How can I cope with intrusive thoughts and the guilt they bring?

tell yourself this is ocd, not you. saying things such as “i notice i’m having a thought”, or “ocd is telling me…”, can help you. you are absolutely not a bad person and you did nothing wrong. you can also do some cognitive diffusion strategies such as writing your thoughts in funny letters, and holding ice cubes when ur feeling really bad, because it’ll take the attention off the images and thoughts

Try to take deep breaths and remember that those thoughts don’t have any intentions to hurt anybody or yourself. That you are too empathetic to act on those thoughts. I try to think logically like ( I’m not a bad person, it’s part of my OCD)

Just know they’re not who you actually are. What worked for me was not really even acknowledging them and slowly they started to lose value and not hammer me with crazy anxiety and make me feel as if that’s who I am as a person. It’s easier said then done but overtime becomes achievable. Also doing activities you love has helped me get past it. Sometimes OCD comes back at me hard and I struggle but remember recovery isn’t always smooth sailing there’s probably gonna be valleys and peaks but the destination is a beautiful life.

I struggled with this really bad at the beginning it’s gotten a bit better because I’ve became familiar with it but the images were so terrible sometimes they’d even show up in dreams there’d be days I was afraid or felt uncomfortable sleeping in my own bed because of those thoughts

hey, i'm really sorry to hear you're going through this. dealing with intrusive thoughts and images can feel overwhelming, and that guilt is a heavy burden to carry. 😔 you're not alone in feeling this way, and it's brave of you to reach out for support. by the way, have you heard about this new AI-powered OCD therapy tool called "unstuck?" when i was in a similar spot, what really helped me was this free AI OCD therapy tool called "unstuck" (unstuckmyocd.com/try) that my NOCD therapist recommended. i think it'll be especially helpful for you because it provides personalized, step-by-step support when dealing with intrusive thoughts and images, just like an OCD therapist would. it's designed to help you work through these moments without feeling so isolated or overwhelmed by guilt. i hate when people promote stuff, but i really think it can help you because it's changed my life. lmk if you have Qs or just want to talk more! <3

Thank you so much everyone🥺 honestly they have been so so bad at the moment to the point where I feel like I’m a bad person n I shouldn’t have people around me bc they wouldn’t have thoughts like this. It’s terrible n such a vicious cycle when I’m trying to argue with the OCD bc I’m trying to tell it that the thoughts aren’t mine.

Hey I dealt with this a while back and it’s horrible but I managed to rid the guilt feeling (although I have the odd day where I get them and dwell on it, but mostly I’m able to just shrug them off now and recognise it for what it is). The best advice I was ever given is this: the clue is in the name INTRUSIVE. This means you don’t want it to be there. It has intruded into your mind thus you get the uncomfortable feelings of shame, guilt and anxiety - remember these feelings show you don’t like these thoughts and that proves you aren’t a bad person otherwise you wouldn’t be so worried about them as you are now.