What is Harm OCD?
Have you wondered: "What is Harm OCD?" + "Is Harm OCD dangerous?"
If you're struggling with Harm OCD, common compulsions include avoid knives, guns, weapons of any kind, and stabbing movies. So let's chat more about Harm OCD.
Harm OCD involves distressing thoughts about causing harm to others, which can be incredibly alarming and isolating. I share insights on effective treatments like exposure response prevention therapy. Plus, I'm introducing an intensive outpatient program (IOP) for OCD designed to help you tackle intrusive thoughts over a short, intensive period. With the right strategies, you can find relief and turn those overwhelming thoughts into manageable ones. Buckle up and get ready to boss up to OCD!
00:33 Exploring Harm OCD
01:29 Diving Deeper into Harm OCD
02:10 Signs and Symptoms of Harm OCD
03:57 Addressing the Fear of Reporting
06:10 Theories Behind Intrusive Thoughts
08:09 Effective Treatments for OCD
12:54 Mindfulness and Storytelling Techniques
17:09 Introducing the Intensive Outpatient Program
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Harm OCD
[00:00:00] We're partnering with NoCD to raise awareness about OCD. OCD is more than what you see on TV and in the movies. Imagine having unwanted thoughts about your relationship stuck in your head all day, no matter how hard you try to make them go away. That's Relationship OCD. It comes with unrelenting, intrusive images, thoughts, and urges about your partner or loved one.
Breaking the OCD cycle takes effective treatment. Go to nocd. com
A lot of people who suffer from the harm OCD, they end up removing knives from the home because their intrusive thoughts are around the ideas of like, what if I stab my loved ones? What if I kill my loved ones? Or Not even really the what if it's just like your mind has already jumped to like oh my goodness I am murdering them.
Hi, I'm Erin Licensed clinical mental health counselor and OCD specialist. I'm also a wife mom to three and small business owner Helping those who are spiraling from intrusive thoughts to come out of that valley with long term recovery and self awareness. Reheat your coffee and pop in your air pods to learn how to boss up to OCD.
All right, another Friday. It's another Friday, literally. So, have you ever been out in public and you worried about losing control and being violent? Like, and all these images and movie scenes were playing out in your head where You have lost control, and you're killing people, you're murdering people.
Yeah, that could be a clue for the harm OCD. Harm OCD can affect just about anyone, and it can take Different stories and twist them into making you believe that you are a psychopath. You name it. It's like the OCD is sticking the knife in and twisting it mentally and emotionally. So in today's episode you're going to be hearing about what is harm OCD and what those signs and symptoms look like and how to get help.
In preparing for today's episode, I wanted to do it very cautiously. I'm on episode 37, and some of you may have been wishing for this episode [00:02:30] much sooner, and I hear you, and I'm with you, and I just wanted to give you time to build up to the topic, if I'm being honest, because harm OCD can feel very frightening, very scary.
It's alarming to the loved ones that are aware that you're struggling with harm OCD, because so many times, When someone is going through the harm OCD theme, they are so worried about losing control, killing someone, hurting someone. And in today's episode, it's going to be focused on the aggressive and violent thoughts.
There's going to be separate episodes. for the suicidal OCD as well as like sexual intrusive thoughts and other versions of like responsibility OCD where you feel like you're responsible for actions that are happening or consequences that could happen. So anyway, today's focus is on the harm OCD aspect.
So let's talk about some of those typical phrases that happen for someone who's experiencing harm OCD. With harm OCD, some of those thoughts can look like, what if I lose control and push someone into traffic? You ever thought that? Have you ever thought that? It may seem, again, like very unsettling, and I want you to know that I'm here to listen.
I'm here to support you. And even if you are thinking these thoughts, what can hold people back from seeking treatment is feeling like that they're going to get reported or they're going to get arrested or somebody is going to turn them in to the police or whoever. And so I want to make it clear that when you're working with OCD and being a healthcare provider, we are mandated reporters.
And what I want to What really emphasize here is that when you're having thoughts, especially thoughts that stress you out, that does not warrant stress. A call to the authorities. As you know, your health care information is protected. And mental health records have an extra layer of protection. And I have heard, unfortunately, some horror stories of therapists reporting their clients because they were worried that their client was going to, in fact, hurt someone.
