Dealing With Intrusive Thoughts and Paranoia
Intrusive thoughts and paranoia are one of the OCD symptoms that cause the most anxiety and distress, as sufferers often feel that these intrusions mean that they are a bad person.
This can understandably cause paranoia, and often becomes a prominent obsession that cannot be shifted. Intrusive thoughts and paranoia are related to the obsession side of OCD. This article discusses intrusive thoughts, images and impulses as a symptom of OCD.What Are Intrusive Thoughts?
These refer to the violent or sexual thoughts, images and impulses that frequently enter the minds of OCD sufferers against their will. These affect almost everyone at some point, but most people can easily push them aside and forget about them. For OCD sufferers, doing this is difficult or even impossible. The intrusions repeatedly plague OCD sufferers, despite any attempts to suppress them.Examples of Intrusive Thoughts and Paranoia
Intrusive thoughts, images and impulses can take a number of forms, but it is common for them to be of a violent or sexual nature. For example, some OCD sufferers have intrusive thoughts or images that are related to harming themselves or people close to them. Other common intrusive thoughts, impulses and images are of a sexual nature, and may concern family members or young children.Intrusive thoughts can be as simple as feeling that your hands are contaminated by germs. This intrusion is usually followed by a compulsion to wash your hands repeatedly to clean them.
How Can Intrusive Thoughts Affect OCD Sufferers?
Intrusive thoughts are often accompanied by paranoia, and this combination can have a big effect on OCD sufferers. They tend to increase over time, becoming more frequent and intense. In many cases, compulsions are performed to reduce the anxiety caused by intrusive thoughts and paranoia.Intrusive thoughts and paranoia can have a significant effect on relationships with family and friends. Some OCD sufferers may find that it affects their job, particularly if they have trouble concentrating on anything else.
Intrusive thoughts and paranoia are some of the common symptoms of OCD. These thoughts and images are often violent or sexual. They frequently enter the mind and refuse to disappear, which can leave many OCD sufferers questioning their character. Many OCD sufferers feel that they are crazy, disgusting or evil for thinking the intrusive thoughts in the first place, and are afraid that they will actually carry out what is happening in the intrusive thoughts, images and impulses.
This is not true, but this paranoia can easily take hold of individuals with OCD as the feelings triggered by intrusive thoughts and images can feel very real. Over time, intrusive thoughts and images can turn into obsessions, and can be very difficult to get rid of. It is worth holding onto the fact that although they may be very unpleasant and disturbing, the intrusions are only in the mind. It is rare that OCD sufferers are actually compelled to carry out what is happening in the mind.Reader's Comment:
One of our readers has experienced this and offers the following tips:The best way to deal with these types of thoughts is actually to just let them run their course, meaning just ignore them. I've suffered with them for over 17years, but that is not constantly. If you dwell on them, they become stronger, because you mark them and they become hard to get rid of. If you ignore and do not try to fight them, they will ease and go away.Good food to eat for OCD is banana - least one a day.
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Comments...
I know the answer now, why we have these thoughts we have! I have to share with you, it's because we don't love ourselves. And we cant' forgive our selves what ever it might be. So we continually beat ourselves up time and time again by having intrusive thought. We think we're not good enough, but we ALL are. We are all important, and you have to start by knowing that. You have it within you to heal yourself. This doesn't have to be a lifelong thing! It really doesn't. I'm realizing that now along with a whole lot of other stuff, wow! I am going to beat this and you WILL too. Seek knowledge, meditate.Meditation is a great way of knowing the true you. A great saying I came across is, "My heart is where the truth is stored - not in my mind - for my mind can alter the details of my experience in many ways." Mary Ann Luckett,D.C
scared - 9 January 2012 @ 12:34 AM
i get these thougts all the time i am 14 quite young and the best way to deal with it is just to laugh at it and move on! i get alot of gay thoughts but i am not gay in the slitest bit it may lead you to liking them gay thoughts or what ever but just laugh at them!
ste - 27 November 2011 @ 9:41 PM
Counter-intuitively, I think the best approach to handle this issue is to welcome the thoughts as they come into your head as it gives you the opportunity to bring out your true self by registering your disgust at the content of them. The longer you do this and stand up to these thoughts (rather than fear them and seek ways to escape from them) your brain will get the message that you are in control and are able to effectively ‘tame’ these thoughts. This will result in your brain sending you these thoughts significantly less often as it won’t deem them enough of a problem to warrant your attention.
