Intrusive Thoughts POCD?

[Slsheeba567]

Is that bad?

[MyNameIsTerry]

No, it's not bad. It's a testing compulsion that kicks the cycle off again. It's quite common in OCD and I can think of other members who did this with POCD. I just wanted to understand more about the triggers.

Testing compulsions are about evoking an expected response but then the sufferer panics if it doesn't happen, the read into it as "I'm turning into that monster". But we can be so worn out from anxiety that we don't always respond with fear e.g. Low mood, depression, etc may produce a different response.

Something those who test also forget is that desensitisation is part of recovery, therapists use techniques to desensitise us. We learn to stop letting these thoughts upset us and the subconscious learns they are no longer important and we recover from them. We still know that in real life what is contained within these thoughts is wrong, our morals & beliefs aren't changed by this desensitisation, it's just we've learned not to get upset by the many weird thoughts the subconscious generates for no real reason.

Testing compulsions need to be eliminated as they just encourage the cycle to start up.

[Slsheeba567]

It's just concerning because EVERY time I test myself I seem to get aroused, and I'm so afraid.

[MyNameIsTerry]

One of the medical reasons for this could be increased blood flood. It has been recorded with these themes that by concentrating on that area it creates arousal.

The simple question is always do you want to do it? If the answer is no, everything else is the confusion of these complex systems in the body. But they can't force you into acts you believe to be amoral.

Look at the recent threads Homer47 posts on about his OCD urges. You may find some additional similarity with his experience but I've had the urges too and remember how disconcerting they were as they felt like something was happening as opposed to thoughts being halted at the anxiety/panic stage about whether something "could" happen. Looking back, I know it for what it was and you get better which it seems impossible to do at the time.