I Have Bizarre Thoughts – Do I Have OCD?
I was leaving my house today to go on my morning walk and noticed that the front gate was open. As I passed through the gate, I had a thought that if I closed it, I would not return safely to my home. If I left the gate open, I would return safely. Prior to taking an important exam, it occurred to me that if I left the test registration in the car and folded it a certain way, it would mean that I would pass the test I was about to take.
Do I Have OCD?
I’ve had intrusive thoughts, images, and impulses of being catapulted down a flight of stairs and stabbing myself in the eye when cutting up vegetables. I’ve had disturbing thoughts about dropping my newborn niece in a big pot of boiling water and dropping babies to the ground as I held them. When juicing fruit and vegetables, I had an image of my parakeet flying into the machine and coming out as juice.
Something else you should know is that I do not have OCD. While these thoughts were out of the ordinary and unsolicited, they did not bother me. While everybody has bizarre, unwanted thoughts, people with OCD attribute meaning to these thoughts and the anxiety related to them. They frequently feel the need to investigate or make sense of these intrusive thoughts, and may desperately try to prove to themselves that these thoughts are not premonitions of events to come or of a subconscious desire. People with OCD often need to know with 100% certainty that these events will not occur and that they are not a bad person for thinking them.
How to Respond to OCD Thoughts
If you have OCD, you too can take the meaning away from your bizarre, unwanted thoughts, the same way as people who do not have OCD. Using simple Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) techniques, you can learn to respond differently to these unwanted thoughts. Whenever you get an intrusive thought, even if it gives you anxiety, do not judge it or try to make sense of it. Remind yourself that everybody gets bizarre thoughts, that they do not mean anything, and that they are an expected part of having OCD. You are the one who decides if your thoughts are problematic. Your reaction is the problem, not the thought itself. After all, OCD thoughts can be viewed as funny, interesting, creative, and quirky. Embrace and welcome your OCD thoughts and they will lose power over you.
•Stacey Kuhl-Wochner, LCSW, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker at the the OCD Center of Los Angeles, a private, outpatient clinic specializing in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for the treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and related conditions. She can be contacted stacey@ocdla.com.
2 Comments to I Have Bizarre Thoughts – Do I Have OCD?
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Good points. Bizarre and horrendous thoughts are very common. Their serious distress and their consequent compulsions or avoidance are what make them so important to OCD sufferers. I still think Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) are the gold standard for the treatment of OCD. As clients get exposed to their thoughts over and over again without opportunities for avoidance or compulsions, the horror decreases and they can get their lives back.
Hi Deborah,
Thank you for your reply to our post on obsessional OCD. I completely agree with you that Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is the most effective treatment for OCD. At our center, we augment ERP with mindfulness-based techniques similar to that discussed in the article. This approach is particularly valuable with clients struggling with unwanted thoughts. And it meshes well with ERP, as the client learns to have their unwanted thoughts rather than fruitlessly trying to not have them.