Pure-o OCD advice?

[moonflower13]

Hi! I'm a lifelong sufferer from OCD, specifically, unwanted/disturbing thoughts or what's called "pure-O". In the past, I've been on SSRIs, which were great, so much that the thoughts stopped almost completely and, when they appeared, they didn't cause me anxiety and I was able to handle them in a healthy way. However, now I'm off meds and I'm relapsing, and it's giving me a very hard time. I was wondering if anyone knew of any coping techniques that I could use to deal with those thoughts better and stay sane. Thanks in advance!

[moonflower13]

Basically, my doctor said I'd been taking them for too long (although, in my opinion, I hadn't) and that I should try going to a therapist's.

[jdtm]

I don't understand - why did you go off meds if they work?  SSRI's are not supposed to be habit-forming.

[moonflower13]

Forgot to add that I don't perform any rituals to try to neutralize the thoughts, nor do I ruminate them... they're just disturbing thoughts that come in flashes, I try to think of something else and they go away, then they come back, and so on... I try not to dwell on them, but sometimes it's very hard.

I'm also curious to know if CBT is just as effective for this variety of OCD as it's said to be for others.