Taboo Tuesday- 3-7-23

[Anxiouslybalanced]

Its time for Taboo Tuesday! I am Krista Reed OCD specialist in Wichita, KS and IOCDF advocate here to give you taboo only topics!

It is a new month which means time for a new theme: This month is “Harmful Identities.” 

A few examples of fear identities are: fear of being a bad person, fear of becoming a serial killer, or fear of being immoral. OCD can really create a loss of identity within the sufferer causing them great pain. 

Obsessions, which are outside of the person’s moral compass and personality, might include: acting on a thought and fear of becoming the next Jeffrey Dahmer? Images of dismembered family member’s bodies.  False memories of harming someone in the past and forgetting.  Impulses to shout out a racial or sexist term.

Statistically, those with thoughts about being harmful are less likely to actually act out on those thoughts than non-OCD sufferers with similar thoughts.  In fact, part of the suffering is related to the highly levels of empathy that these individuals have. 

Check out next week’s Taboo Tuesday as I share compulsions that these individuals might experience.

Remember- Stigma and shame die where communication and validation live ❤️

[Gavriel]

I am 78 and have had OCD. In the thought area since childhood. Yet I have been able to make a life for myself via ongoing therapy and supportive people, including my wife of 51 years. Looking to E mail with older men with OCD around our common challenges.

Joe