What if I really am a bad mother? What if I never want to play with my own child again? Generally, the thoughts center around something that matters deeply to you where the consequences are devastating, which is partially why it can feel so distressing. You start thinking more and more about this initial thought, and suddenly it grows in your head.
The thoughts latch onto your mind, and you often fear they won’t cease until you can find a way to relieve yourself of the anxiety. People with OCD may experience intrusive thoughts more often and may become more worried by them than people without OCD. Everyone has intrusive thoughts, and usually, they leave your mind as quickly as they come, and you don’t identify with them as something that makes you a bad person.įor people with OCD, it’s more complicated.
Intrusive thoughts can be about relationships, such as wondering if you’re a good partner, safety, fear of death, or protection of a loved one. They can be brief fleeting thoughts such as “ What if I drop this glass of water?” or more distressing ones like “I’m an awful mom” because you aren’t 100% interested in playtime with your child, or “I’m contaminated after touching that public bathroom door with my bare hand!” These thoughts might be about a hypothetical violent scenario, for example, you might find yourself wondering, “What if I pushed this guy next to me in front of the oncoming train?” Intrusive thoughts are unwanted thoughts, images, or urges that pop into your head and can occur out of nowhere. But how can you tell when intrusive thoughts are an everyday part of life or a component of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)? What is an intrusive thought? Almost everyone experiences unpleasant thoughts they would rather not have.