This theoretical paper proposes a recursive affective-regulatory framework for OCD, focusing on why compulsions persist despite preserved insight. It synthesizes cognitive, habit-learning, and affect-regulation literatures to explain the roles of shame, magical thinking, inflated responsibility, and pathological rumination (termed 'discursive saturation') in maintaining OCD.
The framework identifies a recursive cycle: proto-symbolic dissonance sealed by shame → organized via magical thinking → amplified by responsibility valuation → maintained by pathological discursive saturation (rumination, mental checking, reassurance loops) → stabilized by habit-like proceduralization. It produces 12 falsifiable predictions and proposes 3 study designs (ecological momentary assessment, habit-bias paradigm, brief desaturation trial), plus a preliminary three-phase treatment sequencing proposal to support ERP readiness.
No empirical data were collected or analyzed; the framework is entirely conceptual. All 12 predictions remain untested. The proposed three-phase treatment sequence is preliminary and lacks clinical validation.
Clinicians preparing patients for ERP may consider targeting shame, rumination, and reassurance-seeking loops before or alongside exposure work. The framework suggests distinguishing 'pathological' from 'therapeutic' forms of discursive processing as a potential lever for ERP preparedness.
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