What if I just pushed this person onto the tracks? What if I didn’t lock the door and everything gets stolen? Did I just hit someone with my car? What if I just stabbed someone? Did I feel something strange walking past that school? What if I’m a pedophile?
These are intrusive thoughts. Sudden, unwanted, and often distressing mental images, impulses, or questions that pop into our minds without warning. Coming out of the blue, they can be really anxiety-inducing. But here’s the thing, they are simply thoughts. They don’t reflect who you are and what you truly want to do. In fact, they’re a normal part of being a thinking human, and according to the research, almost everyone gets them!
Research has shown over and over that more than 90% of the general population occasionally has intrusive thoughts with aggressive, sexual, and other taboo themes. So, what makes it different to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder? Well, the difference for people with OCD lies in the frequency, intensity, and most importantly – the level of meaning assigned to these thoughts. We refer to these as worry beliefs – the interpretations and meanings we attach to our thoughts. For individuals without OCD, intrusive thoughts still occur, but they’re brushed off relatively easily. The person may think, “that’s strange,” recognise it doesn’t reflect their genuine values or intentions, and move on. There’s no urge to analyse the thought as anything other than that – a meaningless thought, that comes and goes. For someone with OCD, however, these thoughts feel sticky because the mind has assigned them significance – it’s no longer, “what a strange thought,” it’s “what does this mean about me?”
People with OCD often find themselves asking: Why did I have this thought? What does this thought mean about me? Does this mean I’m dangerous, broken, bad? The worry beliefs lead to interpretation of thoughts as: real, meaningful, a sign. However, our brains are constant thinkers – all day, every day. We have thousands of thoughts, many of which we aren’t even fully aware of. Most of them come and go without us giving them much attention. You can think of our brains like a television that’s always playing in the background. Every now and then, we notice a strange or unexpected commercial – something bizarre, upsetting, or totally random. These aren’t thoughts we choose, and they don’t mean anything deep about who we are. Sometimes, the brain even plays these upsetting commercials based on the things we’re most afraid of – as a way of trying to keep us alert to what it thinks may be a threat. Oftentimes though, whatever is playing on the television isn’t helpful, it’s just noise.
But in OCD, we get hooked on the commercial. “What does this mean?” This process is perpetuated by worry beliefs, such as cognitive fusion (getting ‘fused’ with a thought as reality) and thought-action fusion (believing that thinking something is the same as doing something). For example:
“If I have thought about hurting someone, it means I want to do it.”
“If I felt anxious around children, it must mean something is wrong with me.”
This process leads to a painful cycle:
1. Intrusive thought
2. Fusion and interpretation (“this must mean something”)
3. Intense anxiety
4. Compulsions (mental checking, avoidance, reassurance-seeking, ruminating)
5. Temporary relief
6. … and back to the start
This cycle is strengthened each time we go through it, as the brain starts to scan for more threats based on our fearful reaction to the intrusive thought. For instance, if you fear you’re a danger to children, your brain may begin hyper-focusing on any situation involving children, your body sensations, your reactions – trying to catch and neutralise the threat. Unfortunately, this increases the intensity of the very thoughts we’re trying to avoid.
Coming back to the television metaphor – your brain plays content all day. Some shows are helpful, some not so much. You don’t have to believe or act on every channel that plays. The average person has thousands of thoughts every day, including intrusive ones. Having a thought is not the same as endorsing it. It’s just that, a thought.
In therapy, we use techniques from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) to help create distance from these thoughts. One of these tools is cognitive defusion - learning to unstick from the thought. Instead of saying:
“I’m going to lose control,” try: “I’m having the thought that I might lose control.” That simple shift reminds us that the thought is not reality - it’s just mental activity. Sometimes in session, we play with this in silly ways to break the spell:
Saying the thought in a cartoon voice
Repeating it slowly until it sounds like gibberish
Imagining it as a pop-up ad you can gently close
Thanking your brain: “Thanks, brain. You’re doing your job. But I’ve got this.”
Having a scary, strange, or unwanted thought does not mean you are dangerous, broken, or secretly bad. It means you have a wonderful brain that thinks - just like everyone else. But when these thoughts become repetitive and stuck, it might be time to speak with a professional. OCD is highly treatable, and with the right support, you can learn how to experience thoughts without fear and take back your life.
At our clinic, we work with people every day who feel overwhelmed by thoughts they wish they could un-think. We want you to know: You are not your thoughts. You’re not alone. Help is available.
Our highly trained psychologists can help. Please call our team on 9882-8874 to book in with one of our team members today. Alternatively fill in our contact form here to get in touch.
To subscribe and listen to our podcast “Breaking the Rules: A Clinician’s Guide to Treating OCD”, click on the following links: Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts. Episodes will be released fortnightly and will simultaneously be published on our webpage here.