Has anyone with Harm OCD ever acted on their thoughts?

Harm OCD is a scary disorder to those living with it. While most people understand that OCD is more about thoughts of doing something bad rather than acting on those bad thoughts, one of the common questions is "has anyone ever acted on it?" This question gets asked a lot with Harm OCD.
Dr. McGrath explains what his experience has been (hint: he's never seen it).
If you are living with OCD and need help, NOCD is here for you. Please reach out to our care team for a free 15 minute phone call to find out how ERP can help you overcome OCD. rb.gy/5dr8np
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[@kallme_K9]

This actually helped me alot. Whatever is going in in my head. This helped. I'm so done being scared all the time

[@shawnanderson2644]

This is the most badass video you will EVER watch on OCD. If you are looking for a shift or answers, THIS IS IT. Thanks Dr. McGrath.

[@alo_tsl8252]

I'm constantly terrified. Every single minute of the day. I always have to reassure myself that i'm not a bad person and everything it's ok. That everyone i love is okay. But still i can't help but feel this overwhelming anxiety and honestly it's come to the point where i just wish i was never born in the first place. I just feel like a world without me would be better. I don't know what to do.

[@faithmeliz1882]

I am in the same exact situation. I keep wishing I could just go back to when I didn’t have it and it brings me down so much. I used to be so happy

[@alone_877]

​@@faithmeliz1882how is it now?

[@faithmeliz1882]

@@alone_877 better! I’m not 100% but I’m doing better than I was

[@FunWithSK-xy3ij]

​@@faithmeliz1882how

[@ForeverSweetx3]

Wow! You are such a wonderful therapist.

[@Madeline64]

I think that I’ve always dealt with this since I was little but it has gotten worse. I usually just let the thought pass but they are super depressing. It is always towards the people/things that I love and care about the most deeply. I.e. my dogs who are in short, the loves of my life (other than my fiancé) lol. I often have thoughts of hurting them, and then I hate myself and. My way of coping is holding them close and just closing my eyes to let the thought pass. I would say one of my biggest fears in life is harming someone else. I would much rather harm myself than bring harm to someone else. Thoughts of harming myself don’t really bother me, like jumping into the bear exhibit at the zoo. The real pain and fear is if I think of pushing someone else in. It is the worst. Glad to know I’m not alone.

[@serene3960]

yes and i'm so so tired of it.I didn't even kill any flies (except mosquitos) before but now i fear so much that i'm gonna kill my loved ones or stray cats etc. and somettimes i wonder if this is a urge i can really do or just my OCD bc it felt so real sometimes.I couldn't even watch any horror related films or videos rn bc it all started when i was watching American Psycho.Also my thoughts are so violent and gory and it scares the shit out of me

[@stxplesexhaustion]

I'm scared. I don't want to hurt anybody. But I'm especially scared that I'll hurt my family because I genuinely love them more than anything. I dont know if I have harm ocd. I just have this overwhelming fear that I could hurt them and more recently I've been feeling physically overwhelming feeling like in burning or like my stomach is sick. I'm scared I'll go insane too. Or be convinced by some random thought that murder is ok. I want to kill myself so I dont hurt the people I love. But in too scared to

[@soniczforever5470]

I understand I'm in the same situation This is what scared me. I hate myself for my thoughts. I ended up suicidal still terribly depressed over this can't function. there's different types of harm o. Mines really bad. I attempted in 2022 and distanced myself from other people I'm not able to function with the severe depression it caused, cant run or anything. I'd severe problems but I'm glad I'm not alone in it. Find coping mechanisms. It's disturbing. I need to feel safe. There are types of harm os worse than others. Yours sounds like pure o. The burning and sick feeling seems like panic attacks. You can prevent acting on harm o even there are strong urges. This sucks . Look up people's stories it will help. I want to know why it affect some so much worse than others and how they deal with it then maybe I can be somewhat well again. Good luck, sorry you get this.

[@urmom7103]

I’ve never related to something more in my life

[@purpleimpact4104]

Hey don‘t worry. This weird feeling in your body is just your compulsion to scan your body for feelings and impulses you don‘t want to have. It is the same as with the intrusive thoughts. When you dont want to feel a feeling and scan your body for that you will feel exactly this feeling. I had the same condition and I can garantie you there is help. Your situation sounds really burdensome. You should get professional help inmediatly.

[@goojay6696]

I'm going through the exact same thing as you. I get thoughts so disturbing and looping that i am just waiting to become schizophrenic and seeing shadows or auditory hallucinations. And that raises my anxiety and paranoia to extreme levels and causes a sinking feeling in my stomach. I feel like a predator being around my love ones from the intrusive thoughts. I take Prozac for the depression but i feel like it is waning.

[@raphaelheuer6831]

I lived with this for a long time, and I thought I was going insane. But reading your story and other peoples story says word for word what I was going thru. I wish harm OCD on nobody. But it's somehow a relief to know that I'm not the only one

[@emilyl8711]

omg i would be terrified to either be you or be the person behind you

[@dr.nwokeocha3974]

That last part was so specific and familiar 😅

[@larrystowing7385]

I get tiny Harm OCD urges and if I act on them (like shaking the bed when someone is near) I feel so guilty and just hate myself

[@elarkdjd8377]

Do you sometimes get small harm urges and act on them?

[@birdlover6842]

I can relate. It's a terrible feeling.

