POSITIVE INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS OCD PROFESSIONAL

Unfortunately, the misconceptions and lack of awareness around OCD symptoms in children often lead to a misdiagnosis or late diagnosis.

POSITIVE INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS OCD PROFESSIONAL

In her professional experience, Hardis shares, most parents will see these behaviors and write it off as the child just being a little quirky, “when in fact it just doesn’t feel right, and the kid may not be able to articulate because there’s no fear associated with it.” And while some of the behaviors don’t necessarily look like compulsions, they are ultimately done to help the child avoid feeling off, uncomfortable, or tense.

excessively confessing, apologizing, or seeking reassurance.

excessively organizing, ordering, or arranging things.

repeating things or starting things over.

experiencing unwanted or disturbing thoughts or images.

“Toys lined up a certain way, shoes lined up, they can’t have the picture frame off.” And these are just a few of the behaviors that a parent or caregiver might notice.Īccording to the IOCDF, other common obsessions and compulsions in children may include: “Often times, in little kids, we begin to see just-right traits or compulsions, and these are more common in kids who have sensory issues,” Hardis says. If you have religious OCD 1, for example, you might obsessively repeat a prayer to appease the fear that you will end up in hell.

Religious and existential OCD: This involves obsessions surrounding existential, philosophical, or spiritual questions.

You may start to worry whether you are blinking enough or taking in enough air when you breathe.

Somatic OCD: This relates to obsessions surrounding automatic bodily functions and sensations, such as breathing, blinking, and your heart beating.

It could be a general fear about illness or anxiety centered around a specific one.

Health OCD: Just as it sounds, this involves intense fear around catching an illness and therefore makes you chronically anxious about your mental and physical health.

For example, you may regret having made fun of a kid when you were in middle school, and your OCD tells you that it was inexcusable and makes you a “bad” person. You may obsess over the event for hours a day, and the OCD warps normal regrets into all-or-nothing thinking, according to telemedicine site NOCD. It often involves ruminating on past conversations and actions during an event, looking for answers that you can’t find.

Real-event OCD: These are obsessive thoughts about past events that have already happened.

Relationship OCD: This involves fears around uncertainties or doubts that you might feel in a relationship and can show up as constantly asking your partner for reassurance that they are not cheating on you, for example.

Sexual orientation OCD: This relates to obsessions surrounding your sexual orientation and leads to distressing thoughts about being attracted to people who you’re not actually attracted to.

Other examples of OCD themes may include:

Like people with loss-of-control OCD, you might spend a lot of time seeking reassurance that you are not a sexually violent person.Įven though some subtypes of OCD are more common than others, OCD can be rooted in any idea that causes you to experience repetitive, unwanted, and intrusive thoughts. It’s important to remember that if you have unwanted-sexual-thoughts OCD, you don’t actually want to do these things. Because these sexual thoughts are considered taboo, this adds to the stigma and shame surrounding this type of OCD. In fact, people with this type of OCD are very distressed by these thoughts and typically engage in a lot of reassurance compulsions to make sure they aren’t actually a pedophile. The key here is unwanted thoughts, which means that having these thoughts does not make you a pedophile. What is included in this type of OCD is pedophilia OCD, which relates to unwanted, intrusive thoughts about pedophilia. (Just to be clear, this is not the same thing as compulsive sexual disorder, which involves acting on repetitive sexual urges and impulses, leading to sexual behavior that is harmful to you or others.) Someone who has these unwanted intrusive thoughts might experience obsessions related to sexual aggressiveness, violence, or even incest. Unwanted-sexual-thoughts OCD involves the fear of having or acting on forbidden, perverse, or taboo sexual thoughts.

Positive intrusive thoughts ocd