Could Use Some Advice

This theme is new for me. I have heard of Scrupulosity OCD but have never obsessed over it. I have a fear that If I watch something on tv like a show or movie or a game that just mentions the word demon, that i’ll be inviting the enemy into my home. As someone who’s been a Christian for a while, I tend to stay away from movies such as those. Not as a compulsion, just not something I want to watch. The shows/games that have mentioned the word demon are not demonic by any means and in fact, the point of the game is to defeat the monsters. But my brain goes “well it mentions this scary word, and you read it so that must mean something.” I know it may sound silly, especially to non believers, but it just made me feel yucky. I fear being/becoming evil as I already have a fear of being a bad person. I really love Jesus & have no problem expressing my faith as I’m proud to be a christian. I saw an article by NOCD of an example of scrupulosity ocd where a woman said in her mind “hail satan.” Obviously that must have been extremely difficult to bare. But the exposure was to have her say it willingly. That seems terrible. Now I know there are boundaries you can set with your therapist as if anything goes against your religious practice, you are not obligated to do it. So i’m working with my therapist on exposures that work for me. Obviously everyone is different. I’m currently exposing myself to scary symbols like devil horns and pentagrams. I myself as a christian cannot do the more extreme exposures as It goes against my religion. Other exposures my therapist wants me to do is to say Satan or 666 over and over. Now this one’s scary too (obviously) but the reason these exposures feel okay to do is because I don’t want to do anything that resembles worship towards the enemy. That is just my own personal preference. Saying a scary name or looking at scary things does not equate to worshiping or idolizing so while It brings me a lot of discomfort, I am okay with these exposures. Can anyone give me their experiences with this theme and what exposures you have done?

Religion & Spirituality OCD

[Deleted]

Date posted: 51w

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Fruitsnacks

Date posted: 51w

@Jam&Butterfly Thank you Jam, I have never been a fan of demon horror movies, far before OCD came into my life. Just not my cup of tea. But I wouldn’t obsess over it, I just chose not to. I keep obsessing over the enemy and/or intrusively praying to the enemy for horrible things to happen. I’m taking the time to understand these are not my true thoughts and thoughts do not equal my intentions. Jesus knows my true intentions and he’s far greater and more powerful than anyone, especially the enemy. Also I know that Jesus doesn’t need to forgive me because intrusive thoughts are not of my own. It just feels yucky

njsechres@ic...

Date posted: 51w

I also have scrupulosity w lots of fear around devil etc

Waging War A...

Date posted: 51w

Hi! I used to have a very similar fear….when I was in college there was a record store (as in records from the 90’s!) and whenever I would walk through there were like goth and other dark themed covers. I would fear that they would somehow “influence” me when I walked by. One thing that helps me is the truth of how much God the Father, Christ, and the Holy Spirit do on our behalf - INDEPENDENT of anything we do. John 6:37-40 says: All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” I love this passage - The Father gives us to Christ, Christ does not lose us and will raise us up on the last day. And this of course is all in line with the Holy Spirit sealing our salvation (Ephesians 1:13-14). So when I see all that God does, the fear of evil is lessened. I say that because OCD is super good at taking the greatest things in our lives (like a relationship with God) and somehow turning and twisting it into anxiety and a list of things we need to do to “make sure” we haven’t messed up. So the more we see God’s grace - specifically grace - we start to get freedom….bc grace is APART from anything we do, that is actually in the definition of grace. Easier said than done, but I have learned that if I can get the truth of His grace from my head to my heart - even just a little bit - then I start to experience freedom.

