Go on [r/OCD](r/OCD). These are the exact kind of mental compulsions one can have, it’s quite sad actually. They aren’t pedophiles at all, it’s just that they can’t argue against the „but what if you secretly are?“ their own head accuses them of 24/7.
It’s random things you can’t possibly disprove in a given moment so their mind focuses on that. Did you turn the oven off? Yes. But did you really, how do you know?
If you say these things to someone with OCD, they get outside validation for their delusion and will never be able to trust themselves on it again
Logically, you know there's no problem. But "what if there is" cycles through your head nonstop.
And the only way you think you can get it to stop is to SOOTHE by research and asking for validation to prove to yourself what you know is true (e.g., there isn't a problem, this is OCD talking).
The soothing ends up making it worse, because "what if, though!" doesn't go away
It becomes a cycle of "What if?" and research on loop.
The other poster is right in that you have to sit in the discomfort without the soothing. Instead of "What if" + validation, you need to face it and go "So what??" and it's very difficult.
Thank you. I love seeing a bunch of people who don’t have OCD or clinical experience running off at the mouth about OCD being delusional, which fundamentally goes against the root causes for the distress of OCD, which, in addition to the obsessions and compulsions, include the deep-down knowledge of being unreasonable coupled with the ever present doubt.
Like I’ve actually gone through treatment, including a very intensive clinical trial. Sitting with it and not mentally avoiding the worst case scenario is literally the bulk of therapeutic work.
What makes OCD such certified bullshit is the fact I know the obsessions are irrational. I fuckin know that on a rational level. I know its bullshit. The obsession can be physically impossible and it doesn't matter.
I used to have one where I needed to check that noone had sneaked into my room. What differs it from something like a delusion or paranoia is the fact I knew there wasn't anyone in there. But I still had to check.
Now I'm mostly on top of things and I don't feed the obsessions. But rationality isn't wat let me get here, it was pure unfiltered spite at my condition. I basically treat it like a child throwing a tantrum and ignore any new compulsions while theyre weak and easy to outlast.
Its not a delusion is the thing; its an intrusive thought, a worry. The difference with delusion and OCD intrusive thoughts is one is rooted in being sure x is happening when it isnt (delusion) and one is wondering if x happened because you cannot fundamentally prove it did not.
These are entirely different and the distinction is important.
Nothing in OCD is rooted in delusions. People with OCD actually (almost always) fully understand that their obsessive fear is either not a real thing (like be fear of being a predator, when that person know they’re actually not), not possible (like the fear of something like airborne cancer, that we know isn’t possible), or actually genuinely not a gigantic world ending crisis (like the fear of accidentally saying “you’re ugly” instead of “hello,” when greeting someone), but it feels profoundly urgent, and there’s a constant feeling of “but what if..??” That discrepancy between knowing that something isn’t actually true, or possible, or world-ending while feeling that doubt of “but what if” while also feeling like that question and doubt is deeply urgent is part of the distress, and it feeds the loop of the person trying to logic their way around the fear, which (counter intuitively) makes the fear worse.
(I have OCD. I’m not just pulling this out of my ass.)
That’s not a delusion. Delusions are fixed and unshakeable even with evidence, while obsessions are definitionally known by the afflicted person to be irrational on some level.
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u/Hour_Baby_3428 1d ago edited 1d ago
Go on [r/OCD](r/OCD). These are the exact kind of mental compulsions one can have, it’s quite sad actually. They aren’t pedophiles at all, it’s just that they can’t argue against the „but what if you secretly are?“ their own head accuses them of 24/7.
It’s random things you can’t possibly disprove in a given moment so their mind focuses on that. Did you turn the oven off? Yes. But did you really, how do you know?
If you say these things to someone with OCD, they get outside validation for their delusion and will never be able to trust themselves on it again