Intrusive thoughts

Living with the fear of ‘going crazy’ (A Common OCD Theme)

Those who suffer from anxiety disorders, such as OCD, often feel like they’re losing their mind or ‘going crazy’.

The fear of going crazy may even become the core obsession:

What if I’m losing my mind?

What if I snap and lose control?

What if I am having a mental breakdown?

What if someone finds out and I’m committed to a psychiatric ward?

Because of this, sufferers often feel like they’ve lost touch with reality, unsure about what’s real and what isn’t.

They have experienced extreme uncertainty about their thoughts and are tormented by the idea that if they were to lose control, the consequences could be tragic.

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Does OCD Make You Feel Like You’re A Bad Person? (Dealing With OCD Guilt)

“Am I a bad person?” is a common question many of our clients ask themselves. When battling with intrusive thoughts it is common to question everything including your morality, identity, and self-concept.

After all, OCD has frequently been named ‘the doubting disorder’.

  • Those doubts make you feel like a bad person for having those thoughts.
  • They make you feel like a bad person for not being able to control those thoughts.
  • They make you feel like a bad person because of the context of those thoughts.
  • They also make you feel like a bad person for not being to control your compulsions in response to that doubt.

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Why do OCD Intrusive Thoughts Feel So Real (Should I be worried?)

The uncertainty of whether or not these intrusive thoughts are real is ultimately what allows OCD to thrive.

The truth is, living with this condition can be unbearable for the sufferer.

Every day, your mind is bombarded by intrusive thoughts that terrify you, thoughts that go against everything you value and believe in. 

These thoughts make you question your very identity, leaving you feeling ashamed and afraid. 

You desperately try to resist them, but they persist, gnawing at your sanity. It’s a suffocating fear that something terrible will happen if you don’t listen to these intrusive thoughts. 

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How To Stop OCD ‘What If’ Intrusive Thoughts

If you have OCD, ‘what if’ thoughts are a source of great torment and pain for sufferers.

Have you ever had a thought stuck in your head that gets stuck in a loop, going around and around… until it feels like you have no ability to think about anything else?

They seemingly come from nowhere and are often taboo, strange, downright bizarre, or disturbing in nature.

Almost everyone experiences these thoughts from time to time.

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You Are Not Your Thoughts (Why This Matters in OCD Recovery)

‘You are not your thoughts’ is a term regularly used in OCD recovery. But for OCD sufferers who are tormented by intrusive thoughts that challenge their morality and identity (and feel so real!), it can be difficult to wrap their heads around this notion.

The common misconception here is that we ARE our thoughts.

Within the context of OCD, this belief is crippling and painful.

Sufferers are constantly invaded with disturbing, shocking, violent, and sometimes aggressive intrusive thoughts across a variety of content. Thoughts that make them wonder, “Who am I if I could think such a thing?”

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Suicidal Intrusive Thoughts: I’m afraid I’m going to take my own life

Suicidal intrusive thoughts can be incredibly distressing for the person experiencing them. They are unwanted, repetitive thoughts (or images) around the fear of taking your own life. These occur in a person’s mind despite not wanting or intending to have them which is why they feel so alarming. 

They are a type of intrusive thought, which are often alarming and highly disturbing thoughts or images that involuntarily pop up in a person’s mind seemingly out of nowhere.

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Intrusive Thoughts in OCD: Everything You Need To Know

Within OCD, intrusive thoughts fall under the category of obsessions. Those who suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder, are plagued by unrelenting and highly distressing intrusive thoughts that play on their fears.

These unwanted thoughts are experienced by everyone, including non-OCD sufferers.

But when these invasive and repetitive thoughts take over and begin to limit our ability to enjoy and experience day-to-day life to the fullest, this is when they become a problem.

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