hey guys. this is morning i saw a post on fb that was talking about how people want to add pedophilia to the lgbt community (the post was disagreeing w that, as it should) but people were commenting about how it should be considered more of a mental illness (since it is one) and not like “all pedophiles should die” which i don’t agree with. however, i get sexual intrusive thoughts when it comes to pedophilia and start to fear that i am one (even though i know i am not) so usually in those moments i ask my mom to reassure me that i am not, but bc i am trying to resist my compulsions more, i sat with that anxiety all day and it has been a TOUGH day with this anxiety. i have just been extra sensitive and afraid of everything. so i vented about it on my private instagram account (that only my close friends follow) and my friend just texted me an hour ago asking what facebook post triggered all this. So because i trust her i told her the whole story, but she seemed to misunderstand and ask me if i was actually having thoughts of pedophilia, which like super set me off anxiety wise because now am i not only having the acknowledge the all day suppressed intrusive thoughts, but am worried that she thinks i am ACTUALLY feeling this way. I am so anxious and feel like so mentally ill today. ugh.

These are a HUGE trigger for me. Terrifying. I also kind of told a friend (not really) just asking her questions, but I always think back and panic about it.

Hey a few years ago, I struggled with POCD and told a friend who did not respond in the way I wished. In fact, when I asked her if she thought I was capable of doing the things I feared (being a pedophile) and she said that she didn’t know. It broke me. I was so terrified. To her credit, she didn’t know me super well and I regret telling her. (It was a bad moment and I desperately needed reassurance in that moment.) I’m sorry you have had to experience this but know that you are not your thoughts or feelings regardless of what other people say

@noname123 aw that’s so awful. it sucks how triggering some things others deem harmless are for people who have OCD. i often think about triggers and how society will always run to those who need them for suicide/harm/depression/sexual assault (all valid btw) but for others like us they are like....”well we can’t filter everything ugh” i’m sorry you experienced that as well

It also makes you realise how misunderstood OCD still is as a mental illness. I really hope that in the coming years awareness of the lesser known areas of OCD is more widespread and helps more people understand

these social media posts are what began my POCD in the first place!!! i understand the struggle

@psychsoprano the worst time it triggered me was when i was looking at the #pocd post on insta to see if people spoke about it on there (this was before i discovered the app) and somebody posted the “like if you think pedophiles shouldn’t be a part of the LGBT community post” WITH the #pocd, implying they were the same thing. i had the worst panic attack! it’s tough

I am so glad someone else has posted about this because I saw the exact same post on twitter and it triggered my POCD off too!!

this makes me feel so much better, there are no words!