When most people experience unacceptable intrusive thoughts, they brush them off and recognize them as random and meaningless. In other words, they interpret the thoughts differently. The difference is that people with OCD place an enormous amount of meaning on and responsibility for these thoughts. So, wait, if so many people have intrusive thoughts, why do only some people have OCD? Thank you for asking That is an excellent question. It is extremely common People just don’t talk about it because it is so taboo and uncomfortable. That’s almost everyone! Almost every single person has intrusive thoughts from time to time. However, research has shown that about 94% of people experience intrusive thoughts. Many people with OCD have these unwanted, intrusive thoughts and think they are the only ones. These obsessions involve very taboo thoughts that are hard to talk about, even with people who we are closest to. What does “unacceptable thoughts” mean? This type of OCD involves sexual, aggressive, and religious/moral obsessions. This type of OCD can cause an immense amount of shame and fear, and I believe we need to discuss it more openly to decrease the shame and give less power to these thoughts. One of these symptom types is the fear of unacceptable thoughts or repugnant obsessions, which feel incredibly scary and threatening to people with OCD. While these are valid and common presentations of OCD, there are other types of symptoms that are less often discussed. When most people think about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), they think of the stereotypical symptoms: needing everything to be perfectly organized or “just right” and fear of contamination.

Intrusive thoughts ocd