Here2Help - 24 October 2011 @ 3:05 PM
Dear worried mum,
Iknow EXACTLY how you feel! I ended up in the hospital recently( beginning ofSept 2011) because of it, I wanted to die! Stayed in the mental ward for almost a month.The thoughts areso terrible, and I feel so,so guilty. I just cry and cry all the time. But it is good to know I'm not alone, that there are other people out there going through almost exactly the same thing. I'm home now and stilltryingto deal with it.
I was searching the net for informationand came across The Linden Method. I think I'm going to try it. Charles Linden, the founder claims he can cure it (need to save 177.00, it's not cheap, not for me anyway). For now I'm doing therapy ( DBT) don't know whether that will work, I'm getting frusturated with it already( or maybe the therapist who's teaching it to me, it's taking forever).Also waiting to get in to see a Hypnotherapist. Wish me luck, and I wish all the best to you as well. If you have any ideas you think might help me post them for me ok.
Scared - 23 October 2011 @ 12:35 AM
Please help me. I am having intrusive sexual thoughts and images of family members including my own young children. I am so ashamed and guilty of these thoughts that i cant even look my children or partner in the eye! Thay are evil thoughts which I would never ever dream of carrying out. These thoughts make me feel sick! I am 13 weeks pregnant. I really really want to tell my GP and get help but I am so scared that they will think I am perverted and will take my children away from me!!! I am so scared as they are my world and I would never ever hurt them in any way!!! What shall I do??As these sick thoughts are destroying me!!!!!! Please help me!!!!
worried mum - 23 September 2011 @ 8:20 PM
I've had "pure O" for going on 30 years now relating to viruses (HIV) and sexual problems. I do not know which cam before, the obsession/compulsion or the paranoia, but they are like kissing cousins. Was on meds for about 6 months (effexor) but couldn't handle it. Now using CBT which took a long time to grasp let alone practice, but its slowly starting to sink in. Also have religious rituals that is even harder to get rid if, since some of it has to do with self image (being good or bad) and self worth. Even now my CBT clashes with my religious upbringing. Gambling, drinking are ways I deal with stress, and because they are beginning to be counterproductive, I am trying to phase them out at the same time that I am doing CBT coincidentally with relaxation techniques. I was diagnosed by many criteria over the years, and for a while borderline personality seemed most appropriate, but I do not seem to share in many of the symptoms of a borderline to fit into this category, namely depersonalisation, and others, so it keeps getting back to OCD. (Although there is a diagnosis known as Obsessive compulsive personality , but there the axis seems to be primarily the personality having these other co-morbidities, rather than the Obsesions themselves blocking the personality. What comes before the chicken or the egg? I think its the later
bill - 20 September 2011 @ 6:20 PM
I have had OCD for about 13 years since I was a teenager and finally starting seeing a psychologist 18months ago. Everything went really well and started on luvox at a low dosage Whih seemed to help my OCD symptoms. I also have anxiety so am contantly worrying about everything in my life! I'm happily married with a little girl and lead a pretty normal life but it is really frustrating because my mind never relaxes. My medication worked well for about 10 months but then stopped working! I have always had intrusive thoughts but now they are worse than ever, I can't walk past someone in the street without picturing them turning around and stabbing me! I constanly have thoughts in my head that something bad will happen to my daughter, like if it's really windy outside I'm paranoid that a tree will fall through he roof and crush her in bed and I lay in bed feeling sick about it. I have found all my OCD checking and counting is worse than ever and all I want to do is sleep all day which is hard with a 2yr old so we lay in the lounge watching tv which makes me feel lime the worst parent ever! I feel like something is missing in my life and just wish I had a normal brain which didn't work at 100 miles and hour! I feel like I never actually get to just be at peace. No one can understand in my life and I wish that I could find the right medication to make me function as a semi normal member of society instead of constanly being afraid someone is going to break into my house and kill me in the middle of the night! I just need some peace and quiet from
My brain
Sammyocd - 20 September 2011 @ 2:39 PM
i have suffered with ocd for over 30 yrs now and it never gets better, i was 11 yrs old when i first had my obsessional intrusive thought i was so scared and still am and i am in my mid forties and still have panic attaccks and wish i was dead as i find it very dificult to cope with the horrible things that go through my mind, it is everything that im not its everthing i am against in life, things did get better when i went on the medication, once i came off it managed 6 months i thought brilliant i am feeling normal, then i expereience alot of stress at work and home life, then out of the blue it was back i felt so ill all over again, saying why me why this again, i got straight back on the tablets as i know i cannot go bact to where i was a few years back, this condition is so cruel and i envy people that live a normal life. i am not alone after reading the above that as help me thanks to you all for having the strength to publish how you are all feeling it is not easy. thank you
chicken - 4 July 2011 @ 11:27 PM
I have beared the symptoms of OCD for 20 years + and have finally sought the help I needed and am undergoing a course of CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy).
