Recovery toolkit
Everything Patterns gives you to do the work.
Patterns started as a private OCD tracker. It grew into a full recovery toolkit built around ERP - the therapy that actually helps. Here is every tool, how the app fits together day to day, and exactly what is free versus what Patterns Pro unlocks.
How Patterns works, day to day
You do not have to use all of it. Most days are just a check-in. But when you need more, the toolkit follows the same rhythm ERP asks of you.
- 1
Journal it
Capture intrusive thoughts, feelings, and daily reflections in a private, dated space. Naming a pattern is the first step to loosening its grip.
- 2
Track the moment
Log obsessions and compulsions as they happen and rate the distress on a 0–10 (SUDS) scale - the same language used in ERP.
- 3
Delay the urge
Use the Compulsion Delay tool to put a pause between urge and action, and watch the wave rise and fall without acting on it.
- 4
Practise recovery
Work through guided ERP and the recovery toolkit - exposure ladders, urge surfing, response prevention - at your own pace.
- 5
Review your patterns
Charts and recovery metrics turn your entries into trends, so progress becomes visible even when a single day feels like a loss.
Free tools
Included, no accountEverything you need to start is free - the journal, the OCD tracker, distress charts, and these core recovery tools.
Guided ERP
Guided exposure and response prevention exercises to practise at your pace. The goal is to sit with discomfort without doing the compulsion.
Compulsion Delay
Put a pause between the urge and the action. Delay a compulsion for a set time and watch the urge rise and fall - proof you can tolerate the feeling.
Emergency Toolkit
Fast grounding techniques for the hard moments, when distress spikes. Kept a tap away, because you should not have to think clearly to use it.
Coping Library
A reference of coping strategies and reframes you can return to anytime. Save the ones that land for you and revisit them when you need them.
Patterns Pro tools
One-time unlockWhen you are ready to go deeper, Patterns Pro adds the structured ERP tools - the ones that turn tracking into a real recovery practice.
Exposure Hierarchy
Build your ladder: list feared situations and rank them from easiest to hardest, then work up one rung at a time instead of all at once.
Exposure Materials
Store the scripts, images, loop tapes, and notes you use during exposures, so everything you need for practice lives in one place.
Response Prevention
Plan and log how you held back from a compulsion. Response prevention is where exposures do their real work.
Structured Programs
Multi-day programs that sequence exposures for you - follow along when you want structure instead of deciding each step yourself.
Urge Surfing
Urges rise, crest, and fall on their own if you let them. Surf one out here instead of acting on it.
Uncertainty Training
Short practices for tolerating doubt instead of seeking reassurance. OCD feeds on certainty; this starves it a little.
Action Planner
Turn intentions into concrete, scheduled actions. A clear next step is easier to take than a vague resolve.
Behavioral Experiments
Predict what you fear will happen, then check what actually did. Reality is usually kinder than the anxious forecast.
Recovery Metrics
Track exposures completed, avoidance, and distress over time. Small, steady numbers tell the real recovery story.
Reflection Journal
Journal what an exposure was like once the intensity fades. Reflection turns a hard moment into learning you can reuse.
Implementation Intentions
Decide in advance: "if X happens, I will do Y." Pre-committing makes the healthy response the automatic one.