Please explain me the definition

Hello Please tell me what are intrusive thoughts ?? What i can tell is -thoughts that suddenly appear in your mind or pops up and you are not even thinking about it. In my case i am sure i had anxiety first ( due to genes ,environmental factors plus many more factors) ?? From childhood I worried about real life situations hyper arousal hyper vigilant and what ifs taken to catastrophization level then after that I developed oc many years later I’ll give you one situation —If I am going to make a dish —Due to my chronic anxiety and self critical nature I have already decided i won’t turn out to be good. So all the what ifs comes and i have oc so what is the exact right amount of salt to put so my dish doesn’t taste bad. What if i added too much salt so i need to know the exact amount of salt to put in a dish. I think thats how i developed oc after many years from being super anxious to having oc patterns in me because both disturbed me a lot. First i had chronic anxiety that led to OC thats what i have found out ( my best diagnosis after going to psychiatrists and finally finding one good psychologist in 2026 ) so spent almost 7 years to found what i have. Because now i need reassurances and what ifs comes plus mental rumination doesn’t stop. Do you think it’s OC (mentally or internally) (if that’s the right word) i have physical oc but very less ?? Please explain me if anyone can?? It would be of great help for me Thanks.

🧠🫯

Date posted: 17h

intrusive thoughts as i understand them are all "ego-dystonic", which mean that they are simply thoughts that clash with what actual beliefs, values, desires, or sense of self you have. this usually causes a lot of distress for people that have them because it feels like these thoughts arent apart of them and it can be strange to receive thoughts that you don't feel like reflect your own character

muskan@18

Date posted: 13h

@🧠🫯 Thank you so much for explaining.

🧠🫯

Date posted: 3h

@muskan@18 yes of course :)

Rumination_S...

Date posted: 16h

Yes, compulsions can absolutely be mental! That was actually something I didn’t fully understand about OCD at first either. Rumination, mentally reviewing something over and over, trying to “figure it out,” checking how you feel, replaying situations, trying to prove/disprove a thought, or repeatedly seeking certainty can all function as compulsions. They don’t always look like physical rituals that someone else could see. Intrusive thoughts are unwanted thoughts, images, urges, doubts, etc. that enter your mind. Everyone experiences intrusive thoughts sometimes. With OCD, the bigger issue is often what happens AFTER the thought. Instead of being able to let it pass, we can get stuck trying to understand it, neutralize it, make sure it isn’t true, prevent something bad from happening, or get certainty. So with your cooking example, I wouldn’t focus too much on figuring out whether the original thought about the salt technically “counts” as an intrusive thought. I’d pay more attention to the cycle you described: uncertainty → anxiety → needing the exact answer → trying to get certainty/reassurance → temporary relief → another “what if?” Also, I’d be careful about trying to figure out whether your OCD originally came from anxiety. It makes complete sense to be curious about how everything developed, but that can become another thing to endlessly analyze too. Since you have a psychologist you trust now, this would actually be a really good thing to bring to them. And yes, “mental compulsions” is the term you’re looking for! ❤️

muskan@18

Date posted: 13h

@Rumination_Station Thank you so much really makes sense.

ben123

Date posted: 15h

Sometimes I think it’s useful to think about dreams. We don’t think them but they come into our heads. Same with intrusive thoughts. We can’t control them. But we can manage what happens next

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