- Date posted
- 4y
- Date posted
- 4y
I feel for you. It’s not creepy to look at loved ones. I know it seems like that and I’m sorry you are going through this terrible unreasonable illness
- Date posted
- 4y
I struggle with this too! Glancing is very triggering for me and I know I’m not trying or desiring that. I’m just getting started with ERP so haven’t quite gotten to do real work on this yet, but sometimes it helps me to know I’m not alone!
- Date posted
- 4y
I’m so sorry. OCD is making you think about some of the most horrible things that happen in this world. I would encourage you to check some facts about this, even thought thinking about pedophiles is horrible and distressing. A real pedophile might avoid looking at children, yes, but that would only be when they feel they are going to get caught staring inappropriately. They do not feel the disgust that you feel, nor do they worry about if they are a pedophile. If they had the opportunity, they would stare as long as they could. Your OCD is disgusted by pedophilia like anyone would be, so much so that your mind has created a mechanism to make sure you never ever hurt a child in that way accidentally or otherwise. You are not a predator. Predators don’t feel disgust and shame. You are less likely to hurt a child than the average person, because you are hyper aware of all actions that could seem inappropriate. OCD needs to trust you, you are a good person who hates picturing these things and thinking about them at all, and you don’t need them to know how to behave in an appropriate way around children.
- Date posted
- 4y
Yeah but I still really don’t want to be accidentally inappropriate and I feel like OCD panick attacks might mimic a predators stare so people will think I’m a pedo, since I tend to glance at people more
- Date posted
- 4y
@Lucy.Wilefire Lije what seems to scare me the most are the mini panick attack where I accidentally stare at her Chest simply since it’s on my eye level and my thoughts are about not looking at her badly . I mean that could also easily be written off as annoyance , but OCD convinced me my sister will think I’m pedo when she’s older
- Date posted
- 4y
@Lucy.Wilefire I totally understand. Intent is everything. Your eyes can look at whatever you want. It is perfectly normal and even healthy to look at kids, even kids you don’t know. It’s good for kids’ development to have healthy interactions with adults. It’s okay to smile and wave at a kid in a store. Even if you get deep in thought and it looked like you were staring at a child, the last thought in most people’s’ minds is that you are intending harm. Predators go out of their way to seek inappropriate relationships and attachments with children. You’re a safe adult, with no intention or desire to ever be inappropriate with a child. Your intention matters, that is who you are.
- Date posted
- 4y
@Lucy.Wilefire It’s normal to look at your sister. Nudity and body parts are not inherently sexual, and neither is looking at them. If you intended to hurt your sister, or if you desired to, that would be a problem. The idea of it disgusts and terrifies you, which shows you are not going to do it, nor does any part of you want to. Your sister can’t read your mind, your thoughts are not you, you are so much more than the things that go through your head. You love your little sister, and your OCD is trying to protect her, even from you, but OCD doesn’t understand that she doesn’t need protection from her big sibling that loves her.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 16w
Let me start by prefacing that I developed ocd as postpartum ocd after having my first child. I had harm and pocd. I had it on and off for years and then it just eventually went away completely for many years until recently after a stressful life event. Now that it’s back it again targets my children but now my grandchildren also. It’s been horrible and makes me pull away from them. Last night my 6 year old granddaughter threw up in the car when my daughter was about to take her home so my daughter brought her back in the house and asked me to clean her up while she cleaned her car. I had some anxiety about it because of my ocd but I couldn’t say no to helping so I opened the bathroom door and my granddaughter was standing in her underwear waiting for me to clean and dress her. Everything was fine and normal but then for some reason, I have no idea why, I looked down at her chest area. I immediately got so upset and didn’t know why I looked there and now my ocd is saying it’s because i’m a monster. I tried to tell myself it’s just normal human behavior when someone is standing there naked that you look where you shouldn’t simply because it’s just there in front of you but I feel horrible. I don’t feel any inappropriate way about her or any child but my ocd is saying it was inappropriate. Has anyone else been through this?
- Date posted
- 14w
My whole life I’ve kind of stared at people’s crotches whenever they’re wearing something revealing a bikini. I feel like I’ve always searched to see if I can see an outline or something or anything because it’s so revealing. It kind of feels like curiosity I don’t know how to describe it. I did this before my OCD got bad and I do this now. I feel scared that I’m doing something I shouldn’t be. I’m scared that I’m doing something perverted. What scares me the most is that about a year ago this happened with my boyfriend sister. She was 15 at the time. I didn’t think much about it. I stared, searched and moved on. But now I really question if I did something awful or if my intentions were perverted. I’m questioning whether it’s okay to even have curiosity about this. Maybe this is normal and people don’t analyze their behavior, I don’t know. I had a theory that this has been a compulsion all along but right now it feels fully out the window. I haven’t been able to stop crying. I really need someone’s input or perspective. Please.
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- Date posted
- 12w
17f So basically I think you know this whole accept and sit with the uncertainty thing. It applies to pocd as well. Because you can ruminate, test yourself, seek reassurance as much as you want but it will never be enough for you brain to be sure you are not a P. So you need to sit with "Maybe I am a P maybe not" and just don't do anything about it. So sometimes I can do that. But here comes moral ocd. If I accept the chanse of me being a pedophile, isn't it morally wrong for me to be around children? Look at children? Watch movies with children in it? Cause now I can't even look at children even if it was an accident without freaking out and thinking that I'm a monster. Sometimes it feels morally wrong to leave the house because there is a chanse I can meet a child on the street I genuinely don't know what to do. It feels paralyzing at this point. Seems like I can't do anything. Like I even need to cover children on the screen with my hand when I watch a movie. It's exhausting.
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