The wasp trap analogy for OCD

A wasp trap is made by removing the bottom from a clear plastic bottle, and then wrapping the lower two-thirds of the bottle in black tape. This creates a dark section at the bottom and a smaller transparent section at the top. Honey is then placed in the top before the trap is hung in a tree or other location where wasps gather.

If a wasp enters the lower part of the bottle in search of honey, it will become trapped in the sealed upper part. It could escape through the dark section at the bottom, but it does not do so because its instinct is to fly away from the darkness and into the light.

Those of us with OCD are like wasps caught in a wasp trap — performing a compulsion is as futile as flying towards the light at the top of a sealed bottle. To truly escape, we must defy our instincts. We must endure the discomfort of ERP. We must brave the darkness.