot on the floor' to 'Maybe I tracked dangerous contamination into my home.'
Answer: OCD Bridge
Explanation: The client moves from a real observation into an imagined contamination scenario.
Therapist Question: At what point did you move from seeing a dark spot to imagining dangerous contamination in your home?
Scenario: A client about to move on says: “ I need to check first to see if I feel an attraction”
Answer: Saboteur thought
Explanation: Testing the imagined possibility would bring the client back into obsessional reasoning.
Therapist question: Why would you need to test a possibility that was never established as relevant in the first place?
Scenario: Before becoming worried, a client thinks: 'Something feels wrong, so maybe I overlooked a problem.'
Answer: Carrier thought / Bridge transition
Explanation: The feeling is used to introduce a possible problem. The crossover occurs when that imagined possibility becomes a basis for doubting reality.
Therapist question: How did the feeling that something was wrong become evidence that an actual problem existed?
A client notices a slight headache and thinks, 'Serious illnesses sometimes begin with mild symptoms.'
Answer: Carrier thought
Explanation: A general medical fact is being used to introduce an imagined possibility about the client's own health.
Therapist question: What connects that general fact to what is happening to you right now?
Scenario: A client has recognized their reasoning error but says: 'Maybe I need to understand I-CBT perfectly before I can move on.'
Answer: Saboteur thought
Explanation: The demand for perfect understanding invites more analysis rather than disengagement.
Therapist question: Is this thought helping you understand the reasoning process, or asking you to keep analyzing before you allow yourself to move on?
Scenario: While leaving the grocery store, the client thinks: 'Germs can live on surfaces for hours.'
Answer: Carrier thought
Explanation: A general fact may be used to introduce an imagined contamination concern without specific evidence.
Scenario: After seeing someone cough, the client thinks: 'Maybe that person contaminated my groceries, and I could make my family sick.'
Answer: OCD Bridge
Explanation: The client builds an imagined chain of contamination from an ordinary observation.
Therapist question: What did you actually observe, and where did the imagined chain of contamination begin?
Scenario: After deciding not to wash again, the client thinks: 'A responsible person would take extra precautions.'
Answer: Saboteur thought
Explanation: Responsibility is being recruited to pull the client back into the obsessional concern.
Therapist question: How is your value of responsibility being used to invite you back into a doubt you had already recognized as obsessional?
A client notices their friend is unusually quiet and concludes, 'Maybe I offended them, and now they secretly dislike me.'
Answer: OCD Bridge
Explanation: The client moves from an actual observation into an imagined narrative about another person's feelings and intentions.
Therapist question: What did you actually observe, and what did you add through imagination?
Scenario: Before any religious obsession develops, the client thinks: 'It is important to respect God and avoid wrongdoing.'
Answer: Potential carrier thought
Explanation: A genuine value can be recruited to support obsessional doubt. The statement alone is not pathological.
Therapist question: How did your genuine value of respecting God become a reason to suspect you had done something wrong in this particular situation?
Scenario: After recognizing that the doubt about their intentions was imaginary, the client thinks: 'Maybe I should pray one more time just in case.'
Answer: Saboteur thought
Explanation: The thought invites the client to return to compulsive neutralizing after they began disengaging.
Therapist question: What is the 'just in case' asking you to resolve, and did anything new happen that made that doubt relevant?
Scenario: After an unwanted religious thought, the client concludes: 'Maybe having that thought means I secretly intended to offend God.'
Answer: OCD Bridge
Explanation: The client moves from experiencing a thought to imagining hidden intentions.
Therapist question: At what point did having an unwanted thought become a reason to suspect a hidden intention?
Scenario: Before becoming concerned about a relationship, the client thinks: 'Sometimes people stay in relationships even when they are not truly in love.'
Answer: Carrier thought
Explanation: A general observation is positioned to become a reason to doubt this particular relationship.
After recognizing their obsessional doubt as imaginary, the client thinks, 'But what if I'm only calling it OCD because I don't want to face the truth?'
Answer: Saboteur thought
Explanation: The thought challenges the client's insight and invites them back into analyzing the original obsession.
Therapist question: Did anything new happen, or is this another invitation to reconsider the same imagined possibility?
Scenario: The client notices feeling less excited around their partner and concludes: 'Maybe this means I never really loved them.'
Answer: OCD Bridge
Explanation: A passing emotional experience is used to construct a broader imagined relationship narrative.
Therapist question: What did you actually experience in that moment, and what larger story did you build around that feeling?
Scenario: After returning to their normal activities, the client thinks: 'I should check how attracted I feel just one more time.'
Answer: Saboteur thought
Explanation: The thought invites renewed monitoring and testing of feelings.
Therapist question: What happens to your relationship experience when you start testing your feelings instead of simply living it?
Scenario: While walking away from a locked door, the client thinks: 'Locks sometimes malfunction.'
Answer: Carrier thought
Explanation: A general possibility can be used to introduce suspicion about this particular lock.
Therapist question: What makes the general possibility of a lock malfunction relevant to this particular door right now?
Scenario: The client remembers locking the door but thinks: 'Maybe the lock didn't catch, and someone could break in.'
Answer: OCD Bridge
Explanation: The client moves from remembering an ordinary action into an imagined danger scenario.
Therapist question: What makes the general possibility of a lock malfunction relevant to this particular door right now?
Before becoming concerned about contamination, the client thinks, 'Just because something looks clean doesn't mean it is clean.'
Answer: Carrier thought
Explanation: A general possibility about invisible contamination is being used to undermine ordinary sensory information.
Therapist question: How does that general possibility establish a contamination problem in this particular situation?
Scenario: After recognizing the doubt, "What if I didn't lock the door?" as obsessional, the client thinks: 'It will only take ten seconds to go back and check.'
Answer: Saboteur thought
Explanation: Convenience is being used to justify re-entering the obsessional story.
Scenario: Before reviewing an assignment, the client thinks: 'Even smart people make careless errors.'
Answer: Carrier thought
Explanation: A general fact is available to justify a doubt about the client's own work.
Therapist question: How did the fact that smart people can make errors lead you to suspect an error in your assignment?
Scenario: After identifying their obsessional doubt, the client thinks: 'What if I'm using I-CBT as an excuse to be careless?'
Answer: Saboteur thought
Explanation: The thought attempts to undermine disengagement by reframing it as irresponsibility.
Scenario: While leaving the grocery store, the client thinks: 'Germs can live on surfaces for hours.'
Answer: Carrier thought
Explanation: A general fact may be used to introduce an imagined contamination concern without specific evidence.
Therapist question: What connects that general fact about germs to a contamination concern in this particular situation?
A client has decided to stop mentally reviewing a conversation but thinks, 'Maybe I should replay it once more so I can practice identifying all my reasoning errors.'
Answer: Saboteur thought
Explanation: The thought disguises compulsive mental review as therapeutic practice and pulls the client back into the obsessional narrative.
Therapist question: Is reviewing this conversation helping you learn something new, or inviting you to resolve the same obsessional doubt again?