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.

Such thoughts and images cause a lot of anxiety to OCD sufferers in case they are an indication of incestuous or perverse feelings. Although these types of thoughts and images are highly distressing, it is rare that they will actually be acted on, despite feeling very real. The intrusions are purely mental.

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.