This has made such an improvement to the quality of my life and am really starting to manage the OCD now rather than the OCD managing me! A really important thing I have learnt is not to fuel the negative cycle by performing compulsions (checking, netreulising, etc) as these will just prolong and stregthen the obsessions (distrubing thoughts, images etc), - just accept the obessional thought and don't resist it, and shortly it will just fade away into nothing. Think of the obsessional thought as a monster which is alive in your head only because you are feeding it with the related compulsion. Stop the compulsion (food) and the monster will die. Sounds ridicolous but it works for me.
CBT also teaches a more rational and sensible approach to evaluating any obsessional thoughts. I always have a copy of a 'Evidence for and against' list in drawer. Basically when an obsessional thought occurs in my mind if it persists I then list all facts/reasons for and against the thought being true/likely to happen.
It's surprising how much evidence builds up against the thought being true/real and usually this is enough to just forget the thought and carry on with life.
I would stronly reccommend CBT for the management of OCD symptoms. Please dont suffer in silence, I am sue you can be helped.
butch77 - 21 June 2011 @ 10:40 PM
i get these thoughts to i am 19 and worried sick it makes me paranoid when a get these thoughts it started about 6month ago and as got worse and worse, but the strangest thing is when i am having fun with my mates it sort of dissapears completly when i am happy,, is it because i am depressed i dont no i need help !
ant - 19 June 2011 @ 11:01 PM
i was really shocked when i read this because i've always felt like no one will understand or will try to understand but after reading this, its like a confirmation that i'm not going insane and that so many others have it too. its wierd reading all these articles and its basically describing everything i do and everything that happens in my mind. im just stuck at what to do because i dont want to confront the ocd or germs or anything, i can't get better at the moment but i can feel that it is quickly getting much worse and im scared.
peachipotter - 15 June 2011 @ 8:11 PM
Anyone suffering from these thoughts should read 'The Imp of the Mind' by Lee Baer Ph.D. and 'Coping with OCD' by Bruce Hyman L.S.W.
The major take away from these books is this: if you actually were the person that your intrusive thoughts make you fear you might be (ie. harm yourself, potential killer, sex offender, etc) you would not have a problem with these thoughts.People who act on these thoughts are rarely troubled by them in the same way you are.Also, you need to stop checking and verifying, and by this I mean when the thought comes to your mind you must not struggle with it by saying "oh no, here it is again - okay, am I going to do it? What is my mind/body telling me?" You have to let it pass without this checking and verifying - this will only make it stronger.Another example, if you're bothered by intrusive sexual thoughts, is that you must not stop and check/verify if you're getting aroused, because even if you're not you will probably convince yourself that you are or that 'it moved'.
Next, you have to begin exposing yourself to your trigger.This process is described in both books.It may sound daunting, but you can do it.
Think of your intrusive thoughts as a bag that a boxer punches - the harder you try to punch it, the harder it will swing back.You must stop playing its game.This may sound completely counter-intuitive, but it is the only way out.
KM - 20 April 2011 @ 11:32 PM
Combination of phsysiotherapy, recreation, deep breathing should do the magic trick
OCD4 real - 16 April 2011 @ 10:52 PM
I'm nearly 18 and I deal with this. I'm depressed and down because I just want to be normal agian. This all started l4 months ago and now I'm diagnosed as having it and it absolutely took everthing from me. I wish I could be normal too!
uugghh - 30 March 2011 @ 7:05 AM
I've thought about committing suicide many times. I keep thinking that i'm a bad person. What worries me even more is knowing that the intrusive thoughts will always be there. I wish I was normal.
Peanut - 27 March 2011 @ 2:20 PM
I cried hard every night, every morning because of those horrible thoughts that i can't get rid of.
The more i tried to resist or block them, or fight them, the more the thoughts grew bigger and even more creatively worse.
It ruined my career, health, and peace.
It made me wish i was never born.
Every single day, i blurted out and begged "I want to be normal. I want to be OK." about 40 to 50 times each time I cry.
I don't want to be like this, because it ruins my life, and i become a burden to my loved ones. But I can't control it.
I really need help.
CL - 20 March 2011 @ 5:16 PM
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