- Date posted
- 5y
- Date posted
- 5y
Hey Bluekit! First of all: I’m so sorry you’re going through this. I am not a professional but everything you’ve written here is quite common and expected for someone suffering from OCD with a pedophilic theme — ie POCD for short. It seems like you’re new to this so I’m going to provide a little reassurance even though you’ll learn that reassurance isn’t actually helpful in the long term: you are not a creep or weird or fucked up, you have OCD and all of your thoughts are exactly what people with your theme go through. As far as getting help goes, I have some good news: you do NOT have to tell anyone about the nature of your specific theme or thoughts in order to get help. Explain that you’re currently suffering from some mental health issues and it’s gotten to the point that you no longer feel able to manage it. Say you’ve done some research and would like to speak to an OCD Specialist. That parts important: even in the mental health world, OCD is widely misunderstood by non-specialists. That means you may have to go out of network for treatment or spend a little more money unfortunately, but it is absolutely worth it. Your OCD is highly treatable with the right help. Don’t let yourself needlessly suffer if you don’t have to. If there isn’t an OCD Specialist in your area, plenty of them now do online therapy, and there are even some available through this app. If your parents try to pry or tell you that you don’t need therapy, tell them that you aren’t comfortable discussing what’s going on just yet, and you hope they can trust you to know when you need help. Let them know that all you need is their support right now. Good luck with all of this. The first step might feel the hardest, but you’re there and it’s going to be fine. Treatment is very straightforward, your therapist won’t be phased at all by any of this, in fact they’ll have a bunch of other patients just like you. They will go at a pace that works for you and you’ll be better able to tackle this or any other theme on your own in the future. I’m not sure if you’ve heard this yet, but they say the flip side of every OCD theme is a value. Your POCD isn’t indicative of some underlying desire to hurt children, it’s actually a sign of how much you value children, innocence, and protecting those that can’t protect themselves.
- Date posted
- 5y
Thank you!!! I’m in the UK as well so I’m not sure how available specialists are here , I have only just joined support groups as my other symptoms are really impacting me like I don’t know why I have this thing with symmetry at college when I’m writing and even while I’m typing now I’m touching one side of the keyboard way too much and I have to keep balancing it out ,writing fast seems to help, I have diagnosed BPD as well idk why I’m telling you this lolll I need help but I’m really ashamed to ask for it. Sorry I don’t make a lot of sense , thank you for your reply I appreciate it a lot
- Date posted
- 5y
@bluekit Symmetry issues are super common with OCD. And many people have comorbid diagnosis. I have OCD and panic disorder. Now seems like the perfect time to get help! Try: https://iocdf.org/ocd-finding-help/find-help/ If you can’t see someone who’s private practice the wait list for treatment in the Uk can be quite long so do be sure to get on it ASAP. Going private is great though if you have the resources to afford it.
- Date posted
- 5y
And, Breathe.... Your working yourself up. I can admit I get this alot and it makes me feel like a shit person. Remember your thinking these things because you know you don't want to harm anyone and these thoughts are actually just making you aware of that. There just 'what ifs'. Much love and appreciation. Stay strong ?
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 5y
This is really common, any experienced ocd therapist will tell you and yes you can say it to your therapist, once they are good they have a reasonable understanding of ocd. In the meantime, if these thoughts bother, which they clearly do, you shouldn't worry. A real pedophile in my view, would not be upset at such thoughts, but remember, to try to prove ocd fears are not real, is a compulsion in itself. Trying to prove with 100% certainty that we are good people, is impossible, as most things in life have no absolute certainty and that is where ocd preys on us. I know how hard it is but with ocd it's not the content that's important, it's how we react to it.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 25w
18+ TW! Involves sexual content I have learning disabilities which means im always going to be 3-5 years mentally behind from my actual age… when I was 14 I remember finding people saying they work with kids “attractive” and I remember mastu*** over a kid around 5+ but when I was 14 I was either mentally age 11 or 9. So I didn’t know it was wrong, and as soon as I realised I stopped. People say I was young and it’s okay but I remember finding people saying they even walked past a nursery “attractive” but I don’t know if this is even the right word. Maybe cute? Because I find different emotions hard to tell the difference between, so maybe it’s cute rather than attractive. I never ever had intentions to do anything to younger individuals, it was just me finding people saying they worked with them etc attractive… which my ocd now plays on, because my friend mentioned they were working with kids but idk if it was the real me or not but I genuinely felt like I found it attractive and it was giving my so many groinal responses which then made me feel genuinely aroused like I wanted to do things. This plays on my mind because my ocd will always say “but you did/do find stuff like this attractive” but this literally stops me from eating, sleeping or anything. I can’t break from my compultions because what if I do genuinely find it attractive. I don’t think it’s even attractive maybe it’s cute? Like I find it cute… but cuteness can give people feelings down there I guess. I think because if my learning disabilities I found it hard to know the difference between “attraction” and cute so I did stuff over it because it gave me that feeling down there but that could of been cuteness feeling. I just need some support on this.
