You can always ask, “I’m worried I might have OCD, and I was wondering if you could give me more information about intrusive thoughts in particular.” 5. Sometimes it can feel safer to dive into these conversations if your clinician is taking the lead. This is a way of assessing the kind of reaction you can expect from your clinician, and easing yourself into it.įor example: “Can I pose a hypothetical question? If a client of yours reported having some intrusive thoughts that they were very ashamed of, how would you handle that conversation?” 4. It’s perfectly fine to speak in hypotheticals if you’re not ready yet. You can burn it now, if you want, I can take it from here.” 3. I’ve known people who have written their intrusive thoughts down, and then handed that piece of paper to their therapist or psychiatrist.įor example: “I’m not comfortable saying this to you, but I felt you needed to know I was struggling with this, so I wrote something down for you to read.” I did this with my psychiatrist once, and when he was done reading, he shrugged and joked, “Good to know. “I know this sounds ridiculous, but…” “I feel so terrible and ashamed about this, but…” were starters that helped me figure out what words I wanted to say. Writing a script and rehearsing it in the shower or car is how I psyched myself up the first time - while vacuuming is also a good way to do this if you don’t want to be heard. Still, if you aren’t sure how to bring it up to your clinicians, this is my tried and true advice for what will be, no doubt, the most awkward conversation of your life: 1. It’s also their job to be professional grownups who can handle anything you throw at them. They studied it in graduate school, they’ve talked about it with other clients, and more than likely, they’ve had a few bizarre thoughts themselves (after all, they’re human beings, too!). Whatever terrible, dreadful thing that keeps popping up in your brain is, in all likelihood, not going to be shocking to your clinicians. The good news? (Yes, there’s good news!) I can pretty much guarantee you that your therapist has heard it all before. The OCD Center of Los Angeles has a crucial resource outlining all these forms of OCD and more that I’d highly recommend taking a look at.Įvery single person has disturbing thoughts, so in that way, obsessive-compulsive disorder isn’t a disorder of “difference” - it’s the degree to which these thoughts impact someone’s life.įrom the sound of it, these thoughts that you’re having are definitely impacting you, which means it’s time to reach out for professional help.
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