Anime and Pocd

[bob54945]

Hi, firstly I just want to check if I'm posting too much, because I've done a lot of posts over the past few days and I don't want to be intrusive or something.

Basically, I was on reddit and I saw this picture of a anime girl. I felt attracted to her which worryies me for 2 reasons, one is that she looks young and the other is that in my school there is a girl in the year below me who is trans. She has a very femine apparence, and I feel weird about that as I am somewhat attracted to femboys (I know she isn't a boy but I still make that connection). I don't think I'm attracted to the girl but I still find the connection weird.

This is the Image: 

Thanks for any replies in advance!

[hazydaze]

Hey @bob54945
Never feel badly on our account that you're "posting too much." Post as much as you'd like/need to. The only thing that could be an issue is for yourself, as the posts can become a compulsion. By showing us this image you want us to determine whether it was appropriate or not for you to have some attraction towards it, which is reassurance seeking and doesn't help you.
You aren't alone in these thoughts, wondering where the "line" is. I've recently had kind of similar stuff. I've been playing the new Harvest Moon if you're familiar it's called a different name now but anyway, you get married and stuff in that game but it's all anime and the adults look like little kids, so I relate in getting some similar thoughts like is that inappropriate? I guess maybe that's a little different but I know what you mean when you see some cartoon that is drawn with attractive adult features but then maybe some of the features look young, that's anime for you I guess! I think it's the way they draw the face with those huge eyes. I bet there's lots of people who find it confusing. And so what if this cartoon slightly resembles a person in your school? How do you think you should address your intrusive thoughts with this one? 
(Not trying to be mean by saying "so what," but we have to be adamant in our approach to OCD knowing that it always lies to us.)

Edited August 7, 2020 by hazydaze

[bob54945]

1 hour ago, hazydaze said:

Hey @bob54945
Never feel badly on our account that you're "posting too much." Post as much as you'd like/need to. The only thing that could be an issue is for yourself, as the posts can become a compulsion. By showing us this image you want us to determine whether it was appropriate or not for you to have some attraction towards it, which is reassurance seeking and doesn't help you.
You aren't alone in these thoughts, wondering where the "line" is. I've recently had kind of similar stuff. I've been playing the new Harvest Moon if you're familiar it's called a different name now but anyway, you get married and stuff in that game but it's all anime and the adults look like little kids, so I relate in getting some similar thoughts like is that inappropriate? I guess maybe that's a little different but I know what you mean when you see some cartoon that is drawn with attractive adult features but then maybe some of the features look young, that's anime for you I guess! I think it's the way they draw the face with those huge eyes. I bet there's lots of people who find it confusing. And so what if this cartoon slightly resembles a person in your school? How do you think you should address your intrusive thoughts with this one? 
(Not trying to be mean by saying "so what," but we have to be adamant in our approach to OCD knowing that it always lies to us.)

Thanks for the reply! It’s not mean to say so what because that is what will probably get me passed this. I agree that I think it’s the face that is confusing me, although I do find it pretty and somewhat attractive (I think) so that’s a worry. But then again I’m not attracted to kids, I know that, and I’m only 16 so hormones and ****.

[hazydaze]

12 minutes ago, bob54945 said:

Thanks for the reply! It’s not mean to say so what because that is what will probably get me passed this. I agree that I think it’s the face that is confusing me, although I do find it pretty and somewhat attractive (I think) so that’s a worry. But then again I’m not attracted to kids, I know that, and I’m only 16 so hormones and ****.

You're doing well, good for you for being so young and seeking help and beginning to learn the skills necessary to combat OCD. 
Exactly, you know yourself and you can trust yourself! You know you are not a dangerous person who would ever hurt a child. The rest is just background noise that OCD is flooding you with! 
A general rule of thumb that helped me get out of some dark spots was that if you are having a worry like this, that you can tell is OCD (it keeps coming back and causing you distress and you are performing some sort of compulsion,) you can essentially right then and there know that the content of your thoughts is a lie. If it's coming from OCD, it just ain't true. With OCD and with everything in life it's virtually impossible to have absolute certainty, but that doesn't mean that you believe what OCD is telling you. We learn to accept uncertainty so that when our OCD is sending us false alarms, we can say "You know what, I don't need to spend weeks picking that apart and trying to solve it and figure out if it's true or not. I don't need to be absolutely certain, I trust myself, I know OCD is a bully and a liar, and I deserve to live a happy life." Absolutely trust yourself, you know who you are. You've got this! 

Best wishes!

[bob54945]

59 minutes ago, hazydaze said:

You're doing well, good for you for being so young and seeking help and beginning to learn the skills necessary to combat OCD. 
Exactly, you know yourself and you can trust yourself! You know you are not a dangerous person who would ever hurt a child. The rest is just background noise that OCD is flooding you with! 
A general rule of thumb that helped me get out of some dark spots was that if you are having a worry like this, that you can tell is OCD (it keeps coming back and causing you distress and you are performing some sort of compulsion,) you can essentially right then and there know that the content of your thoughts is a lie. If it's coming from OCD, it just ain't true. With OCD and with everything in life it's virtually impossible to have absolute certainty, but that doesn't mean that you believe what OCD is telling you. We learn to accept uncertainty so that when our OCD is sending us false alarms, we can say "You know what, I don't need to spend weeks picking that apart and trying to solve it and figure out if it's true or not. I don't need to be absolutely certain, I trust myself, I know OCD is a bully and a liar, and I deserve to live a happy life." Absolutely trust yourself, you know who you are. You've got this! 

Best wishes!

Thanks! Yeah, I think I'll just try and ignore what I'm thinking. I feel very confused about the picture so I guess that kinda tells me that it's ocd as if it wasn't I'd feel 'stronger' about it. Thanks again for all the support!

[dksea]

"I feel very confused about the picture so I guess that kinda tells me that it's ocd as if it wasn't I'd feel 'stronger' about it. Thanks again for all the support!"

Remember, if you think it MIGHT be OCD, it probably is