Hey there everyone, I’m newly diagnosed with ocd and and still very confused with this whole thing. The question I am wondering about is if it’s common to have themes shift rapidly. I experience harm ocd. It started with the fear of intentionally hurting a loved one, then shifted to “what if I become a serial killer” and “now my theme seems to be what if I commit a mass shooting”. It’s extremely difficult for me to express these the things. But I don’t want to research it as that only seems to make the condition worse. Just wondering if anyone had experienced rapid shift of fears like this. I’ve learned I need to try and stay away from Reddit, as much as a love it, it’s hard to filter good posts from disturbing posts and when I see a disturbing post without being prepared for it, it can really mess with my ocd.

Yeah my harm lcd has transitioned from being afraid of knives to thinking im gonna hurt my loves, and serial killer thoughts. I hate this so much I want the days where life was normal.

Yes this is super common! Themes are just arbitrary, common categories of thoughts that people ocd tend to get stuck on. But ocd can be about any thought, and it can switch between all sorts of thoughts all day long.

That’s comforting in a way. I just hate how it seems to be increasing in how destructive the theme is. Idk it doesn’t seem like the theme can be much worse. I really can’t wait for erp therapy to start. I need a break from this

I know. But thoughts about one thing are not inherently worse or more destructive than thoughts about another thing. It’s your ocd getting stuck on the content of this particular thought and getting very anxious about it. But in reality, your thoughts about knives and harming yourself are no more true or valuable or destructive than thoughts about anything else

I understand and feel for you Mate, my harm OCD revolves around the same exact fears and worries that yours does. Think of it this way: OCD has developed a fake mathematical formula wherein no matter what you put into it, the outcome is the same: you will do something terrible, lose control, etc. the key is 2 things in my experience: 1.) stop putting things into the fake OCD mathematical formula and just let the thoughts be there, as uncomfortable as they may be. Stop trying to win the battle, and just walk away from the battle. 2.) understand that thoughts and intentions are 2 totally different things. Understand that thoughts will pop in and out of your head at an almost dizzying rate. Although the fear is that they are intentions, they are not and they’re just thoughts being thoughts Hope this helps a little. Also really work hard on ERP and look for every chance, however small to expose yourself to your fears. Your Anxiety will spike and stay high for a while, but over time it will come down and you WILL return to normal

I have had all these shifts in theme also. I would say even though they seem different they are all still Harm OCD they are all worries about you causing harm to others, a shift in theme for me would be going from harm ocd to contamination OCD etc. Harm is the worst theme I've ever experienced it's just awful. I wish I could make it go away for both of us.