- Date posted
- 24w
TW So I haven’t been diagnosed with pocd, but many ppl said that I have it. I was in bed when I remembered this time when I first started experiencing what I hope is false attraction not actual pedophilia, I’m looking back on it rn n I’m worried it wasn’t false attraction, I remember feeling a sense of attraction when I saw that kid, I was about14 at the time and the kid was 11 or 12. I remember constantly searching to see if it was normal for a 14 year old to like a 12 or 11 year old, I was worried when I was doing that i think, I also kept walking pass her to look at her i think to check if i was attracted or not, but it makes me worried that I was attracted to her because im worried that i did it bc i was actually attracted. now looking back on it rn, I don’t feel panic, worry, shame, or guilt, I originally only felt panic and worry, never shame or guilt. Now I don’t feel any of it, not feeling panic and worry now makes me think that I am a p, I don’t want to be a p. I hope im not a p, Ive talked to a therapist and they’ve said that it’s pocd, but it wasn’t a official diagnosis, I’m worried it was a false diagnosis because I lied on one or two of the questions. I also constantly get senses of what I hope is false attraction when I see some kids, and I keep trying to figure out if it is real or false attraction. Also some other time today I was feeling aroused and I wanted to m#sturbate, but then thoughts of kids started popping up, I think that I didn’t like them, I’m not sure any more, but while I was finishing the thoughts kept comigg by, idk what it means but it felt like I enjoyed it, which made me worried, but after I finished the thoughts disappeared a lot more, idk why that happened idk what it means, could someone give me some advice pls?? I don’t wanna be a pedo. All of that happening makes me feel like I am one, can someone give me advice on what’s happening and what I am??
- Date posted
- 24w
So I was never diagnosed with pocd but many ppl said that I have it and my therapist also said that I have ocd, I’ve recently been getting these thoughts and feelings of attraction towards kids, idk if it’s real attraction or not, but I worry that it’s true attraction because I don’t feel panic and anxiety towards those thoughts and feelings anymore, I used to feel that, but I also never felt shame or guilt for those thoughts and feelings. I also can’t tell if I want those thoughts and feelings or not. When I get those thoughts and feelings, I tell myself “I can’t be attracted to kids” and “being attracted to kids is bad” and “I wouldn’t like kids”. The main thing is I can tell if I am attracted to the kids or not, I feel like I want to know, but I also don’t know if I want to be attracted to kids or not, yet the attraction feeling feels so genuine, I can’t tell if it’s false or not, I try to compare my attraction towards a girl my age to the feelings I get when I see the kids. I’m also under the age of 16, and I’ve heard that people under the age of 16 are at risk of developing p#dophilia, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to become a pedo. But I can’t tell what I want anymore, I can’t tell if my feelings intrusive or not. Even though some people said that I have “textbook ocd” I still don’t believe it. These feelings and thoughts, I just don’t understand if I want and like them or not, idk if I WANT to like or want them. I also lied on 2 questions for the ocd diagnosis about liking the thoughts which I don’t know if I do or not, I said that I think I don’t when in reality I don’t know if I do or not. And the second question where I said I don’t feel aroused even though sometimes I do, idk why I get aroused for that stuff, idk if I want to be aroused or if I don’t want to be aroused. Can someone give me advice pls? ANT to like or want them. I also lied on 2 questions for the ocd diagnosis about liking the thoughts which I don’t know if I do or not, I said that I think I don’t when in reality I don’t know if I do or not. And the second question where I said I don’t feel aroused even though sometimes I do, idk why I get aroused for that stuff, idk if I want to be aroused or if I don’t want to be aroused. I also used to watch p#rn a lot, I was exposed to it at a young age cause I was a stupid ass kid once, I got addicted to it and watched it every day, when all of these feelings and thoughts started, I completely stopped watching p#rn which fixed that, but now I’m worried it was a sign of something bad because I heard that early porn exposure creates mental issues and stuff, so I don’t know if I have pocd or actual pedophilia anymore. I’m also currently tryin to get a relationship with a girl my age. Can someone give me advice on all of this pls? Idk what all of this means anymore :(
Be a part of the largest OCD Community
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond