What counts as intrusive thoughts?

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Ah, I see - thank you for pointing that out to me!

Putting it simply, intrusive thoughts is having your own personal bully.

Whether it's about OCD or not, it could be for example "you're ugly, you have this wrong with you, that wrong with you, your nose is big, your hair is dry" or "you're dumb, you couldn't just simply cook a lasagne, anyone can do it and you f****d up!"

That's basically what intrusive thoughts is, in basic terms. It's not exact, it's just writing it out in plain English.

I have those kinds of intrusive thoughts, too, all the time.

Yes. Anxiety in general is like having your own personal bully. Hate it.

Those thoughts are intrusive, but I don't think those are examples of the type of intrusive thoughts associated with OCD and other disorders.

Those sound like examples of negative self talk, or inner critic or something--I don't know what the psychological term for it is. Intrusive thoughts are much different, in my opinion. They are kind of like having your own bully--but your own twisted, psychotic, twilight zone bully.

I think Wikipedia has a pretty easy to understand description of them--

Wikipedia

Take note of the bold -cough-.

I understand. But I don't think your example sounds like "intrusive thoughts", which is a specific term with a specific meaning in the context of this thread. "Intrusive thoughts" is not simply any thought that is intrusive, it describes a specific affliction. Just as if I were to be talking about a Western Bluebird, I would not be talking about any blue bird that is in the Western hemisphere, but a specific variety.

If the "intrusive thoughts," as defined by psychology, doesn't qualify as common English, it should--because it is actually a very common problem which many people mistakenly vilify themselves for, until they learn the term "intrusive thoughts" and are able to identify what they're going through.

I too have intrusive thoughts and do have mild OCD according to my therapist. To me a thought is intrusive when it constantly pops into your head regularly and you find it distracting. If you find yourself overanalyzing and obsessing about the thought then it turns into a compulsion.

I have them, but more in combination with a trauma.

I don't just mean flash backs, I mean picturing very simmilar situations and me coping with it.
And thinking it over and over and over. It's terrible.
I also think situations over and over who could bring me again in such a siatuation and correct them over and over and over.
I can't stop this.
I have more a trauma-anxiety-OCD thing and not classic PTSD.

But now it's better, but I still have it.

I think (I don't know for sure) that every thought that you HAVE TO think constantly and don't get rid of it by yourself is a intrusive thought.

Very interessting:
"London psychologist Stanley Rachman presented a questionnaire to healthy college students and found that virtually all said they had these thoughts from time to time, including thoughts of sexual violence, sexual punishment, "unnatural" sex acts, painful sexual practices, blasphemous or obscene images, thoughts of harming elderly people or someone close to them, violence against animals or towards children, and impulsive or abusive outbursts or utterances. Such bad thoughts are universal among humans, and have "almost certainly always been a part of the human condition"."
intrusive thoughts (wikipedia)

I think I get intrusive thoughts but I don't know how I feel about them as I have trouble understanding or noticing my feelings.
But I worry everyone around me will die. When I say goodbye to them I say it and think of it as the last time I will ever see them alive. And start to think about how much I know about them and what I might have to worry about if they die so I know to let them know I'm not angry at them or something.
This happens all the time with everyone. When people go to work or put down the phone etc.

I worry I will kill babies when I hold them because their head will snap back if I'm not careful. Or I'll drop them or something.

I often consider obsessively what might go wrong in lifts, queues, crowded rooms, transport such as buses, trains, air planes and ferries and how I will attempt to survive or help others. As a result I have a favourite seat in some places based on this. It means I can't always relax but at times thinking about these things helps me relax.

I'm not sure if it's OCD or not, I'm asking for my future therapist to look into it.
I also constantly feel sick at the idea of spit. It makes talking to people difficult at times, and means I hate sitting opposite people when eating, and even eating on my own is difficult if I'm too aware of my own spit. I have to consider it a digestive fluid, which it is, as this helps.

Not sure if these are examples of it, but it helps to know I'm not the only one with these odd, constant/reoccurring thoughts.

I've got those kinds of thoughts I described earlier, but what I have more often is the feeling that things aren't even. That things are unbalanced and wrong. This is pretty much what I mean; read this text.

I'm not sure I've got "Just right" OCD. I'm not sure of anything. But I very often get these "intrusive" feelings of things being wrong and uneven. I then have to make them right/even.

I think its thoughts you don't want that wont go away......at least that's the simple version. I get those sometimes.

I get that with hair. I've made myself lose a lot of eyelashes from that. And I have started plucking hair from my legs and have scarred my legs from it. It's really annoying.
I don't think I get it in any other setting though. Not sure.
I also get it with speech actually. I will often say the same thing many times because I need to say it correctly. Even if they know what I mean.

My most common "Just right" things (in no particular order):

1. If I get water on one hand I need to get water on the other one as well, otherwise it'll feel uneven.
2. If I step on a crack (in the pavement)/a stone/chewing gum etc with one foot I need to step on one with the other foot as well, otherwise it'll feel uneven.
3. Sometimes I get a weird feeling in my fingers and I then have to touch things in a certain way until that feeling goes away.
4. Sometimes I get a weird feeling in my mouth if I say a word in a way that's incorrect to me. I then have to repeat it until it feels just right.
5. I count steps when I walk up and down stairs.
6. I need everything to be "perfect". I read emails and things I post online (here on WP for example) over and over and over again to make sure I haven't made any errors.
7. If I write a hand written letter and I make ONE mistake I need to throw it away and start all over again, just to make it right and perfect.

Got more of those habits. Would people who don't have OCD do those things?

These things don't make me anxious by the way. They just annoy me to bits and it feels very uncomfortable if I don't even things out and make them right.

EDIT: Corrected some mistakes.

Last edited by rebbieh on 01 Aug 2012, 2:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

My sister has the thing where if she is touched on one side of her body she doesn't feel even.
I sometimes make an involuntary movement with one hand and feel the need to do so with the other hand but it doesn't feel the same, so end up repeating it a lot.
I don't think this is the same but I get a similar thing with hearing things. If I hear something weird I have to repeat it or it'll repeat over and over in my head.
I got tortured by the word Pythagoras in school because of this! If someone sneezes I say 'bless you' in the way they sneezed and I copy laughs often.

It makes me seem really rude but it gives me the same kind of uncomfortable feeling I think you might be describing.
Not sure if that's even OCD-ish or just me being odd. lol

I can't even go outside without actively and intentionally try to avoid all things that could possibly make me feel uneven. Very annoying.