I suffer from incest thoughts and I will be around family members this holiday season and the thought of just being around my family makes me feel disgusting and miserable. But I love my family more than anything. I don't know how I'm going to get through this, the thoughts seem so real sometimes

I get sexual intrusive thoughts too. Family time is definitely hard but think of it as ERP. If you need to take a break, go to the restroom and take some deep breaths. You can always come on here if you need to vent.

I know, but they feel real in times of high anxiety and have no bearing on real life. Try thinking about the craziest incest thought you can and you’ll realise that the mind can think up almost anything. If you’re scared, it’s not likely to be true

Thank you love

I have incest intrusive thoughts too and also try to limit my time at home over Christmas. It’s a shame because it should be the one time we connect with them but it’s always niggling in the back of my mind - what if it’s true and I’m a monster? Agree that using it as ERP is good, and facing your fears will hopefully put them into perspective. Good luck :)

I had this intrusive thoughts before, so i can feel related to your obsessions. Remember usually ocd backfire at us with things we love the most and care about the most. The fact that you are feeling distress just for the nature of your intrusive thoughts, are an indicator that this thoughts are not your true self. Something that kinda helped me when i had this, was to aknowledge my thoughts as allucinations. When someone has allucionations, has to aknowledge that, even though he/she can see it, and it seems real, it's not real, so, by doing that, is the first step to rest power to your tricky mind.

Sometimes my mind like convinces me that it's real and I cannot handle it and I want to breakdown and cry. Then I worry if I'm just in denial or if it's my OCD either way it feels terrible and horrifying

sometimes i have this thoughts it’s so scary

That’s the problem, you have to trust yourself more than these thoughts. As I said, your brain can tell you just about anything - if you ‘accept’ it only mentally, you’re doing what ocd doesn’t want and breaking the cycle of fighting. You’re going to exhaust yourself trying to work this out

I’m sorry you feel this way :(

I do try to trust myself more than the thoughts but sometimes I can't always be strong and I have a hard time pushing through it

Thank you for your advice though it means a lot!!

just scared because I feel disgusting and they feel so real sometimes I just want to cry

Do you ever get to the point where you just admit the thought to yourself? It’s horrible, but it’s almost the end of the anxiety because you’ve let it be there

What do u mean admit it?

Wouldn't that mean I'm a bad person

As in it becomes so real that you just accept it as real in your mind

I don't wanna accept it, it's too horrible