Anonymous

Date posted: 25w

Religious OCD Scrupulosity

Hello everyone. I was just wanting to post on here regarding a situation that I have been dealing with for a few months now. I have been taking my walk with Christ seriously for about a year now and ever since I started I’ve noticed a bunch of intrusive thoughts and it’s caused me much distress. It all started back in June of 2024. I missed a church service because my wife and I were taking care of our daughter and I went to a Best But store and upgraded my old Apple Watch to a new one. I felt like doing so I committed idolatry because I went and bought that instead of going to church. I felt immense guilt for doing so and the next day I cancelled my order. I thought that maybe I was over thinking the entire thing so I went ahead and placed a new order and got the watch. For two weeks after getting the watch, I ruminated about whether I should keep it or not. It didn’t feel right with me and was overwhelmed with guilt for having it and it was debilitated with anxiety and stress. Eventually I decided I would just give it back so I went to go return it on the last day I could do so only to find out I could not. I thought that was a sign from God that I could keep it. I felt the most relief after that that I had experienced in quite awhile but then the next day after I started have thoughts again thinking that I didn’t try hard enough to return it and that I’m some how putting it before God. Well eventually I came to terms that there was nothing I could do about it and I was able to stop worrying about it being an idol. Well my mind jumped from that to another thing in my life and this one has been harder to get over. I have been on hair loss medication for 7 years and I had a thought one day telling me that “if I’m a true follower of Christ, then I shouldn’t take the medicine because I’m placing too much importance on my looks” I again felt immense anxiety and dread and tried fighting these thoughts away but could not help but think” what if it is and this is conviction of the Holy spirit”? I would constantly look up online any answers I could find to help relieve my anxiety but I can’t. I pray to God all the time for his will to be done in this situation and sometimes I feel better but then it all comes back. It’s hard for me to read the Bible because there’s so much about idolatry I always feel like it’s God talking to me like it’s a sign or if I’m just taking it that way? I asked God to show give me an answer about this situation and a day later a YouTuber I follow posted a video about removing idols from our lives. I felt that was God speaking to me or wasn’t sure maybe it was a coincidence? I just feel so cornered and out under so much pressure on what to do. Of course I would like to keep taking my medicine because it has helped me but then I have thoughts that tell me it is an idol because I am not able to give it up. I cut back taking the medicine a lot more often over the last months but I don’t know if this is God telling me to do so or my own mind. Like if I want to keep my hair I believe God allows healing through medication and it’s a gift. But these thoughts are telling me that I rely on taking it and it’s an idol and that unless I give it up completely I’m not following God’s will and it’s an idol. It’s caused immense doubt because then I read Romans 14 and it says anything you do with doubt is sin because it’s not of faith. I feel like I’m being attacked and cornered because I’m forced to stop taking something that has helped me. Now I have thoughts telling me to stop wearing my retainers every night because I got Invisalign a few years back to fix my teeth and that unless I stop taking my medication and wearing my retainers I’m not authentically following God. I don’t know what to do at this point. I don’t want to go against God and I don’t want to commit idolatry. I know God is all loving so I doubt this is all coming from him. I have to take/wear these things daily for them to work and the ocd will twist that in saying they are idols because of that and I just feel so cornered and defeated. I try to find things constantly online to see if anyone else has similar issues but I can’t. I know this is a long post but just trying to get some clarity on the matter. What should I do to help my situation?

Religion & Spirituality OCD

Focd

User type: NOCD Alumni

Date posted: 24w

Doing compulsions all day long

No matter what task I’m doing. If I have an intrusive thought I have to redo the task or just just completely move on to something else. I’m Christian and I struggle with scrupulosity. I feel like I have to repeat task to keep everyone safe. I’m tired of this. I know ERP is the key and I have to stand up to the thoughts but they are just so scary. I know God is with me and I’m suppose to have faith but again I’m just so scared. I can’t even fully go into detail about my theme because I don’t want to type it out. I’m in therapy and I’m told to lean into the discomfort but it just seems like an impossible thing for me to do.

Anonymous

Date posted: 10w

Need advice plz ❤️

So for as long as I’ve been alive I’ve loved horror/ thriller movies and books. I really only enjoy reading thriller books. Since my harm ocd hit I have slowly started back reading thriller again, but I have to check for triggers before each one I read. There’s been a few books that I was really loving that I had to stop reading because something that would trigger my ocd would come up ( my theme is going crazy becoming dangerous , schizophrenia etc ) so if a character in a book starts hearing voices or something, I get so anxious. I want to be able to read and watch horror / thrillers again. Do I simply need to just continue reading / watching and sit with the anxiety?

Harm OCD

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