Intrusive thoughts please help

[Greengrey235]

Hello

Ever since December ive been having intrusive thoughts. I only had one or two panic attacks and its been 3 months since the last, but the thoughts on their own are bad enough. They weren't really specific, just about anxiety. I was anxious about being anxious. Id constantly feel uncomfortable and sad about it and feel like it wouldn't end.
It calmed down for about half a month, but recently it got worse. When i get worried over things, i keep obsessing over them and thinking about them and it gets so bad that i cant stop it. I keep having random sexual thoughts too and sometimes even about children. It makes me so angry and sad every time and i cant escape it because even the word kid makes me anxious now.

I really want to seek help now. It was ok at first and i was confident at beating it but it feels too overwhelming now.

I want to see a doctor but in only 15 and i don't want to tell my friends or parents in case I get them worried over me or they judge it the wrong way. Is it possible at all for me to do that and see a doctor? I feel that telling someone will help.

Thanks.

[Ikaeoph]

Hey man, I'm 17 and I got this when I was 14 it really sucks doesn't it, but it is normal for people who are really anxious to get this but some people develop ocd about it. I have OCD not just intrusive thoughts and it sounds like you have it too, I was so scared to tell my mum about it but eventually what I did was put a Wikipedia page of the harm ocd illness on my pc screen and said read it and when she finished i said I have that. It makes it easy as you don't have to explain yourself maybe you could try the same way. You can get a lot of treatments for this and you will get better trust me! Just tell one of your parents and go talk to a gp they will then send you to an OCD intrusive thoughts therapist who can practically cure you with many different ways. Good luck!

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hey man, I'm 17 and I got this when I was 14 it really sucks doesn't it, but it is normal for people who are really anxious to get this but some people develop ocd about it. I have OCD not just intrusive thoughts and it sounds like you have it too, I was so scared to tell my mum about it but eventually what I did was put a Wikipedia page of the harm ocd illness on my pc screen and said read it and when she finished i said I have that. It makes it easy as you don't have to explain yourself maybe you could try the same way. You can get a lot of treatments for this and you will get better trust me! Just tell one of your parents and go talk to a gp they will then send you to an OCD intrusive thoughts therapist who can practically cure you with many different ways. Good luck!

I like that. A lot of people dont understand OCD, Ive got it and I dont really either, so you gave her something factual to help her understand a bit about what you are going through.


OCD is very misunderstood. Until more recently, the media has always made it out to be people who constantly wash their hands or hoard, when in fact its very diverse. It can be obsessions and compulsions or either without the other.


Violent or graphic sexual thoughts are common and Ive read it can be about children. Its basically showing you things that you dont agree with or find disgusting so you end up feeling guilty or afraid you will act on them. You wont though.


It must be more distressing at that age as you are exploding yourself.

[Greengrey235]

Thanks for your replies, they are reassuring.

Yesterday i went to play some football as I do every Saturday and I was a wreck from the minute I woke up that day. I was anxious and shaking all morning and day, probably had a few panic attacks too but the whole thing just felt like one long panic attack. Every kid I saw made me anxious even if i didn't imagine anything happening to them. It was all very surreal and detached and i must have looked bad because my friends where asking me if I was ok later on.

Everything sharp or anything that looks remotely dangerous kept entering my mind as something to hurt a kid with which I found horrible. Even a traffic cone was enough to trigger it! This is why I think this is so unbearable, because even objects make me anxious If my mind is racing enough.

Even some kind of joke or something that sounds remotely sexual triggers my anxiety.

This morning I woke up mid-panic attack and I've been shaking ever since then, my head feels like it's going to explode because it is that full of thoughts. I haven't felt this bad since the first day I had anxiety, and these last few days have caused the first panic attacks in months.

I want to just talk to my parents about it but i feel so embarrassed and ashamed about it, and I want to see a doctor but I have almost convinced myself he cant cure it. I know you cant completely cure mental health stuff, only manage it but even that makes me loose hope because I just imagine myself this way for the rest of my life and i don't know how I would cope.

This all started from ONE thought when I was watching TV. It wasnt even a sexual action, just some guy picking up his baby. For some reason that made me anxious and then I couldn't get it out of my head. Then I ended up not being able to stop it and it took over.

Ikaeoph, you say it can be practically cured, have you had this before and got over it? Just curious.
And sorry for the massive wall of writing!

[Charlotteee89]

Intrusive thoughts are basically what is causing my anxiety!

My mind is doing everything it can to convince me they're true aswell which makes it so hard to 'override' them. & When they do come you panic. :/

My mind at the moment is constantly over-thinking & over-analyzing everything & anything.

The triggers are horrible aswell... You just can't seem to escape them. & When you do try & think more rationally it feels like your mind is pushing those thoughts through - that's the problem with obsessive thinking.. The more you try to NOT think about them the more you end up actually doing so! It's a horrid cycle.

Have you read the 'Obsessional Thinking' EBook on CBT Online on here? It might help you make sense of it all.