Harm OCD

Hi everyone! For the past 4 years I’ve been struggling with intrusive thoughts about myself or others. It’s mostly about others and it’s really scary. I’ve been to my doctor about it and for some reason he diagnosed me with depression and he said it’s the cause of my intrusive thoughts ( which doesn’t make sense to me)…I’ve done more research and I believe that it might be Harm OCD. These thoughts terrify me. It affects my every day life. Some weeks are better than others but it’s so awful when I have a “flare up”. Can anyone help me understand how to know whether or not I have this condition? And if I do what are yalls experiences and what are your recommendations for treatment?

Username: AnonymousAnonymous

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 21d ago

Since you are on this app/website , you found the correct place! You are a brave person for putting up with harm ocd by yourself . Soon as I experienced harm ocd, I was like what the heck is this ! So my suggestion is book some sessions with a therapist on this NOCD site . ERP treatment is what you will receive . Great stuff !

Username: ivrecivrec

Date posted: 21d ago

Overcoming Harm OCD by Jon Hershfield is a great book to help you understand what you may be experiencing. Understanding that harm thoughts usually target those we care about and go against your values and that is why they scare us. I hope this helps. Also taking those intrusive thoughts seriously and trying to figure out what that means about you makes them stick they are basically junk thoughts.

Username: MJ02829MJ02829

Date posted: 21d ago

@ivrec Thank you so much!

Username: Zoë_84Zoë_84

Date posted: 21d ago

Starting ERP is great idea. Also, so you don't feel alone, I share some of my Harm OCD thoughts and urges: - The urge to use the huge monkey wrench I was holding, while assisting my father with repairing a radiator, to hit him over the head - The urge to stab my partner, whenever we are in the kitchen together and I'm using a knife to prepare food - The thought, that I could break my partner's neck, while giving him a neck massage I do practice RP (response prevention) regarding this thoughts and it really helped. The thoughts/urges do still come up, but they 99% of the time don't scare me anymore and they don't stop me from living my life the way I want to (My other OCD subtypes still do, but I'm working on them with ERP, too)

Username: MJ02829MJ02829

Date posted: 21d ago

@Zoë_84 Thank you so much for sharing!

Username: Steven55!Steven55!

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 21d ago

I'm not a trained therapist, but from what you've described I would wager that you have OCD. Harm OCD is very common-and treatable! OCD is a peculiar disorder and doesn't respond well to standard therapy. I've been there, both with standard psychotherapy (like what it appears you've been going through) and specialized OCD therapy. I found the latter to be a waste of time and money. It was only when I found a trained OCD therapist who uses ERP therapy, through NOCD, that I began to recover. I recommend that you consider following my path and contact NOCD for a free consultation. It changed my life. Hope this helps.

Username: Taylen

Date posted: 2y ago

Harm OCD

just a couple days ago i experienced this for the first time from watching the new DAHMER series. Im having intrusive images and thoughts of me harming or killing my loved ones and its so scary because i would never do it. It has me questioning if im crazy and im having severe panic attacks over 3 times a day. Im mentally and physically drained, i’ve told my mom about it and we are going to see a therapist tomorrow. Im scared to because idk if they specialize in OCD and if i tell them my thoughts they are gonna put me in the mental hospital or say im crazy and don’t have OCD, can any therapists on here or fellow people with Harm OCD let me know if you think im showing signs of it, i just want it to go away and to be able to sleep at night without severe overthinking.

Username: Kenzie Madison

Date posted: 2y ago

Those with Harm OCD

Hey guys. I’ve been dealing with Harm OCD for around 3 and 1/2 months now, and it’s been extremely difficult to experience. I’ve had OCD my whole life and some of my family members do as well, one of my cousins actually has the same main subtype as me, but he was diagnosed almost a year ago when I didn’t have it myself. I’ve been going to an OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center the past week and I’m really struggling with the exposures we do there, as well as the ones we do at home. I constantly feel like I’m judging myself and I genuinely feel worthless, like I’m a horrible person to have unwanted intrusive thoughts like these. I feel like it’s so difficult to stay mindful and to not judge any of the thoughts that surface. Those with Harm OCD, have any of you here gone from debilitating OCD to living fulfilling lives? If so, what was the process like for you, if you’d like to share? Thanks and I hope you’re all doing well, or are continuing to improve.

Username: Anonymous 25#

Date posted: 1y ago

Harm OCD

Hello, My name is Dana, I’m new to this app but I’ve been suffering from harm OCD for quite some time now and it’s been extremely debilitating. I’ve never experienced anything like this EVER in my life. It started at the beginning of this year, I got hit like a runaway train with intrusive thoughts and it shook me to my core. I wanted to see if anyone on here has struggled or is currently struggling with harm OCD and could maybe share their stories? It would just be nice to feel less alone and maybe share what has worked/not worked. All I want to do is overcome this! Thanks in advance to all who respond.

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