The core of the 15-minute rule is distraction. Shifting your focus is not an easy task. The mental build-up to begin with is: no pain, no gain! The thing to do is: you must shift gears yourself! Shifting your attention is about shifting your attention away from the compulsive symptoms, even if it’s just for a few minutes. Start by choosing certain specific behaviors to replace compulsive hand washing or checking. Any fun, constructive action will do. It is best to engage in your favorite activities, such as walking, playing sports, listening to music, reading, playing on the computer, playing basketball, etc. When you have compulsive thoughts, you “reconfirm” that they are compulsive thoughts or impulses and “reattribute” them to your disorder, OCD, and then “divert” your attention to something else. Do something else. Remember not to fall into habitual thinking, you have to tell yourself: “My OCD is back, I have to do something else” You can decide “not” to react to compulsive thinking, you have to be your own master, not a slave to OCD! It takes a lot of effort and pain to dismantle the compulsions and do what needs to be done. But the only way to change the biochemistry of the brain is to learn to resist the compulsions, and in time the pain will be reduced. To apply the 15-minute rule, delay the response for at least 15 minutes. In the beginning, you can start by delaying for 5 minutes. The principle is the same: never react immediately without a delay. Note that this is not a passive waiting for 15 minutes, but during this time we do “re-confirmation”, “re-attribution” and “distraction”. Then you will do other interesting and constructive activities. After a period of time, reassess the compulsive urges to see if the intensity has decreased, and record it. Encourage and reward yourself for even a small decrease. People with OCD often have the mindset of striving for perfection and 100 points, so they are also often unsatisfied with the slightest achievement and always think they are not doing enough to make behavioral therapy successful. The goal is to delay for more than 15 minutes. With continuous practice, the intensity of the OCD will be greatly reduced. Generally speaking, the more you practice, the better you will get at it. Soon it will be possible to delay for more than 20 or 30 minutes. It is important to divert your attention to other things. Don’t expect these thoughts or feelings to go away right away. Don’t do what the compulsion wants you to do; you have to stick to the activity of your choice so that the compulsive impulse will diminish or even disappear because of your delay. Even if the impulse is difficult to change, you will find that you can control your reactions slightly. Using “wholehearted awareness” and being a “bystander” will empower you. The long-term goal is to not react to the compulsion. The immediate goal is to delay slightly before reacting. You learn not to let compulsive thinking dictate what you should do. Sometimes the compulsive impulse is so strong that you can’t help but act compulsively. Always remind yourself, “It’s not that I feel the need to wash my hands dirty, it’s that the compulsion is affecting me. This time the compulsion won, next time I will hold out longer before reacting!” Rehearsed in this way, even if you end up doing the compulsive behavior, it still contains elements of behavioral therapy. It’s important: it’s better to reconfirm the compulsive behavior as a compulsion, which is a behavioral therapy, than to just do the compulsive behavior and not think about it. A tip for those fighting compulsive checking: If your difficulty is checking the door lock, try to concentrate and lock the door wholeheartedly. Notice the urge to lock the door that arises within you, and then carefully and slowly lock the door, keeping the action in mind, e.g., “This door is now locked, I see that it is locked!” You get a deep impression that the door is locked, so when the compulsive impulse asks you to check the lock, you can immediately “reconfirm” that: that’s a compulsive thought, that’s a compulsion! You can “reattribute” that is: that’s not me, that’s just my brain acting up! You can divert your attention to other things and make sure you have locked the door carefully.