[00:05:00] And let me tell you, like, I totally get how reading those horror stories would feel Very scary on top of what you're already going through because you definitely don't want to be labeled as like this Homicidal person. In fact, you are very afraid of that. So going back to that Example of what if I lose control and push someone into traffic?
Not only do you think that, but you think about the thought. So we call that like metacognition, when you're thinking about thinking. And what happens is you're like, did I enjoy that thought? Was that my voice? Am I really wanting to do that? Oh my goodness, what if I did do that? And you've already played out.
A hundred scenarios in your mind of what that looks like, what's going to happen, and on down the line you go. And so then guess what? The compulsions start to come up because you don't want to have those intrusive thoughts anymore, or you're wanting to prove to yourself that you're not that person who pushes someone out in traffic.
And a lot of you have asked, like, why do I think these things? And there are different theories of thought out there. Within some of the behavior models, there's this notion that we're not in 100 percent control of our thoughts. And like I was saying way on back in episode 1, we have up to 70, 000 thoughts per day.
So, that's a lot, zooming in and out of our mind. And some of them, you know, we pay attention to and others we don't. But these times when you experience a harm thought and it sticks around for too long and then you're starting to question yourself and assess what's happening. It can feel very tricky because you, in a way, you second guess if you did in fact truly want that thought or if you manipulated something in your mind or something got unlocked and this thought just popped through.
And so, for some, it's hard to reconcile and to be at ease in thinking that, oh, I'm not in 100 percent control of my thoughts. Because, you guys, you are wanting control. And so to think that your brain is out of control, that furthers the stress, right? Because then [00:07:30] you're thinking, if my brain is out of control, and I cannot control my thoughts, then I guess I can't control my actions.
I can't control my behaviors. I can't control myself from picking up a knife and stabbing somebody. We're partnering with KnowCD to raise awareness about OCD. OCD is more than what you see on TV and in the movies. Imagine having unwanted thoughts about your relationship stuck in your head all day, no matter how hard you try to make them go away.
That's Relationship OCD. It comes with unrelenting, intrusive images, thoughts, and urges about your partner or loved one. If you think you may be struggling with Relationship OCD, there's hope. NoCD offers effective, affordable, and convenient OCD therapy. NoCD therapists are trained in exposure response prevention therapy, the gold standard treatment for OCD.
With NoCD, you can do virtual, live, face to face video sessions with one of their licensed specialty trained therapists. It's affordable and they accept most major insurance plans. Breaking the relationship OCD cycle takes effective treatment. To get started with NoCD, go to nocd. com slash savage. So I want to shift over to this other school of thought, and it's one that can make a lot of sense.
It's one that can make a lot of sense and bring comfort to people who are struggling with OCD. And again, it's whatever works for you, because OCD therapist, I am expanding my the interventions and the strategies I'm using with my clients to help them get into remission and have success. So this other school of thought is that there is a story behind these thoughts, not a story of like, Oh, deep down you wish you were a murderer or, or a serial killer.
No, it's not that, but that somewhere somehow in your previous experiences, That you possibly heard a story about someone being killed. or someone murdering someone. And that story started to play out in your mind. And then it jumps to, what if I were to do that? And you're going through this whole reasoning sequence where you are inferring that you [00:10:00] may carry out this act.
And a lot of you may experience these intrusive thoughts like a movie. And what's fascinating about this, This school of thought where it's all about the story, it really resonates with a lot of people because when you say that the thought is random and you can't control it, number one, that feels unsettling.
But then number two, you're thinking to yourself, but this feels real. And even though logically, you know, it's not real. It just doesn't feel right. You know what I'm saying? Like, have you ever been in a movie? You weren't even thinking about anything sad whatsoever. I mean, you're having a great day. You go into this movie and you get blindsided by a very sad scene.
Like maybe someone's dying from cancer and you're like, Oh my goodness, that reminds me of my loved one that just passed away from cancer. And now you're in that funk, right? So you were triggered by the movie. And it put you in this emotional state of being in that story, being in that place again with your loved one who passed away from cancer.
