Intrusive thoughts/urges - Harm OCD

I’m wondering if anyone could please give me some advice/tips on breaking this cycle? I have had OCD for 12+ years, however I have only recently been officially diagnosed. I’m struggling significantly with harm OCD, involving thoughts/urges of harm towards other people, particularly my loved ones. This is incredibly distressing to me, as I don’t want to harm anyone and it is constantly sending me into severe distress and panic attacks. I understand that I need to lean into the discomfort/accept my thoughts to move forwards, rather than pushing it away as this adds fuel to the fire - but every time I do, I have a panic attack. My mind constantly tells me I have to act on the urge to get relief and that it’s the ‘only way’ out/to feel better.. I’m stuck in this habitual/learnt behaviour cycle, as I’ve always acted on my urges (not involving harming others) for the past 13 years to get temporary relief and to neutralise thoughts - Every time I think that I need to act on the urge or as though I’ll snap and act on it, I feel terrified and scared, then feel very distressed or have a panic attack.

Username: akburlacuakburlacu

Date posted: 46w ago

Hi! My question would be, what triggered this? Do you go through a stressfull time, you have a lot on your plate right now? Because mostly stress mind can take it’s toll on you. Try to be curious about the thoughts, not push them away. Something like “ what feelings are these thoughts hiding? what part of me i didn’t attend to today? “. Normally these thoughts hide feelings. Feelings of sadness, grief, everything else. Maybe you did not feel all your feelings, you pushed them down and now they are coming back up in the form of thoughts. Be curious about the thoughts and try to challenge them like “ what if i do, what if i don’t? Who knows? “ trust me, in time it works because it’s dettaching the feeling from you. I have gone through 6 months of hell because of thoughts like this but guess what i did? Cried, as much as I needed too, because deep down I knew that the thoughts were hiding an emotion, or more. Normally big life transitions flare up this anxiety and this spiral of thoughts, what transition are you going through?

Username: KS24KS24

Date posted: 46w ago

Hi! Thank you for responding, really appreciate it I struggle a lot with perfectionism and ‘just right’ OCD. All it took was for me to be triggered by something not feeling right as it makes me feel so stuck and such a lack of control, unfortunately it has morphed into harm OCD. I feel so scared. I know that I need to lean into my feelings, but it’s just so scary and confronting.

Username: PhoebeJarris33PhoebeJarris33

Date posted: 46w ago

Hey, I understand how tough this must be for you! 😟 I was in a similar boat, and what really helped me was this free AI OCD therapy tool ["unstuck"](unstuckmyocd.com/try) that my therapist recommended. I think it'll be perfect for your struggle because it offers personalized, step-by-step support to help break the cycle of habitual behaviors when OCD gets intense! Seeing you in such distress reminded me of my own experiences with intrusive thoughts. Remember, OCD loves to latch onto what you care about the most. It's not easy, but it's helpful to understand that these thoughts, though they seem terrifying, are not a reflection of your true self. I hate promoting stuff, but I genuinely think "unstuck" could help you as much as it helped me. Always remember, we're in this together! 💪

Username: KS24KS24

Date posted: 45w ago

Thank you so much 🙏🏻🩷

Username: Kenzie Madison

Date posted: 2y ago

Those with Harm OCD

Hey guys. I’ve been dealing with Harm OCD for around 3 and 1/2 months now, and it’s been extremely difficult to experience. I’ve had OCD my whole life and some of my family members do as well, one of my cousins actually has the same main subtype as me, but he was diagnosed almost a year ago when I didn’t have it myself. I’ve been going to an OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center the past week and I’m really struggling with the exposures we do there, as well as the ones we do at home. I constantly feel like I’m judging myself and I genuinely feel worthless, like I’m a horrible person to have unwanted intrusive thoughts like these. I feel like it’s so difficult to stay mindful and to not judge any of the thoughts that surface. Those with Harm OCD, have any of you here gone from debilitating OCD to living fulfilling lives? If so, what was the process like for you, if you’d like to share? Thanks and I hope you’re all doing well, or are continuing to improve.

Username: KS24

Date posted: 40w ago

Harm OCD urges

Does anyone have any recommendations for distressing harm related thoughts and urges? The last thing I’d ever want to do is hurt someone, I have so much anxiety and distress over the thoughts, the thoughts terrify me in itself. However my go-to ‘solution’ to neutralise obsessive thoughts over a number of years (not involving harm) has involved giving in to my urges as a way of getting temporary relief. My rational brain knows these are just thoughts, but I so quickly get sucked into the ocd thought spiral and my irrational brain is so convinced that I’m going to feel this way forever, until I give in and act on the urge, that this is the only way I will get some relief. I want to emphasise again that I DO NOT want to hurt anyone, but my irrational mind is convinced it’s the ‘only way out’ of these thoughts. Help???

Username: carol.xxx

Date posted: 16w ago

Vent about HARM ocd pls reply. 👍🏻

Hello, I think it’s fairly obvious at the moment I am struggling with terrible harm related intrusive thoughts / harm ocd. I feel so distressed and anxious about these horrendous thoughts its to the point I’m crying out of panic or avoiding anything that may cause harm, but the thing is i have this horrible like “intrusive feeling” throughout my body that feels really strong despite my distress to the thoughts I just have this feeling of what if i snap throughout my body. I also feel whats severely effecting me is that if i did it like “What if I actually did it” “No but what if i did” “Anyone is capable of it” and then the feeling gets worse and stronger and it makes me even more anxious. I know it is Harm OCD but i feel so distressed so anxious even to the point im waking up in the middle of the night with horrid thoughts that distress me and i find it hard to sleep due to the feeling / thoughts. If anyone can relate to this I really hope you can reply, offering advice or sharing your experience because the worst part of Ocd is feeling abnormal and alone and this is what I am feeling and its hurting me so badly. I feel low , exhausted. 💕

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Intrusive thoughts/urges - Harm OCD

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