OCD and Chronic Pain/Symptoms

The powerful connection between OCD patterns and chronic pain might be the missing puzzle piece in your healing journey. Tanner and Anne dive deep into how obsessive thinking and compulsive behaviors fuel neuroplastic symptoms, creating a cycle that keeps pain and symptoms alive.

You'll discover why that constant symptom checking, endless research, and anxious monitoring actually reinforce your brain's pain circuits rather than solving the problem. With vulnerability and humor, the hosts share their own experiences with OCD tendencies—from Tanner's shoulder-testing ritual to Anne's encounters with health anxiety—and how these patterns operated both before and during their pain experiences.

The solution? Cultivating indifference. But don't roll your eyes just yet! This counterintuitive approach isn't about ignoring your pain or pretending it doesn't exist. Instead, it's about starving pain of the attention that keeps it thriving. The hosts offer practical, actionable strategies for breaking free from obsessive patterns: naming your symptoms with silly names, recognizing when your brain is trying to help (but making things worse), and—perhaps most importantly—giving your brain something valuable to focus on besides your symptoms.

Whether you've been diagnosed with OCD or simply recognize some of these patterns in your relationship with chronic pain, this episode provides a compassionate roadmap for change. Progress isn't linear, and even small shifts toward indifference represent significant healing. Ready to loosen pain's grip on your attention and reclaim your life? This conversation shows you how.

Tanner Murtagh and Anne Hampson are therapists who treat neuroplastic pain and mind-body symptoms. They are also married! In his 20s, Tanner overcame chronic pain and a fibromyalgia diagnosis by learning his symptoms were occurring due to learned brain pathways and nervous system dysregulation. Post-healing, Tanner and Anne have dedicated their lives to developing effective treatment and education for neuroplastic pain and symptoms. Listen and learn how to assess your own chronic pain and symptoms, gain tools to retrain the brain and nervous system, and make gradual changes in your life and health!

The Mind-Body Couple podcast is owned by Pain Psychotherapy Canada Inc. This podcast is produced by Alex Klassen, who is one of the wonderful therapists at our agency in Calgary, Alberta. https://www.painpsychotherapy.ca/

Tanner, Anne, and Alex also run the MBody Community, which is an in-depth online course that provides step-by-step guidance for assessing, treating, and resolving mind-body pain and symptoms. https://www.mbodycommunity.com

Also check out Tanner's YouTube channel for more free education and practices: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Fl6WaFHnh4ponuexaMbFQ

And follow us for daily education posts on Instagram: @painpsychotherapy

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