Is there a particular word for the theme of being scared of everything paranormal and fear of being posessed, other than maybe religious ocd, which it doesn’t apply in my case. I feel like there’s nobody on this app besides me who had this obsession. And I want to do research on how to recover when I have this specific theme but I have difficulty finding information because it looks like nobody with ocd has this obsession.

But do you still get scared of paranormal stuff ? Or you believe it’s fake so it doens’t bother you? I believe so much that I am affected by a spirit, that my ocd latched onto this paranormal theme.

This helps me thanks. I really need to accept and believe that I have OCD and not that a spirit is haunting me. I just wish I didn’t believe in this kind of supernatural stuff. I dont even really believe in it, but just the 5% possibility of being cursed is making me crazy. Even though I am diagnosed with OCD, the small possibility of actually being haunted is what is preventing me from recovering. Its not easy to deal with this uncertainty like they say we have to, because spirits are something that maybe can hurt me, and I simply dont want to accept the uncertainty of being haunted.

Also I want to add to what I said in my previous comment ^ that you’re right if nothing bad is happening I can just ignore it and move on. But for me the intrusive thoughts that I have about the scary videos that I watched and the urges to watch it again, IS the bad thing that is happening and I am blaming that on being cursed or hypnotised by demons. This belief that these thoughts are caused by the fact that I am cursed rather than it just being OCD prevents me completely from recovering. It’s like I am saying to myself that the videos have a special power that can make me have urges to watch it over and over again. I don’t have the logical part that tells me, it’s just a silly something behind a screen and it can’t affect me this way.

I don't know how to help unfortunately because I didn't do anything to make it go away my focus just switched to hocd.

@hateocd123 It’s been three months almost now and it is really starting to affect my daily life. I am trying to get better by looking up scienfitic articles that debunk paranormal activities, basically saying that it doesn’t really exist. Tolerating the uncertainty that I might be posessed isn’t helping me at all in this case because it gives me too much anxiety. Also i developped like a harm ocd kind of thing, like being scared of googling how to get haunted, and actually haunting myself by accident. Did you experience something similar, is it really possible to recover from that? It’s like I really need to believe that it’s all fake to get better.

@ha1333 I've experienced the exact same thing. I still have trouble sleeping alone because of it. I think it's possible to recover from any form of OCD. Are you able to see an OCD specialist? If not I would start with your normal doctor and tell them that you're having intrusive thoughts. I did and my doctor prescribed me an SSRI. I haven't started it yet, but I think SSRIs can be great in conjunction with ERP, especially in cases like yours where the anxiety is too debilitating to get through it alone. Medication isn't something you have to take long term, you can take it, use it as a buffer during erp and then eventually ween off of it with the help of your doctor. That's what I plan on doing. If you're not interested in medication, try to reduce the amount of compulsions you do in a day slowly. Reassurance is a compulsion, so try to cut some of those article you're reading out a little at a time.

@hateocd123 Ok it relaxes me knowing you experienced the same thing. And yes I went to a psychologist two times now and he diagnosed me with OCD. You have probably seen me here already but here’s basically what happened to me. I had unwanted urges to look up or click on stuff that gave me anxiety on the internet. It’s like the only way to stop thinking about the particular thing I don’t want to watch, is to litteraly watch it. Then I watched too many scary videos, that now whenever I have an urge to watch another, i believe it’s because I am haunted my a spirit in my body that wants me to watch scary stuff, and not because I have OCD. And when I start thinking about one video in particular, my brain wants to know every detail in it so I have to back and look at it again to stop wondering about the details. Anyways, so now I believe I am being haunted by a spirit because of the videos, or that I am cursed basically. I almost stopped completely watching these videos, the urges are diminishing, but I am scared that I am haunted and I don’t know how to get over it. The more that I believe a particular video cursed me, the more I’ll have an unwanted urge to watch it again, or i’ll just think about it constantly because it scares me. And looking at scientific articles is litteraly the only thing that is helping me a bit, because it helps me see that paranormal stuff are fake.

