Question about obsessions

@r.m.1 Ohh, but isn’t the core fear rather the fear behind the obsessions? And um by any chance is that something you’ve heard from a therapist or do you have an article about this? Sorry

@serenity_1 It’s things I’ve learned from researching and from therapy. The core fear is the fear behind the obsessions

@r.m.1 Oh okay. So basically what you’re saying is your obsession might be for example fear of getting contaminated so that obsession itself is the one that’s recurrent but the different thoughts that you get about it might be different over time..? That way, is it possible to only have one obsession that keeps recurring?

@serenity_1 I think so yes, a therapist would be more knowledgeable about this though

@r.m.1 Okay, thank you

@Love1another<3 Oh okay, thank you. By repetitive thoughts (obsessions?) , you mean that they could be different content or thoughts but they stem from the same fear or theme? Or is the main fear different than theme..? Nope not yet although I am planning to.

@serenity_1 That’s great that you’re planning on it :) You will really benefit from it. ERP is life-saving! For your questions, both apply actually! For example, someone can have a contamination fear. Let’s say they are afraid of having dirty appliances. Well someone might imagine that the person is afraid of germs because they are gross but their main fear is actually different- the person could have a fear of accidentally spreading germs to their family and the germs kill them (a fear of harm so they get intrusive thoughts of accidentally killing family members). Or someone can have relationship OCD and mainly get thoughts about being a bad partner. All of the above count as obsessions

@Love1another<3 Thank you! Oh so that fear of killing his parents has become his obsession right? When we say intrusive thoughts are they necessarily obsessions and can it mean the same thought coming again and again (which could be why we say thoughtS) or does it have to be thoughts with different content? Like um for me personally I have a fear/obsession that keeps returning which I think is the core fear behind my ‘intrusive’ thoughts or obsessions, so like when we say obsessions are persistent and repetitive, do we mean that we repeatedly get thoughts RELATED to our theme, regardless on if it’s the same thought, or does it mean that for an intrusive thought to count as an obsession, it has to come up again and again? Does that make sense..? Thank you for taking the time to reply to me by the way.

@serenity_1 Of course, thanks for taking the time to ask me questions :) I could be wrong because I’m not an expert to be completely honest haha but in therapy I learned that an obsession can be anything. Someone could have both an obsession about cleaning and also an obsession about accidentally killing their loved ones with those germs, as those two OCD themes (harm and contamination) would be intertwined. So they obsessively make sure their house is clean and spend lots of money on cleaning products and they obsessively ruminative and seek reassurance that there’s no chance they could accidentally kill their loved ones. There’s no specifics about what repetitive thoughts you need to have- to qualify as an “obsessions.” So you are very correct that you can either have the same thought coming up again and again as an obsession and/or you can have thoughts with different content coming up again and again. Some people mainly suffer from symmetry OCD. That’s their ride or die theme so to say lol. While others suffers from a variety of OCD themes like a mixture of harm Ocd , sexuality OCD, contamination OCD, etc. Intrusive thoughts aren’t always obsessions because even people without OCD have them. But if you focus on your intrusive thoughts repeatedly- they become obsessions.

@Love1another<3 But it’s the most common in OCD to have several intrusive thoughts under one theme or multiple themes (since OCD is like an onion that has layers).

@Love1another<3 I personally don’t really feel like my fear fits into a common theme from those that I saw theme although it is related to one or two themes I saw, so does that mean my worst fear is my theme..? Also did you by any chance get your diagnosis through nocd? And if you did or didn’t were you able to ask questions about ocd in the first sessions? Thanks

@serenity_1 That’s totally okay :) A lot of people experience thoughts that don’t fit into a specific theme. Ocd therapists often have told me that the content of my thoughts don’t matter. The themes are only useful so it’s easier for people to google and feel that they’re not alone because they can see other people talk about that theme. But aside from that, all OCD is treated the exact same way, no matter the content, which makes life easier and more convenient haha. They’re all treated with ERP 👍 Correct I did get diagnosed here at NOCD. They were very helpful ❤️ I had a free call and they got me set up with a therapist. But you also have the option to choose your own therapist (as long as they live in your state and take your insurance). You are able to ask questions during the free call and also when you meet your therapist. You can ask questions about OCD all throughout your therapy actually (as long as they aren’t constant reassurance-seeking haha). I hope that all helps and those were great questions you asked 💕

@Love1another<3 Oh nice! When you got diagnosed did they like clearly explain why you meet the criteria that you have ocd? Cause like for a while I’ve been questioning or doubting if I even have ocd. Did they ask you questions like when did you first start etc ..?

@serenity_1 That’s very natural to doubt yourself especially if you don’t have a diagnosis yet so that’s totally normal. Btw there is a theme of OCD called “Meta OCD” where people have OCD about having OCD haha. A common intrusive thought is “do I even really have OCD?” So that’s totally normal could be something to keep in mind. I remember they asked me a bunch of questions to screen if I was suitable for multiple disorders like OCD, social anxiety, depression, phobias, etc. I think for OCD they asked me if I had unwanted intrusive thoughts, they asked what my obsessive thoughts were about, and they asked me to describe my possible compulsions (both physical and mental). Then when the therapist finishes the questionnaire, they decide for themselves if you have OCD or not and they’ll tell you. So the therapist will do most of the work in diagnosing you, you just have to be honest so they can best assess you 👍 I’m sure you can ask whatever questions you’d like after they finish diagnosing you as well <3

@Love1another<3 Oh okay. How many sessions did it take you to get the diagnosis? And will the therapist explain why you meet the criteria for ocd..? I feel like that might help me with doubting if I have ocd

@serenity_1 I believe it was the first session that I got a diagnosis. A therapist will definitely give you a lot of OCD education. Mine did that for me 👍❤️ No worries at all :)