Is anyone else here female and suffer from Pedophilia OCD? It has been absolutely debilitating for me the past year. No matter what I tell myself, I can never rid myself of these thoughts. I don’t even like children, yet I have these horrific thoughts that plague my mind day in and day out. I was doing well for awhile until I had a dream last night and it triggered everything again for me. I just want it to stop. I know I’m not my thoughts, but it’s been too much for me to handle.

I’ve been struggling with this recently, too. It’s extremely difficult and confusing. I haven’t even been diagnosed with OCD but I have talked to specialist and they agree that they are just intrusive thoughts. Just remember who you were before all of this and remind yourself that it’s just fear. The fear latched on to this because it’s what you find to be the most horrible thing in the world. What helps me is understanding that there’s a difference between my thoughts and my true self. The thoughts are always in the back of my mind and I’m always scared that they’ll give me a panic attack again or something, but I know who I am and you know who you are. Another helpful thing I found was understanding that the content of the thoughts do not matter, this is just what scares me the most. A lot of the time I’d be like “i would rather have any other obsession than this”, but no matter what the obsession is we’d still have the severe anxiety and fears. ERP helps, I haven’t come with a treatment plan yet but I’ll do self erp therapy sometimes. I’ll force myself to think I am a pedo and the thoughts are true, and I think it made me feel more rational and able to see through the lies anxiety is feeding me. I’m so sorry you’re going through this, I wish you the best of luck!

I have had POCD for several years now. I’m currently working on it in ERP therapy using scripting. Basically I have recorded myself saying my fear and have to listen to it for 30+ mins a day. This is why: you cannot be bored by a thought and terrified at the same time. Part of the reason it is scary is because it is a new thought. By listening over and over again the words lose their power.

The the OCD Mindfullness workbook as script prompts for this is you are interested in this

It’s by Jon Hershfield. Secret trick, go to Google books and then type in the title. Then you can search within the text (search pedophilia) and it will let you see the pages where that is mentioned. If you want to record yourself saying the script aloud there is an app on iPhone under extras called voice memo that allows you to make voice recordings

When my thoughts were at there worst, my panic attacks were horrendous! I was told by the councillor it is just a thought, and we’re is the evidence to support the thought? It was said to me, the distress you are feeling is because it upsets you so much! I have always describe my thoughts, like a Nightmare on repeat. I hope this helps

Yes, it sucks, but after a while I just ignored the thoughts.

Hi I’ve had similar thoughts about myself but now I suspect most close family members of being pedos. The problem is when was young I saw my parents have intercourse more than once. I’ve since convinced myself they must have enjoyed knowing I was there and I can’t get rid of the idea. I feel like it’s eating my brain. It has come up and I’ve never had a good explanation-I guess there isn’t one. I am so tired. I used to imagine adulthood as this far away place where these things wouldn’t bother me any more but they will not go away.

Yes. Luckily it’s almost gone. Best of luck!

How you getting of your pocd, @i can’t think of a username?

Getting rid of*

@WorriedDriver Where can I find that book? Who is it by?

Exposure and talking back

What is talking back?

Calling OCD out