Harm OCD: Signs and Symptoms
Harm/Violence Obsessive Compulsive Disorder:
Harm OCD is a common sub type of OCD that causes intrusive thoughts/images/urges/doubts about harm to oneself or to others. OCD tends to latch onto things that have meaning in ones life. With harm OCD, these obsessions and doubts may latch onto the values I hold. OCD may attack my relationship or myself. With many sub types of OCD, there is the difference with acting on these thoughts and just having them as thoughts. People with harm OCD are not more likely to harm someone just as someone with Pedophilic OCD (POCD) is not more likely to harm a child. Harm OCD includes obsessions and compulsions that work within the same cycle as other OCD subtypes. By understanding that this is another sub type of OCD, we can introduce exposure and response prevention (ERP) to challenge this sub type and help you gain back control. Harm OCD is an overwhelming sub type that will make many people hesitant to wanting to start therapy. As a licensed therapist specializing in OCD, trained in ERP, I am able to help improve your understanding of this sub type and to implement the effective change.
Common Harm OCD Obsessions:
Fear of committing a violent act
Fear of giving into a violent urge
Fear that one day they will snap and hurt a loved one or themselves
Fear of committing an impulse like stabbing or killing someone”
Fear of committing suicide
Fear that one day they’ll go unconscious and cause harm without even knowing
Common Harm OCD Compulsions:
Avoiding people or situations that may trigger your obsessions-Avoidance
Compulsively checking yourself and others to ensure you didn’t hurt anyone-Physical Checking.
Asking others to ensure that you did not perform any harm- Reassurance Seeking Behaviors.
Mentally reviewing your memories to ensure you did not hurt anyone- Mental Review/Rumination
Mental Rituals- Counting, forcing myself to think a positive thought.
Avoiding knives, pens, or other sharp objects that could be used to hurt someone-Avoidance behaviors
Treatment: Exposure Response Prevention:
ERP is a collaborative approach that you and I will do together. Exposures are done in a gradual sense that we will develop together early in sessions. We will develop a list of fears/obsessions/exposures in a hierarchical fashion. ERP will teach you how to cope by approaching fears rather than avoiding them. Success with ERP starts with a gradual approach. Starting with facing obsessions/fears that cause the lowest level of distress. By approaching ERP in a gradual manner, we can continue to learn and practice through each exposure effective response prevention and make progressive progress. We do not want the distress to get too high at the start that we are not able to use effective response prevention. Having a solid foundation of response prevention and plans of exposures will ensure we are following evidence based protocols.
As a licensed mental health therapist trained in ERP, I will assist you through the exposures and how to implement effective response prevention measures. If you feel that OCD has had a negative impact on your life, you might consider counseling and ERP to learn how to handle it more effectively. Please feel free to reach out for a free consultation, where we can discuss impacts of OCD and benefits of counseling/ERP.
