Questions about POCD

[lunadidi]

i'm so sorry about this but i have to ask these questions. 

 

1. if i keep obsessing over pedophilia and keep having these thoughts will i become a pedophile??

2. will i start becoming attracted to children if i keep thinking these awful things about them??

3. do you think this will go away in time with medication and therapy??

i feel like now every time i see a child i relate them to my thoughts and i hate it. and i’m constantly looking up things like videos of children to check to see if i’m attracted to them.

[snowbear]

Hi lunadidi and welcome to the forum.

As you're new here and perhaps don't yet know how OCD works I'll answer your questions as if they weren't driven by OCD.

1. No. You don't become a paedophile by obsessing about it.

2. No. You won't become attracted to children because you're getting intrusive thoughts.

3. Yes. This will go away, with therapy and understanding of how OCD works certainly. You can try medication as a supplement to CBT therapy if you want though it's not necessary and some people prefer not to take drugs to treat their OCD.

The first thing you need to do is learn how OCD works.

In simple terms, you have an intrusive thought (example:am I aroused by this child?) and instead of shrugging it off as just a meaningless stray thought you give it credence and start doing compulsions to disprove it or test yourself.

Typical compulsions include deliberately trying to provoke a response by looking at videos or pictures, checking your body to see if there's a physical response, ruminating over it (thinking that goes round in circles without answers) and doing mental or physical rituals to neutralise any thoughts you don't like.

You overcome this by refusing to engage with the intrusive thought. Allow it to float into and out of your mind without giving it any value or attention.

If you do find yourself doing compulsions, try to stop doing them as soon as you notice them start. You can use distraction or just get on with your normal activities as if the thoughts weren't there. The less attention you give them the faster they'll fade away.

If you've been struggling with this for a while you may want to have a chat with your GP (or IAPT service if you live in England)and ask for a referral for CBT.

Alternatively, consider investing in a self-help book which explains how OCD works. Knowledge is power and the better you understand it, the easier it is to fight it.