OCD and Intrusive Thoughts. Is This Me?

I work with a lot of clients who have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and something I thought was interesting was that they didn’t consider it until they realized how much it affected their lives in some way. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, also known as OCD, is a disorder where people tend to have uncontrollable obsessive and or intrusive thoughts that can lead to compulsive behaviors related to those thoughts. OCD can also present as obsessive thoughts without the compulsions and is called Pure O.

The reality is that a lot of people, even without OCD, can have intrusive thoughts, such as ideation or impulsive thoughts, but with OCD the thoughts occur very frequently and cause immense amounts of distress.

How do you tell if you have OCD or not? First off, be careful not to fall down the rabbit hole of catastrophizing and over-diagnosing yourself. I know we’ve all been down the WebMD rabbit hole of symptoms and it may cause unnecessary stress to think of the worst outcomes. Be mindful of how checking affects you and focus on looking into therapy/getting tested.

Remember that a diagnosis doesn’t mean a cure, but sometimes it’s validating to know those intrusive thoughts are not you or what you want. They are just thoughts. It can be a struggle when dealing with thoughts that are fear-based, thoughts that challenge your morals, invalidate your being, etc. Working with a therapist to help sort out and process the thoughts and what they mean to you can help you move forward and navigate OCD. It can be extremely daunting at first, but working in a safe environment to share and process these thoughts can help you navigate them in a way where it doesn’t feel as difficult.