telling people about your intrusive thoughts

has anyone shared details of your intrusive thoughts with friends or family. i have harm ocd and i told my roomates that shows about serial killers trigger me because i have a fear of being a psychopath or crazy person. they said to me “you shouldn’t have said that now im scared” and now im freaked out because they’re scared of me. this is further playing into my ocd that maybe i am crazy and now i regret so heavily having told them anything about it. i feel horrible about myself and they made jokes like “im living with a psychopath”. these are my best friends of all time and i know they support me but i just wish that was something i kept to myself. any help??

Aalarcon04

Date posted: 6h

I’m going through something similar, I confided in a friend about my POCD and they took it the wrong way and viewed me as a danger to children. I lost a very good friend group and a person I really liked because of this. We got this though. 🤝🤍

Oh Dear

Date posted: 6h

@Aalarcon04 I’m really sorry that happened, before I developed (undiagnosed) PCOD I remember seeing a video online explaining what POCD was, and idk if the person who made the video didn’t explain it well or if I misunderstood it but I just remember thinking of it as people that are actually attracted to children but don’t want to be and wouldn’t act on it. I think about this all the time because it’s just so ironic that I’m now experiencing symptoms of the exact thing I once misinterpreted. Also I feel that the fact that this subset of OCD has the word pedophilia in doesn’t help people’s impressions of it.

Oh Dear

Date posted: 6h

I feel like telling people close to you about your intrusive thoughts can be ok when your in active recovery so they can kind of know what you’re experiencing but telling them can also be a compulsion. The fact that you told them that and they’re reaction is causing you to kind of spiral is a probably a sign that you shouldn’t share your intrusive thoughts with other people that aren’t a therapist at the moment. And if it makes you feel better ocd is extremely misunderstood, so if you were to tell the average person about certain intrusive thoughts not just harm related or taboo ones there’s a chance that they won’t fully grasp it.

‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎ㅤ

Date posted: 2h

So, I used to be fascinated by true crime. I read a lot of books, and I watched a lot of documentaries. My family began making jokey comments like that to me. That I was a serial killer, a murderer, etc. I don't think that your friends are genuinely scared of you, or believe that you're capable of harm. They're probably teasing you, not knowing the weight of their words to someone who is experiencing Harm OCD. You're not crazy and you're not a psychopath. You're someone with a cruel disorder that taunts you with intrusive thoughts and feelings that go against your values. There is no truth behind their words, and there is no truth to your intrusive thoughts. You're OK. You're not your OCD.

Betty8989

Date posted: 2h

Yes. Feel like criminal know that am not my brain is always saying kill it say spanish then its name say 3 or its my shoes thought ny shoes were dangerous oh my god have them off my shoes are not dangerous they are not I was mopping lol

Jenna34

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 17w

How do you tell friends and family

How do you tell friends and family about ocd? Like it makes me so anxious and I feel like such a terrible person. A lot of my intrusive thoughts are on my kids. And I hate every single thing that comes into my head.

Sam.Thinks

Date posted: 13w

Should I be honest with my loved ones?

I am very new to this app and to accepting that I likely have OCD. I am not diagnosed yet, but I have suspected that I have it for years now. I think ignoring it/feeding the reassurance loop led to my first really bad panic attack a few days ago that put me in the hospital and essentially forced me to stop hiding my struggle from my loved ones. I had another one last night, and out of habit I’m already hiding my feelings from my loved ones. I’m having thoughts that I know are OCD but they’re very hard to get past because they feel so logical? Some examples: -I shouldn’t tell anyone because it wasn’t as bad as the one that hospitalized me -my loved ones are already tired of hearing me talking about it and I feel bad burdening them -I just had the last one and if I tell people about this one I’ll look like I’m attention seeking -I don’t want people to ask what the trigger was so I shouldn’t bring it up if I don’t want to have to answer that question I’m naming them here not for reassurance, but to help myself hopefully label these things as OCD per usual trying to keep me from getting help. The hardest part of this journey so far has been accepting that there are so many things that feel like normal, rational thoughts and feelings that having been hurting me and feeding a vicious cycle for years on end. It feels unreal because these things have become such subtle integrated parts of my life and my routine, and telling myself those things are harmful just feels wrong. It’s like what I have considered my “gut feeling” for years isn’t actually my intuition looking out for me, but is an overactive fear response that has been isolating me from everything and I’ve never questioned it because the isolation, the reassurance, feels good and like the right thing to do. How do I push past these thoughts and be honest with my loved ones about my struggling? How do I rewire my brain to stop the reassurance seeking and compulsions when it’s the only thing that’s made me feel better all these years?

icanbeatthis...

Date posted: 11w

So ocd...or maybe not

Guys I've had this two week spiral and I tell you it just keeps getting worse everyday and even though I'm trying to sit with them and I've done a session I'm tired guys I don't know what I should do and being in a conservative African family even makes it harder for me to tell anyone...I tried to tell my mother in kind of like fun facts about ocd and she was like so that's how crazy people start and was laughing at some of the examples and compulsions I gave and now I'm even more scared to tell anyone even my friends..I told them I have ocd but I didn't tell them my theme , I feel alone guys😭

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