Compulsions are controllable and are aimed at trying to reduce anxiety. However, now we recognize that what separates an obsession from a compulsion is that obsessions trigger anxiety and are uncontrollable. This is also sometimes referred to as “Purely Obsessional OCD” or “Pure-O” because we used to consider anything experienced on the inside of a person as an obsession and anything external as a compulsion. Instead, the compulsive behavior is internal. Many people with intrusive and taboo thoughts, such as being preoccupied about being a pedophile, have minimal or no observable compulsions. Fortunately, recent mainstream media attention, and a new website called are helping raise awareness of the disorder and the different forms it comes in.
And you are not alone.Įxperiencing taboo thoughts like these is one of the most common, yet lesser known, manifestations of OCD. What you may not realize is that you may be suffering from a very common form of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). You may feel that you are a monster and a bad person for having these thoughts in your brain. You feel your only option is to escape in order to protect the innocence of these children. You worry others are looking at you and you may even begin to question what you have done.
You may even check your genitals for signs of arousal. You check where your hands are to make sure that you won’t accidentally touch a child inappropriately and you are on guard and panicked that you will experience more intrusive thoughts that suggest feelings for children. You find yourself avoiding eye contact with everyone. You will now be acutely aware and on guard for whether there were any intrusive thoughts present. You glance over at the children and, out of the blue, a thought enters your head: “Did I just look at those kids in a creepy way?” Your brain immediately begins to doubt and analyze whether your glance was creepy and you are flooded with terror: “Why would I be staring at kids?” “Do other people do this?” “Was I physically attracted to one of them?” “Is there something wrong with me?” “Did I do something inappropriate?” “Did I get aroused by the children?” “Am I a pedophile?” “Am I going to become a pedophile?” “What does this mean that I am even thinking these thoughts?”Ĭontinue to imagine that you find yourself yet again walking by the school playground.
Imagine one day that you are walking past an elementary school playground. This article was initially published in the Winter 2016 edition of the OCD Newsletter. He specializes in the treatment of Anxiety and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder including violent and sexual obsessions. Jordan Levy is a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice in Manhattan and in Livingston, New Jersey. Lewis Vaughn is the author of numerous textbooks in philosophy, critical thinking, and ethics including The Power of Critical Thinking (2019) Concise Guide to Critical Thinking (2017) Philosophy Here and Now (2019) Living Philosophy: A Historical Introduction to Philosophical Ideas (2018) Doing Ethics: Moral Reasoning, Theory, and Contemporary Issues (2019) Beginning Ethics: An Introduction to Moral Philosophy (2015) Bioethics: Principles, Issues, and Cases (2017) and Writing Philosophy (2018).Am I a Monster? An Overview of Common Features, Typical Course, Shame and Treatment of Pedophilia OCD (pOCD)ĭr.
WEIRD THOUGHTS SERIES
He has also contributed to a number of volumes in Open Court’s “Philosophy and Popular Culture” series as well as Blackwell’s “Philosophy for Everyone” series. He is the author of Doing Philosophy: An Introduction through Thought Experiments, the editor of The Philosophy of Science: From Positivism to Post-modernism, and has published articles in several fields of philosophy including: philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, philosophy of religion, philosophy of language, meta-philosophy, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics. He is currently professor of philosophy at Muhlenberg College where he has served as Director of Academic Computing, Director of Freshman Seminars, Director of the Muhlenberg Scholars Program, and Chair of the Philosophy Department. in philosophy from Harvard University and his Ph.D.
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