Violent Obsessions - A Quickstart Guide

[BeatAnxiety07]

Since this seems to be one of the dominant obsessions discussed on here I thought this would be a good place for new members to get some quick and reliable information. I know this may look overwhelming, but the relief and skills that you will learn from studying and practicing the methods described in the resources may turn your entire life around.

Here is a list of some typical violent obsessions:
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- Fear of harm due to carelessness. Exclude contamination obsessions.

- Fear might harm self on impulse. This involves unwanted impulses or inexplicable acts. Examples: fear of stabbing self with a knife, jumping in front of a car, leaping out an open window, or swallowing poison. (Distinguished from suicidal ideation secondary to depression.)
- Fear might harm others because not careful enough. Examples: parked car rolling down hill, hit a pedestrian because not paying attention, customer gets injured because you gave him wrong materials or information.

- Fear might harm others on impulse. Examples: physically harming loved ones, stabbing or poisoning dinner guests, pushing stranger in front of a train. (Distinguished from homicidal intent.)

- Fear of being responsible for terrible events. Examples: fire, burglary, flooding house, company going bankrupt, pipes freezing.
Fear of blurting out obscenities or insults. Examples: shouting blasphemies in church, yelling fire in the movie theatre, writing obscenities in a business letter.

- Fear of doing something else embarrassing. Examples: taking off clothes in public, walking out with unpaid merchandise. (Distinguished from Social Phobia.)

- Violent or horrific images. Examples: intrusive and disturbing images of car crashes or disfigured people.
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<A HREF="http://psychcentral.com/lib/2006/a-list ... sions?pp=0" TARGET=_blank>http://psychcentral.com/lib/2006/a-list ... ns?pp=0</A>

*****
Does the red font scare you? Does it make you think of blood or gore? Does it provoke some other disturbing thought?

It is common for us to experience anxiety just from seeing the color red and associating it with blood, which in turn triggers more of your violent obsessions. You could try thinking of peaceful things that are red like a rose. Christmas's colors are <span class="ev_code_red">red</span> and <span class="ev_code_green">green</span>. The color red became a spike (phillipson) for your obsession just as the words: Crazy, Killer or Pedofile may invoke the obsession.

Now look at the red text and think Christmas... Feel any better? No, then read on and learn about exposure to your obsessions. "Imagine the blood, imagine blood all over your room and house-- everywhere."
*****

As many on here have come to learn there are different types of OCD, but the most discussed on this forum seems to be Pure-O (purely-obsessional OCD). This is sort of a misnomer because the person with Pure-O is not just obsessional they are also compulsive. The compulsions, however, take place in the mind. Some common compulsions/rituals of those with Pure-O are:

- Reassurance Seeking
- Absolute Certainty Seeking
- Avoidance (hiding knives, avoiding graphic videos, avoiding those who are physically weaker than you such as the eldery, children etc.)

- Something I call: "The Google-Ritual" -

This is an endless searching for answers to the questions your OCD is creating. Something else that happens, "The Google-Uncertainty Effect", is a result of finding an answer that either contradicts another answer you just read or strengthens an older answer you since disregarded. Now uncertainty sets in because you have no idea who or what to believe.

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It is my hope that this thread will help you stop the Google-Ritual and other compulsions in response to a violent obsession-- the following are some reliable sources for this obsession. The articles are also free!

Diametric Opposition - You are actually complety opposed to these thoughts/actions, thus creating intense anxiety and giving the thoughts incentive to surface again-- unfortunately for most, the thoughts just get more intense the more they give the thoughts attention. Doing a ritual just makes the obsession worse; this is evident in your "pop-ocd type obsessions" -- keep washing those "non-existent" germs away and you are just going to make the fear and obsession stronger.

First, here is a good quote from an article I recently picked up that discusses the above term:

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"At the time, we were discussing harming obsessions, particularly those related to harming other people. Dr. Minnichello pointed out that people with OCD don't get anxious because of something they're afraid they might do if they are indeed the kind of person that would actually do it. A child molester is not going to be too concerned with whether or not he or she molests a child, nor is a killer going to be particularly afraid of possibly having killed someone because this is the sort of violence they actually do. Someone such as myself, who abhors the concept of violence sees these actions as terrifying, and to a certain extent, unclean. The desire is to scrub the thoughts out of the brain until it's squeaky clean, as if it was a sin to even think of such horrible deeds.

Diametric Opposition, which is a fancy way of saying that you are most opposed to, or against, that which is in question. People who are afraid that they might push someone into an oncoming train are diametrically opposed to the idea because they actually really don't want to hurt anyone and can't figure out the source of these intrusive thoughts telling them that they would possibly do such a thing. If you were inclined to push people in front of trains, it wouldn't worry you so much, now would it? You'dbe more concerned about finding more trains, perhaps picking up train schedules and avoiding surveillance cameras. The person with the violent fear is not a violent person, otherwise they wouldn't be afraid."

Using Logic to Combat Illogical Thoughts
By Jared Kant
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<A HREF="http://www.ocfoundation.org/organizedch ... 008_02.php" TARGET=_blank>http://www.ocfoundation.org/organizedch ... _02.php</A>

The above is just a piece of the things you will read in these following sources:

<A HREF="http://westsuffolkpsych.homestead.com/V ... sions.html" TARGET=_blank>http://westsuffolkpsych.homestead.com/V ... ns.html</A>

<A HREF="http://www.ocdonline.com/articlephillipson1.php" TARGET=_blank>http://www.ocdonline.com/articlephillipson1.php</A>

<A HREF="http://www.ocdonline.com/Rethinkingtheunthinkable.php" TARGET=_blank>http://www.ocdonline.com/Rethinkingtheu ... ble.php</A>

Books:

"The Imp of Mind" - Lee Baer
"Brain Lock" - Dr. Jeffery Swartz
"Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: And How to Overcome It (Class Health)" - By Frederick Toates, Olga Coschug-Toates

^^ The last one is especially good because it was written by a leading psychologist on OCD who also happens to suffer from OCD.

[GuitarTom]

Thanks for you tireless efforts John. This information is priceless.

Tom

[Charlie Brown]

Wow!!!! Great info!!!! Really, really good!!!

[BeatAnxiety07]

bump

[Jitters]

I just ordered imp of the mind. I read about the book on this site sometime last year. My obsessive thoughts seem to come more in the winter months.

[Jess2005]

Thanks

[BeatAnxiety07]

This is a very delayed response to GuitarTom and Charlie Brown, but Thank You.

Jitters,

I'm glad you are reading that book. You should also check out <A HREF="http://www.ocdonline.com" TARGET=_blank>http://www.ocdonline.com</A> << "thinking the unthinkable" is an amazing article on this issue.