And then depending upon where your mind goes next can make all the difference. Because what if you were to see a picture of a knife? What comes to mind? Right? So think about that for a moment. Now, let's take a step back, and we're going to zoom out from that photo, and let's imagine that now the knife is beside a cutting board, and you see some very nice pretty vegetables on this cutting board.
What story are you thinking now? That story might be like, oh, what's for dinner? Looks like we're having chopped veggies. Okay, let's take a pause and think about a photo where someone is cutting. holding a knife and they've got a full ski mask on, right? You're making a different inference. a different reason or you are gathering information that's leading you to a conclusion.
Do you see what I'm saying here? And let's use the knife example as your trigger. A lot of people who suffer from the harm OCD, they end up removing knives from the home because their intrusive thoughts are around the ideas of like, what if I stab my loved [00:12:30] ones? What if I kill my loved ones or Not even really the what if, it's just like, your mind has already jumped to like, Oh my goodness, I am murdering them.
And you're not even mad at them. In fact, you love them. And guess what? Now you're going through those mental rituals of reassurance of like, I would never hurt my family. I love my family. I'm a good person. Y'all, it can be all sorts of confusing and distressing, and again, kind of like an overarching strategy I like to use is the mindfulness.
Because with mindfulness, we can observe the thoughts, we can be curious about the thoughts, and not give them power. So all in all, there are multiple strategies and interventions that can You will practice in therapy to help you in getting to a place where you are no longer inferring that just because you see a knife or hold a knife, That you're going to stab your loved one, or that you're going to go out in public and push somebody in front of a bus, or push someone in front of the subway train.
Typically, driving tends to be a very big harm OCD thought. More in the present slash future tense of like, what if I drove my car into that building? What if I drive the car over the sidewalk and just take out all these people? And then you're assessing again, like, did I enjoy those thoughts? Am I a bad person for having these thoughts?
And a lot of times you're inferring and coming to the conclusion that you are a bad person. And in fact, you are not. Now I'm not here to give you reassurance, but what I am here to do is help you feel validated in that you're not alone in these thoughts. And these thoughts do not define who you are. And next.
Set of questions that typically comes after this realization is like, how do I get rid of them? And my friend, in treating these thoughts, you are stronger than you know, and these thoughts can get quieter. They can calm down to a place where it feels like they're really in the background and you find ways to create separation [00:15:00] and or you're making a different inference.
You're coming to a different conclusion whenever you're around people in traffic. Like, okay, so even if you have the thought, what if I push somebody in front of this bus? What if we change it to what a beautiful blue sky it is today? Or let me notice this person's Backpack, or pocketbook, or let me listen to the sounds of the bus as it comes up.
Or let me make sure that these people get on the bus before I do. Let me be courteous. Right? So, our way of interpreting the story turns out much different. It's like you're writing your own happy ending. Isn't that amazing? The power of the mind is so fabulous. And with intrusive thoughts, again, those are the thoughts that bring you stress, bring you anxiety.
They cause you to question who you are. And they go against your values, because that's why they cause stress. So some of the work that we will do and the things that you'll work on may include the exposure response prevention. Or it may include different story that you're going to write for yourself.
With the exposure response prevention, it may get to a place where it's like, let's draw those worst case scenarios just because we're drawing it doesn't mean it's going to happen. And as your OCD therapist, I will lead the way. I will say, Hey, draw me as your first victim. And most of y'all are like, Oh my gosh, I would never.
It's okay. It's okay, because I'm here to show you that I trust you, and even if you draw me in a picture being murdered, that does not define my future, my fate, and it's okay. The exposure response prevention is so powerful and can help you get well very quickly. And because of that, I have developed an intensive outpatient program, which I'm super excited about and it starts in September.
So here's the plan because OCD work can be very effective and you can get results quickly. I've designed this program where you're [00:17:30] going to be coming to therapy for nine hours a week for three weeks. And some of y'all are thinking, whew, that sounds like a lot of therapy. And yes it is. Yes it is. But here's the deal.
