It is normal for people to have occasional intrusive thoughts about harming other people or themselves. Many people think thoughts such as “What if I drove my car off the side of the road?” without thinking much further about the thought. For a person with harm OCD, these thoughts are distressing, and the person wonders if having the thought means they will act on it. They may have repetitive, unwanted thoughts of harming others or themselves, or fears that they have harmed someone in the past. Some examples of harm obsessions might include:

-Punching, stabbing, choking, shooting, physically or sexually assaulting, and/or killing other people or animals
-Committing suicide or harming self
-Harming loved ones or strangers
-Harming vulnerable people such as babies, children, people with disabilities, pregnant women, elderly people
-Questioning whether they have harmed someone in the past such as having murdered, assaulted, or ran over someone
-Blurting out obscenities such as derogatory or racial slurs

It is important to note that these thoughts are unwanted and distressing. For example, a person can have suicidal thoughts and not have harm OCD because the thoughts feel cathartic or desired, whereas a person who is experiencing harm OCD is terrified of these thoughts. Also, a person having intrusive and distressing thoughts of harming other people is different from a person who is genuinely violent and enjoys hurting other people. OCD can be such a disturbing experience because it will often tell the person “what if you actually enjoy these thoughts and you don’t really have OCD?” and a person may begin to question themselves, often in a vicious cycle similar to a broken record.

Many people with OCD experience “thought-action-fusion” where one believes that having the thought is as bad as acting on a thought. A person with OCD may fear that they are a terrible person or are losing their mind because they are having these thoughts. Part of treating OCD is learning that thoughts are just thoughts and do not equal actions. The best treatment to help address this is Exposure and Response Prevention. Without it, people may continue to engage in compulsions to reassure themselves, such as reading articles like this to remind themselves that they only have OCD and are not “crazy”. While compulsions such as checking, researching, and seeking reassurance help a person feel better in the short-term, they can cause OCD to get worse in the long-term.

If you are interested in Exposure and Response Prevention, Taylor Hocking, LMFTA, SUDP offers this type of therapy. You can inquire about openings at 509-768-6852.