Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) intrusive thoughts are persistent and distressing thoughts, images, or impulses that are unwanted and intrusive. They can cause significant anxiety, shame, and guilt for the person experiencing them. If you’re so OCD or have an OCD attack, these thoughts are often unwanted and intrusive, and they tend to be negative or even violent in nature. Typical OCD intrusive thoughts include:

Harm-Related Thoughts

Obsessive thoughts about causing harm to oneself or others, or feeling responsible for something bad happening. They have intrusive thoughts about harm—the fear of impulsively committing or wanting to commit violent acts. Even less talked about are intrusive thoughts of self-violence, or the fear of being suicidal, which can often be misunderstood or misdiagnosed.

Some OCD sufferers, however, may worry that these types of thoughts are the brain’s attempt to signal that the thinker is in real danger of acting out. This results in strong urges to engage in compulsions: efforts to seek certainty that acts of self-harm won’t be committed. This may include avoiding triggers that bring on the unwanted thoughts (e.g., heights, sharp objects, movies with characters that commit suicide), seeking reassurance from others (e.g., asking if such an act would ever take place, or researching suicidality online), and any number of other physical and mental rituals designed to make the thinker feel safe from self-harm.

Contamination-Related Thoughts

Obsessive thoughts about germs or contamination, leading to excessive cleaning or washing behaviors. One of the most common and striking types of OCD, affecting up to 46% of patients, is characterized by severe contamination fears and excessive washing behaviors. These patients can experience great distress even when touching, seemingly harmless, objects such as a doorknob and may engage in excessive cleansing behaviors for hours, resulting in skin irritation or bleeding. In some cases, these exasperating cleansing routines result in patients being unable to leave their home.

Like all types of OCD, Contamination OCD can be treated with Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), specifically with treatment approaches called Exposure with Response Prevention (ERP), and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy. Individuals will also learn that intrusive thoughts have no power over them and that by responding to their thoughts through compulsive behaviors, their thoughts are given more strength and credibility and their fears and obsessions are strengthened and reinforced.

Sexual Thoughts

Sexually intrusive thoughts or sexual obsessions are not sexual fantasies but genuine worries about your own sexual tendencies. This can take many forms like obsessions about:

• Incest (sex with family members)
• Bestiality (sex with animals)
• Sexual violence, molestation, or sexual abuse

Unlike sexual fantasies that bring pleasure, sexual obsessions cause immense fear, worry, guilt, and self-disgust. You might be both worried and judgmental about having these thoughts. You’re likely to be constantly afraid that your sexually intrusive thoughts could urge you to act on your impulses one day.

Religious or Blasphemous Thoughts

Religious OCD, also known as scrupulosity, is a form of OCD involving obsessions and compulsions that relate to religion or morality. These obsessions often fixate on fears or anxieties around a person’s religion, such as the fear of going to hell. Compulsions may also mimic religious behaviors, such as praying, but can take up a significant amount of time and interfere with a person’s life.

A person’s obsessions may focus on a fear of angering their god or a religious deity, or committing blasphemy. These compulsions may mimic behaviors that are part of typical religious practice. However, a person with OCD performs them out of distress or anxiety. The compulsions may become increasingly time consuming.

Fear of going to hell or being punished by God excessively praying
being overly moral repeatedly seeking reassurance from religious leaders
fear of having committed a sin making pacts with their religious deity
constantly striving for purity excessive confession of perceived sins
fear of the loss of impulse control repeatedly performing cleansing rituals
fear of death writing prayers to check they’re done correctly

Checking-Related Thoughts

People with Checking OCD fear that they will somehow cause something bad to happen to themselves or others, intentionally or not. This obsessive concern causes anxiety, which they respond to with checking rituals—aka “checking compulsions”—in an attempt to gain certainty that something terrible has not or will not happen.

There are some people whose “checking” is satisfied by the reassurance from someone else—for instance, your husband telling you that you turned off all the lights before you left home—while others need visual confirmation (e.g. driving home from the office in the middle of the workday to check for yourself).

