teach me your ways. i'll combine it with therapy and become an ocd-anti (by which i mean, against my own ocd)

THE ENTIRE THING WITH POCD IS YOU ARE SO AFRAID AND REPULSED BY PEDOPHILIA THAT YOUR BRAIN TRIES TO MAKE YOU THINK YOU MAY BE ONE AND NEED TO BE PUNISHED

told my ex about groinal sensations relating to pocd and he went and told our mutual friends that im a pedophile lmfao. he's gonna be a psychologist, too! that entire friend group thinks im a pedophile. don't confess your thoughts to people who don't understand pocd, chat </33

I made one mostly about my own experiences! Too scared to post it, though.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a harrowing and debilitating condition to live with. Especially when you have to deal with something as instantly unpersoning as "my brain makes me terrified that I'm a pedophile"

Having, and getting treatment for, POCD does not mean they're a danger to anyone

End of thread 🧵

Please feel free to ask me any questions about POCD that you might have, I'm happy to answer them as long as you're not here to demonize me or anyone else who suffers from POCD. #AMA #POCD #OCD

If you or someone you know may be suffering from POCD, here are some resources that can help:

iocdf.org/support-grou...
iocdf.org/expert-opini...
www.sheppardpratt.org/news-views/s...
www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/demy...
r/OCD

I'm not a psychologist; these are just what I've used.

If someone close to your ever tells you about their POCD, I hope that you'll at least try to be understanding. I understand not wanting to be friends with them afterwards. That's valid. However, understand that they aren't a monster just because they have bad thoughts.

against going into the field I originally wanted to go into (Childhood education) because I'm terrified that I might end up hurting someone. Even though the thoughts are ego dystonic (it means they don't align with your morals and values), I'm still scared of them. The doubt is always there.

It's terrible and I hate it. It's not something I want. People with POCD are probably less likely to molest a child than your average person, because of how scared we are of BEING a child molester. We're so scared of even being around children because we're scared we might harm them. I even decided-

While I'm not 100% sure where my POCD came from, I'm nearly certain that it came from being groomed repeatedly by several adults growing up. I became so scared of becoming like my abusers that my brain latched onto it, and developed intrusive thoughts, feelings, and images.

POCD also comes with something called Groinal Response. It's a groinal sensation that's linked to an intrusive thought, feeling, urge, or image. It is not something that anyone can control, and is not definitive of what people are attracted to. However, it is NOT the same as arousal.

And what's even worse is that because it's so stigmatized, it's significantly harder to find a therapist or psychologist who can actually help you with these thoughts. You likely need to find someone who specialises in OCD, and even then it's not guaranteed they'll understand and be able to help you

It's gotten significantly worse since I was 'outted' as a pedophile to my former friends after I confided in my partner about my intrusive thoughts. They've sent me several messages telling me I'm disgusting, and that they want nothing to do with me, to 'crawl back into the hole I came from', etc.

Some of my dumb triggers are:

Seeing a child
Seeing my siblings
Watching animated shows
Seeing toys
Drawing
Playing sudoku
Enjoying music when the singers are children
Thinking about starting a family someday
Seeing kids clothes

These always tend to make me spiral, whether I'm in public or alone.