- Date posted
- 1y
Relationship between OCD and hatred?
This is more of a post where I am thinking about a connection I've made but am not sure how to find more research on, if there is any research on it, rather than feeling insecure. For me, hatred feels like when I *really* want to get away from something or for something to stop, but I feel like I can't escape it, so tension generates VERY quickly. So then, I want to feel relief from whatever is causing hatred in me. That can manifest as me "attacking" the thing (so, say I don't like how many posts I see on social media about something, I can feel relief by making very nasty posts about it, almost like trying to push it the heck away from me), engaging with the thing in ways that try to discredit it (so, hate-reading/watching things to laugh at them), or whatever else. And I think this relates to my compulsions! If... If hatred can feel like seeking relief, and OCD obsessions prime us to seek relief, it would make sense to me then that hatred could fall into OCD patterns. When I was younger, I would act very hatefully towards others, being very mean and discrediting people if they didn't do things the "right" ways, and so on. It felt like hatred (and self-hatred) consumed my life, because it was an easy way to seek relief. Currently, I'm more on top of that, but... I get anxious when I see how easy it is to hate while on social media? I only got out of this thanks to very caring friends who registered how much energy I was pouring into things I hated, when I could have been caring about things that actually give me energy and help me feel positively. It was so hard to tear away from those hateful obsessions, and I felt like such a bad person, and sometimes still struggle with that. I didn't know I had OCD at the time, but now I feel like "Oh, my OCD was playing with my hatred, these were obsessions and compulsions for relief!" I worry for the mental health of those with OCD (and truthfully, those who don't have OCD too... I feel like hatred can become a vicious cycle) that this has become relatively normalized. Does anyone else have thoughts or feelings about this? Has anyone else noticed something similar?