Compulsive behavior, like checking, is often temporarily effective because it reduces anxiety. Because of this, people with OCD are much more likely to do that checking behavior again the next time they find themselves feeling anxious about not being certain of something. This becomes a closed loop in which the person with OCD gets trapped, never learning that there is another way out.

Perfectionism-Related Thoughts

Perfectionism OCD (or Just Right) is characterized by ongoing intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviors around organization, perfection and making things feel “just right.” People with Just Right OCD experience frequent intrusive thoughts around organization and symmetry, and they perform certain actions until they feel it is complete or “perfect”.

People who have Just Right OCD may fixate on parts of their body, like making sure their fingernails are the exact same length, their hair is perfectly arranged, or their makeup is applied perfectly and symmetrically. They may fixate on a certain structural asymmetry, like their nostrils, and attempt to perfect it by breathing in a certain way or spend time researching plastic surgery options that could correct it.

Another common obsession for this OCD subtype is being fixated on physical sensations. So if someone touches your right arm by mistake, you must touch your left arm in the same place to “even it out.” This may also look like not avoiding stepping on cracks on the sidewalk, or making sure your steps are even.

OCD And Anxiety

While fear and anxiety play a role in both OCD and anxiety disorders, they are distinct mental health conditions. The main difference between OCD and anxiety is that those with OCD will experience strong urges to carry out repetitive behaviors or mental patterns to reduce anxiety about a specific situation or fear. They will also feel anxious if they do not perform these actions. People with anxiety will typically not have these urges.

In a 2021 study, 33.56% of the 867 participants had both OCD and GAD. This study found that people with OCD and GAD were more likely to have the following symptoms:

• severe anxiety
• avoidant behavior
• panic disorder
• social phobias
• specific phobias
• type II bipolar disorder

OCD Therapy

The International OCD Foundation notes that CBT and medication are the most effective treatments for OCD. Exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy is a type of CBT. ERP is the first-line treatment for OCD. The authors write that up to 50% of people who have ERP on its own or in combination with medication will have a significant improvement in their symptoms. However, it does not work for everyone.

Medication: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) medications are common treatments for OCD. A person may take a higher Trusted Source dose for OCD than for anxiety.

Deep brain stimulation: When medication and therapy do not work, deep brain stimulation may help with OCD. This involves using an electrode to send out impulses that change the behavior of the brain

   OCD Reddit

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Reddit is a subreddit within the social media platform Reddit, where people can post and discuss topics related to OCD. This community is designed for individuals who struggle with OCD as well as people who have loved ones, friends, or family members affected by this condition. It’s a place where people can share their experiences, provide advice to others, and seek support from others who understand their struggles.

The OCD Reddit forum provides a supportive environment for those who have questions or concerns related to OCD, and it’s a great way for people to connect with others who may be going through similar experiences. Discussion topics may include treatment options, triggering events, sharing strategies for coping and overcoming symptoms, and general support for anyone who is struggling with OCD.

   OCD Support Groups

Here are some OCD support groups that you may find helpful:

International OCD Foundation (IOCDF): The IOCDF is a non-profit organization that provides resources, support, and education for people struggling with OCD and related disorders. They offer various support groups both in-person and online, including groups for teens, young adults, and family members.

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI): NAMI is a non-profit organization that offers free support groups for individuals with OCD and other mental health conditions, as well as their family members and caregivers.

Supportgroups.com: This website offers a variety of online support groups for OCD, as well as other mental health conditions. It provides a platform for people to connect with others going through similar experiences and share information and resources.

Conclusion

There is no “one” best treatment for OCD because everybody responds differently to various therapies. There are many support groups to help with it, as I have named a few. There is no magic pill or therapy for overcoming OCD. As much as I wish there was for all mental illnesses, you just have to learn to live with it. When you get really good at it, it’s like the mental illness is taking part of your life, but only in the background. Well, I hope you have enjoyed this post and hope to see you in the next one…

Articles

-Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/obsessivecompulsive-disorder-ocd

-The Link Between Anxiety And OCD

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/ocd-and-anxiety#summary

-Everything You Need To Know About OCD

https://www.mcleanhospital.org/essential/ocd

Have a Good One,

Cindee Murphy, One Voice – Unstoppable

“You’re not alone!”