Magical Thinking OCD Sub-type: Signs and Symptoms
Magical thinking Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a sub-type of OCD that is characterized by ongoing intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviors around superstitious thoughts/behaviors or magical thinking to prevent negative experiences or harm to oneself or others. Intrusive thoughts may arise about one being responsible for something bad happening if they do not perform a specific action. Doubt and overthinking is present in this sub-type that would lead a person to engage in a compulsive behavior.
Compulsions are rituals/behaviors that offer relief from the obsessions. Engaging in the compulsion can reduce the anxiety and provide short term relief. A person is more likely to seek that short term relief with the compulsion, and look to reinforce the OCD cycle that keeps them stuck.
Magical thinking involves compulsive urges and actions are done to keep certain bad things from happening.
An individual might experience a specific thought or fear that causes anxiety. The thought that is causing distress might not have a connection between the fear that is present and action the person does to prevent it. For example, a person might have the thought that if they do not put away items in a certain order, then something terrible will happen to their family. Looking at this outside of OCD, one can see that there is no connection between putting away items to then something terrible happening to ones family.
But as the OCD persists, the connection made between these fears can be reinforced. A person may believe and fear with magical thinking that this connection between putting away items to prevent something bad happening to their family is valid, thus they feel the urge to do it. By resisting that urge, the person might experience such distress and not want to take the chance of jeopardizing their families safety, when they can simply take a few minutes to organize those items in the way that they think will “prevent” that fear from coming true. This is a difficult justification as it justifies the encouragement of engaging in compulsions in order to get some feeling of certainty that something bad will not happen.
With repeated behaviors such as this, the OCD is reinforced as the person is continually engaging in compulsions. While the compulsions offer the short term relief from the fear and distress, it is negatively reinforcing the OCD and making it more difficult to break that OCD cycle. Doubts within this sub-type cannot be argued with, reasoned with or using extensive logic to get out of it. OCD will continue to find a way to keep its foot in the door and keep the person stuck in the OCD cycle. OCD wants to feed on the compulsions, it is more than happy to waste your time by doing compulsions so it can continue to feed and get stronger.
Magical thinking OCD is no different than any of the other forms or sub-types of OCD; this is a common theme that can arise. Fortunately, evidenced based treatment exists that is the gold standard in treating OCD which will be explained below
Magical Thinking Obsessions: Obsessions can include thoughts, images, urges, fears or doubts. Ones that are repetitive, intrusive and unwanted. Ones obsessions can be hyper specific about any number of topics. An example of a magical thinking obsession can be “If I don’t text my husband before I take off from a flight, the plane might crash”.
Common Magical Thinking Compulsions:
Performing rituals: Some people may perform rituals during certain times of day or under specific circumstances. Ritual examples can be diverse and specific behaviors done in order to get a sense of certainty. A person may pick something up in a certain way or making sure they look at a specific time on the clock everyday. Someone may do a physical behavior that ends in an even number or touch something a certain way.
Counting: Compulsions with counting can include repeating or counting to a specific number. One may do a certain behavior to a specific number of times. For example, someone may say they love their partner three times every time they have a negative thought about their parent, which might come up often. There might be a fear that if they do not say that phrase a specific number of times, then something bad may happen to their mother.
Avoidance: Avoidance compulsions can include a person avoiding certain number, places, people, or items. A person may avoid numbers such as 13 or odd numbers.
Reassurance Seeking: Reassurance seeking compulsion can include a person looking for reassurance from someone else, say a friend or family member to make sure that nothing bad has happened based on them not doing a certain ritual. For example, a person may ask their friend for reassurance about if something bad would happen if they did not tell their parent they loved them after every time they saw them. This compulsion is done to relieve the anxiety their intrusive thoughts are causing them.
Treatment for Magical Thinking OCD:
Treatment for this sub-type of OCD, like all forms of OCD is the gold standard of treatment, exposure and response prevention (ERP). Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) looks at the idea that triggering situations and thoughts are at the core of OCD. Ongoing exposure to these triggers without engagement in rituals can reduce the severity felt. 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.
