Inflated responsibility in the present
When you are experiencing an inflated responsibility in the present moment consider if it is thought-action fusion and what your conscientious model would do.
Is this thought-action fusion? Individuals with anxiety sensitivity get sticky, catastrophic thoughts when they are sensitized. Thoughts feel like they are true, regardless of if they are rational or irrational and regardless of their truth. Thought-action fusion is when having a thought feels like its the same thing as behavior. Thoughts and behavior are not the same thing. Our minds can have thoughts that we don't act on and those thoughts don't mean anything about our character. One example is having the thought that I'm going to stab my puppy. If I have this thought while sensitized, it could feel like a possibility and a threat. I love my puppy, so if this thought happened a lot and I don't know what's happening, I'd probably feel afraid of my mind and wonder why I have these thoughts. I might get reassurance from myself or others or stop touching knives. The avoidance would make the thought more likely and then I'd really start to suffer. You can step out of the vicious cycle of intrusions, avoidance, intrusions, avoidance at any point. One opportunity to prevent an obsession-compulsion spiral or step out of one that is already occurring is to notice that your body is sensitized. Your self-talk is What feelings am I feeling and what sensations are occurring in my body? My body is sensitized, so the stickiness of this thought might be due to thought-action fusion, not a problem.
What would my conscientious model do? Pick a person you respect in the domain of life that your intrusive content occurs. If you have intrusions about accidentally hitting people or animals with your car while driving, pick someone you know who is good at driving. If you have intrusions about making mistakes at work, pick someone you respect at work. When you have an intrusion and then the urge to act to make the thought stop, slow down. Feeling urgency doesn't require an urgent response. Your self-talk is I'm noticing that I have the feeling of urgency but that doesn't mean I have to do something immediately. What would my conscientious model do right not? Would he go back and check that intersection? Would she write an apology email? If you actually can't tell, take a guess and use it as an opportunity to learn. Refrain from the urge to try to figure out whether or not that was the right answer and instead stay in the present moment and let yourself learn from the decision you just made.