The thing is that obsessional thoughts tend to repeat
And if you take the thoughts too seriously and respond to them as though they were true by checking, you end up creating a very unhelpful checking problem.
This time he might really be missing! I better check again.
When someone repeatedly does something to make themselves feel better after they have an obsessional thought, it is called a ritual or a compulsion.
- Horrible thought
- Makes you feel anxious
- Do ritual to feel better