Anyone else have a triggering workplace? I work in a criminal defense law firm and I have to read horrible police reports and stuff all day long it’s very emotionally bd raining and triggering. I worry when I read the sexually explicit ones that I am enjoying it somehow. I worry when I read the ones about people snapping and killing their family members or loved ones or abusing their children that it’ll happen to me. The human mind is so complex and I’m reminded of that everyday at work. I feel like I’m always one small step away from ending up in jail, or hurting someone I love.

i always want to watch new tv shows and lately especially i’ve been getting triggered by a lot of them. anyone else experience this? it gets to the point that i feel like i can’t continue watching the show or i’m doing something wrong, even if i enjoy it/want to continue watching. i recently started watching the menéndez brothers documentary on netflix and i’m intrigued and want to watch the rest but then my brain tells me i’m enjoying it for entertainment purposes or “profiting” off of someone’s trauma or awful experience. i’m more so interested in the case and watching the court experience but i fear i won’t be able to finish it now. anyone else have this issue?

My OCD wants to keep switching “themes” on me, but once again it always concerns my mom or family. This time it’s sexual-related. The one I experience the most is the harm-related thoughts towards her, thinking I want to hurt her or thinking she abused me in the past (she did not) so that’s why I have these thoughts. My mind is always trying to see if there are deeper meanings to these thoughts and how I really feel. Yesterday my thoughts started going towards - “what if I’m attracted to my mom?” I was reading a book and it was a romantic scene and an image of my mom popped into my head. I tried to just dismiss it since I know we can’t control what comes into our heads, but I of course ruminated about it more and it has become a full-blown obsession. I have started wondering if I really am attracted to her or not, do I want to be in a relationship with her, am I just denying my feelings, etc. It sounds so disgusting and disturbing to share these things, but it’s difficult to disengage with this kind of thinking. Like it’s too disturbing to just let it go. Which leads to other worries like what if I can never be in a real relationship because I will just keep having these thoughts, what if this is true and how will I live with myself, what if my mom sexually abused me as a kid and that’s why I’m having these thoughts, etc. I know I’m going down the rabbit hole, but I just keep coming up with more and more “reasons.” Trying to go about my day and not pay them any attention, but it has been difficult to focus on anything else. Which then makes me wonder if I’m actually just fantasizing now and not actually obsessing.

**TMI Warning: This post is very personal and might be uncomfortable for some.** I’m feeling panicked and need to get this out. I have intrusive thoughts that make me question my morals, especially about consent. I have a CNC preference (consent to non-consent), but I feel so conflicted because I know how horrifying and heartbreaking real non-consensual acts are. The thought of anyone suffering in that way is so awful, yet I get thoughts that feel like I’m justifying the real thing—the immoral thing. Sometimes, I feel like I have to focus hard just to truly condemn it, and that terrifies me. It’s hard to separate these thoughts from who I am, and I’m scared it means something terrible about me. I feel so much shame for having a CNC preference. I know it’s rooted in consent, but I feel like I’ve never had certainty that I fully condemn the real thing. I’m scared that deep down, I might think it’s all the same.