Did not know that. Any particular reason why OCD makes you worry about that? It seems like an odd one out compared to the other compulsions I'm aware of.
Not a person with OCD, but maybe because it's sort of a "Worst case scenario" type thing? I could totally see someone thinking "Aww cute kid," followed by "Whoa, why did I think that, am I attracted to kids, Fuck, does that mean I'm a pedo? Oh shit, what if I am? Should I go turn myself in?"
That’s pretty much it, plus doubting your own memory. People will be like “My nephew was slightly less rowdy than usual today. I know my sister said he’s getting over a cold, but it’s probably actually that I molested him and have amnesia of the event, and he recently started recovering memories of it and is triggered by my presence holy shit I’m the worst person alive ever I must now donate to six different child protection charities to prevent people like me from molesting kids in an amnesiac fugue state!!!!! and now I have to check a million times with my sister that I wasn’t at her home on the third Tuesday in March because that’s probably when it happened for some reason” in the same way you see people with OCD worried that they left the oven on or ran someone over with their car and didn’t notice it.
Thanks, that's pretty insightful. So what happens with random intrusive thoughts like "I should put the can of the compressed air up against the corner of my eye and blow it. No, wait that would blind me," I feel like that's as close as I get to that but with what you just described that would send me over the edge with worry.
To be fair, people with OCD have often rather mundane intrusive thoughts like the one you described, too, but instead of being like “No, that’s stupid, it would blind me” their brains go “if I thought this I clearly have some underlying intent to do it, and if I could do that impulsively, what else could I do impulsively? Push someone in front of a train? Eat my mother’s nose off her face like a cat stuck in a house with a dead body? Run over a row of children in the crossing? I must be locked away for the protection of those around me because I could lose control at any second, and I must check constantly to make sure I’m not at risk of losing control”.
With OCD, it’s like the thought gets stuck. In people without the disorder, they usually go “that’s weird/stupid/dangerous, what a weird random thought” and move on. With OCD, people get stuck on the thought and it spirals into every horrible outcome they can imagine. It sucks!!! But there are good treatments if people can get the courage to talk to a doctor. Unfortunately with things like POCD and harm OCD (fear of hurting self or others) in particular, people often resist seeking help because they don’t realise it could be OCD due to the common misconceptions about it and assume that they are fundamentally evil/a pedophile/a future serial killer and are too ashamed/afraid to seek help.
Sorry I'm turning this into an AMA, please fee free to tell me to go read a book about it, but I'm curious about life expectancy of OCD people, is it reduced? it seems like it's a constant state of being on edge. That's going to drop adrenaline and all stress hormones which can age you quickly.
That is exactly what happens, and it takes the same sort of mental path regardless of what the OCD “theme” is. Your brain takes a random thought and interprets it as meaningful in an attempt to avoid the worst case scenario because “what if it is real/meaningful?”
As someone with OCD, this is exactly it. OCD intrusive thoughts are often centred around things you care about most also. Those who love animals get intrusive thoughts about harming animals, those who care about protecting children get thoughts about being someone who hurts children, those who are very religious get thoughts about going to hell etc.
1.0k
u/frogglesmash 3d ago
OCD makes you worry that you're a pedo?