@ha1333 Wow, I'm glad you brought this up because I have the same issue involving urges to watch videos about the subject. I almost relapsed into that theme mixed with another gruesome theme I had because I decided to give in to the urge to watch the videos. It led to me having a big break down in the middle of the night and not allowing myself to go to sleep until it was light out.

@hateocd123 This was about a week ago.

@hateocd123 The thing is, I dont watch the scary videos because I want to or to reassure me. They litteraly give me anxiety, I watch them because my brain tells me that if I dont watch them I will never stop thinking about them. Like i watch them to get over the fact that I dont want to watch them. Also did you slowly realize that you can’t be haunted or whatever your paranormal fear was to kinda recover ? Because basically, your ocd attacks the thing you fear, and I am scared of being cursed and I believe these videos cursed me or a spirit is haunting me because of it, so if I know that being cursed if a fake concept, I will see these videos as neutral and I will stop thinking about them. I feel that’s really the only way to recover... as long as I believe that I am cursed because of them, my ocd will always get stuck on this.

@ha1333 No, the videos definitely don't reassure me and I don't want to watch them either but I feel like I have to. I have a death obsession too revolving around decomposition too (they kind of go hand in hand for me when the death obsession takes hold so does the paranormal one ), I've had strong urges to look at really disgusting autopsy photos and crime scene photos. They terrify me and make me want to curl up in a ball and stop existing, but the feeling that I have to look at them is really intense and for the same reason, It's because I really really really do not want to look at them. I don't know why I do it. I hate haunted stuff, but I went to the historic district of the city over from me with my boyfriend yesterday and went to a tool store that used to be a mortuary. People talk about it being haunted and I felt I HAD to go in even though I really did not want to. The whole time I felt like something terrible was going to happen, but thankfully it didn't. I kept praying continually that anything in there wouldn't follow me out and I felt guilty that I went in in the first place because it almost felt like I was inviting stuff in.

@ha1333 I never really recovered, this theme just isn't as prominent as my hocd right now.

@hateocd123 I don't even really believe in ghosts. When I'm in my right mind I don't at least.

@hateocd123 Okay wow you have almost the same symptoms as me. I would have also felt the urge to go in the haunted house even though I don’t want to: basically we have the urge to do stuff we don’t want to do. But I believe I have these urges are caused by the fact that I am cursed, and not because I have OCD, which makes the urges or intrusive thoughts even worse. So what is the solution you think? I believe you have experienced that longer than me, you have any tips ? I know that if I stop believing I am cursed, and that I finally believe that it is all caused by the OCD, I will recover.

Don't*

My TV does turn on and of by itself, but then I realized it's because my neighbors who share a wall with me also have a roku TV and use their phones as remotes. They were accidentally casting to my television ????

So basically, its probably (or even certainly) my OCD causing all of that. But I still have to accept being haunted because anyways it isnt hurting me. It’s like I know logically that its all caused by the OCD, but like you said it latched on the fact that maybe I am cursed. For example it has been 4 days I am obsessing over an image I saw on the internet, litteraly cannot stop thinking about every detail of it, and I believe that it’s because the image has a certain power that wants me to become obsess with it, and not simply because it disturbed me and my ocd made me stuck on it. All of this obsession wouldnt have happened if I wasn’t scared of spirits or didnt believed in them. It’s like im looking for people to yell at me and tell me straight up: you’re not cursed, its a concept that hasnt even been proven to exist and its obviously just your OCD making you obsess with it.

I have wondered that.

@hateocd123 I wish there was more research on this theme or that it was more common like the other themes. I feel like the vague character of the paranormal stuff is what makes it so hard to get over this theme. It’s too illogical and we don’t even know if it actually exists, so it’s just you wondering if it exists then wondering if you’re affected by it.