Can OCD thoughts happen?

[Ljj44577]

I am dealing with this obsession that keeps bothering me.

I keep having obsessions about future family members dying. Some of these thoughts involve "what if they were to commit suicide".

It is bothering me day in and day out.

I don't want to have these thoughts but they continue to stay inside my head.

Can your obsessions from OCD actually happen if you think too much about it?
Can your OCD thoughts happen?
Can you make bad things happen with OCD?
Can you ease my mind?

[MyNameIsTerry]

It's called Magical Thinking.

http://www.ocduk.org/types-ocd

Magical Thinking Intrusive Thoughts - is the fear is that even thinking about something bad will make it more likely to happen - sometimes also called ‘thought-action fusion’.
Sufferers are beset by intrusive bad thoughts. They try to dispel them by performing rituals - magic rituals, in effect - that are often bizarre and time-consuming and involve linking actions or events that could not possibly be related to each other. For example having the thought 'I may strangle someone' is regarded as being as reprehensible as actually strangling a person. Another example is believing that simply imagining a horrific car crash will increase the likelihood of such a crash taking place, or a person may feel that if they don’t count to ten ‘just right’ harm will come to a family member. Other examples of magical thinking, or thought-action fusion intrusive thoughts include:

A certain colour or number has good or bad luck associated with it.
Certain days have good or bad luck associated with them.
A loved one’s death can be predicted.
One’s thoughts can cause disasters to occur.
Stepping on cracks in the pavement can make bad things happen.
Whatever comes to mind can come true.
Breaking chain letters will actually bring bad luck.
Attending a funeral will bring death.
One can inadvertently cause harm to others with thoughts or carelessness.
Hearing the word ‘death’ will mean repeating the word ‘life’ to prevent death.
In each example listed above, the thoughts and events happening could not possibly ever be linked, but the person with OCD will believe that this possibility does exist, and as a result, this will cause them immense stress and anxiety. As a result, their silent internal compulsive behaviours will take hours, and often prevent them interacting with anyone else during this time.

Can thinking about something make it happen?
No. In CBT a therapist may use a Behavioural Experiment to help the person understand that thoughts do not equate to actions. Have a look at this guide which has a table showing some examples:

http://self-help.tools/obsessive-compulsive-disorder/

Through these experiments we learn that if we don't act on our compulsion, nothing happens as a result. We neither influence or not influence the outcome because we don't have such magical abilities or super powers.

A simple test is think about winning the lottery. Did you win?

Can obsessions from OCD end up happening? Can my OCD thoughts happen?

Yes, they can but not in the way you are thinking. Your obsessions only become true if you choose to act them out. Otherwise it is pure coincidence hence some things can never truly be ruled out. But only you can make them happen, not your OCD.

I have had MT. I would have an image of my parents in my head and if I didn't touch the object I touched when seeing the image, something bad would happen to them. A lot of the time I would have no idea what that would be but I felt compelled to mitigate the possible risk. This is where you can end up doing it "just in case" because your fear could be years off hence by Behavioural Experiments seek to prove if you have any influence over something now to disprove your MT abilities.

On top of what you mentioned in yout other thread you also mention a specific example. When this happened was it because you were actually consciously thinking about this or did it just pop into your head out of nowhere? If the latter it is an intrusive thought.

When it comes to intrusive thoughts, interacting with them negatively means reinforcing them. CBT looks towards challenging them with rational evidence, usually in the form of Thought Records. With these you explain the thought and it's evidence and then produce counter evidence and finish with a new decision statement. These can be very useful to work through these thoughts and fight them back.

The other way is the Mindfulness way where you learn how to become an observer to your thoughts so that you accept them as just thoughts with no meaning. They are only like a thought to buy some milk when walking around the supermarket.

Don't interact with them with your emotions. The area of the brain looking for a reaction looks for a negative one, especially emotions and the stronger the better. These tell it that it has done the valid thing. Notice use of the term "valid" and not "correct". It doesn't expect a positive or neutral reaction because it's not expected when a bear is charging at us and this is why it takes time for the lack of negative reaction to retrain our subconscious.

Really intrusive thoughts are the subconscious saying "ok, cognitive brain, I have no idea what to do with this thought so here it is with all the data (feelings, emotions, sensations, etc) so please tell me what to do with it".

"What ifs" are negative thinking statements. They aim to analyse the possible risjs. One way to counter them is with positive "what ifs". With these you come up with 3-5 opposing positive versions.

For example:

Negative
"What if they were to commit suicide?"

Positive Challlenges
"What if they are not going to commit suicide?"
"What if they live long lives and die naturally?"
"What if they are happy with their lives so have no reason to?"