This program is only three weeks. Imagine how different your thoughts are going to be. Your feelings are going to be, and your life is going to be in. As little as three weeks. Isn't that amazing? Like there is so much potential here y'all that I can't wait for you to sign up. I've got a link in the show notes where you can fill out an interest form.
And so the way it's going to work is I need you to fill out the interest form and then you'll get a welcome guide and I will talk with you for 30 minutes. For free, because joining this intensive outpatient program, I want to make sure that we're a good fit and that this is going to be a good match for you and what you're needing.
So think of it like, for those of you that times have been rough, it's been hard, you've even thought about admitting yourself to the hospital because it gets so bad, but you don't want to go to the hospital, you know deep down that you don't need the hospital. This is a great option for you. And here's the other thing.
This intensive outpatient program is going to be an individual service. So no group work. It's only going to be you and I, and if you need help from a psychiatrist, I will get you linked up with a psychiatrist that can help. And the other great thing about this program is that it's going to be online. So if you're located in North Carolina or Virginia, You can do this program and imagine after three weeks, you finish the program.
Say you started in September and you finish up before October, you're ready for Halloween. You're ready to get out there with all the trick or treaters and you're ready to kick off the holiday season. So I'm super excited about this program and I will give you your super bill slash receipt for the sessions so that you can use thrizer to get reimbursed.
If you have out of network benefits, nah, scratch that. With this program, I've also got a full webpage created so that you can see all the info about the program. And I'll go ahead and tell you, yeah, that it's only one [00:20:00] spot at a time. So I'm going to see one person for that solid three weeks, and then we'll rotate.
So if someone jumps in line ahead of you, it's all right. I'll get to you. in order, and I'll kind of let you know what those expectations look like. So if it's, you know, a start date of September for the first one, I'll let you know, hey, you and I will start in October, or if it fills up, I may have to tell you, like, it'll be January.
Is that okay? And so we will work it out. So this is a super exciting opportunity if you're struggling with OCD and especially the harm OCD, because it can, you don't want to live with this any longer. So having a program where we can meet Monday, Wednesday, Friday from nine to 12, knock this thing out of the park.
That may suit you very well, and I can't wait to serve you, no, and I can't wait to help you guys in that way, because I see the benefits all the time, and you don't need to wait any longer, nor do, you know, like, even just doing the regular OCD therapy, I mean, that's once a week, twice a week, if you're lucky, if the therapist has space on their calendar, which, by the way, My caseload consists of a reasonable number of patients so that you get that focused, individualized attention.
Nobody likes to be like the 31st client. You know what I'm saying? Like, you don't want your therapist showing up, like, driving in on two wheels. They're frazzled. They've got so much to do, so busy, that they barely give you the time of day. Like, No, thank you. So with this intensive therapy experience, you're going to have my full attention.
And on top of that, you are eligible to have additional perks to the program. So go to the website and see what those perks look like. Let me know if you're interested. Fill out the interest form. And we can get rolling in having you admitted into this intensive outpatient program. We're partnering with NoCD to raise awareness about OCD.
OCD is more than what you see on TV and in the movies. Imagine having unwanted thoughts about your relationship stuck in your head all day, no matter how hard you try to make them go away. That's Relationship OCD. It comes with unrelenting intrusive images, thoughts, and urges about your partner or loved one.
Breaking the [00:22:30] OCD cycle takes effective treatment. Go to NOCD. com to get evidence based treatment. Okay! So this was basically like part one of the harm OCD. Next week I'm going to be back to talk about the suicide OCD because there are times where that harm OCD transfers and shifts into what if I hurt myself?
And so that's a whole nother topic that I can't wait to bring to you next week. So come back next Friday. And in the meantime, I'm looking forward to seeing you sign up for that intensive outpatient program. Bye y'all. Thank you for listening to another episode of Bossing Up, Overcoming OCD. This information is intended to be helpful and not a substitute for professional counseling.
If you're struggling with any mental health challenges, I encourage you to seek help from a qualified therapist or healthcare professional. If you enjoyed today's episode, please take a moment to rate and review the show. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners, and don't forget to check out the affiliate links in the show notes for more information.
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