If you live with OCD or anxiety , you are familiar with the urge to double check a locked door, Google a health symptom, or ask someone, “Do you think I did the right thing?”   But reassurance isn’t always obvious. Sometimes, it hides in mental habits like replaying conversations, scanning your body, or mentally reviewing to figure out what “really” happened. These hidden forms of reassurance can keep OCD strong, even when you practice exposure and reduce more overt compulsions. (Related:...

Learn the differences between illness anxiety, panic disorder and generalized anxiety and the treatments that work

It starts with a twinge in your chest. Or maybe a slight headache. Before you know it, your mind jumps to the worst-case scenario: ...