[@Realhuman000]

@@aastha647don’t scare me bro although I’m not having harm ocd now but earlier I had that

[@amanjoshi4295]

I have same problem... what is this problem

[@ck-zo3yd]

Thank you so much. God bless you

[@Applejaxy]

God bless you

[@richymatthews1422]

Hiya i recently finished my OCD support group, i think the main things i learnt was about trying to tolerate the anxiety through not checking or seeking reassurance, mindfulness (leaves on a stream), trying to notice or observe thoughts, a little anti-OCD, generally trying to tolerate the anxiety through not seeking reassurance, and to try distance myself from my thoughts i aware on self reflection that i think im very emotionally sensitive, i think i can be triggered easily; though emotional detachment in its positive and compassionate sense helps me cope, though being sensitive can make coping with OCD thoughts harder at times, possibly i think i may care to much i not sure, OCD seems to attack what i care about i think at times i have are violent thoughts and they feel so real, i think i react emotionally and over-emotionally at times to them because they feel so real and upsetting, and thoughts can make it difficult to tell what is and what isnt real, i also get thoughts (little like tourettes) where i feel i want to blurt out obscenities, or feel i want to write down obscenities, though i try resist, it can feel very tiring at times i think i still really struggle with being able to accept reassurance at times, esp when i feel anxious i think what reinforces OCD, or makes it worse, is something bad could happen and i could not tolerate it if it did in my mind i think i was wondering (hope this doesn't sound a silly Q), how would i try disengage with the violent thoughts and thoughts i want to blurt out/write down obscenities? would emotional detachment in a compassionate sense and mindfulness help possible, or roll my eyes at myself, when i noticing i having a upsetting thought could i try saying something like to myself "im noticing im having a thought that eg i blurted out the word "f**k" if possible or "im noticing i had a thought that i knocked over a computer screen", to try to distance myself from the thoughts even if they feel real? when my mind wont accept reassurance, could i try in the very nicest way "purposely not worry", walk away or not seek reassurance even from myself (even if it feel very hard to do)? kind regards thanx richy :)

[@johnnylittle22]

I don’t want to die at all but I get this intense sense of anxiety when my brain creates images of me dying and I can’t stop thinking about it does anyone have any suggestions

[@cazino23]

How are you doing? You got this! Same theme here, if you need to talk, I'm here!

[@soundslikeaguineapig9859]

I have acted on harmless thoughts in my teens before I got harm OCD in my 30s, making me think I am more likely to act on the harm thoughts I have today bc of that, that I will do it just to get the thoughts out of my head… it’s the worst, most anxiety inducing feeling in the world…

[@elarkdjd8377]

Hi. How are you? I had some harmless intrusive thought and I acted on it to "check" or I dont knw what purpose for. But now it haunts me; if I did that maybe I was able or Im able to act on much worse intrussive thoughts? Is this stil OCD?

[@aastha647]

@@elarkdjd8377 hi I keep seeing ur comments, please don’t worry I know exactly what u mean and I’ve spoken to others too.

[@aastha647]

@@elarkdjd8377 100% is ocd textbook everything is fine u did nothing wrong

[@Realhuman000]

I am 16 and i suddenly developed harm ocd 1 month ago and the themes keep on fluctuating my first ever theme was of religious ocd and my second was of fear of death and then harm and then morality and now again harm

[@raghavnamasivayam8706]

​@MehakpreetKaur-nx1xb well how are you good

[@LuciferzLittleHelper]

Why did I get a overcome OCD ad-

[@Realhuman000]

You overcame ocd?

[@LuciferzLittleHelper]

@@Realhuman000 no I just got an ad for it I dont have OCD myself

[@idspiel]

Hi i made my first step here. can anyone out there help me.. This thoughts of hurting or killing people or become rampage over and over again and my chest is heavy and anxiety kicks in.. what should i do Please help. thank you

[@charlotterose7374]

I actually have acted on my thoughts, cause the urges would become overwhelmingly intense, that I have hurt previous partners, I hate myself for it and I give props to people who wanna stick around and work through them with me

[@oliverread1060]

Don't worry you're not alone. I've done bad things too, so many have. Good and bad doesn't exist only people. OCD distorts this. I'm still struggling, hope you're alright!

[@2001daedae]

Is it still ocd if you act out or have acted out on them?

[@josephinekalid8054]

What??? You acted on ur thoughts?

[@Realhuman000]

@@josephinekalid8054i also have harm ocd but I never acted on my urge but this comment is giving me more anxiety maybe this person have ocd and alien hand syndrome both

[@josephinekalid8054]

@@Realhuman000 how are you doing now??

[@exposinginsanity]

yes...they do

[@sv.crypto5435]

lol seems mean... but I get your point from a third party perspective...

[@truthspeaker8863]

I'm dating a guy that just told me he had these thoughts. I'm so afraid. Every time I'm with him I assume he's thinking about killing or beatng me. I'm afraid to have babies with this man because I know he will struggle with these thoughts with our children. sigghhhhh I also have my own severe issues so I feel compelled to stick it out with him because I know my issues that he doesn't yet know about are no walk in the park either

[@chelzyramirez3663]

Do these thoughts bother him? Because if they do these thoughts are intrusive and do not mean anything about his character or morals. He may have pure ocd which are intrusive thoughts followed my mental compulsions trying to reassure himself in his mind. Everyone has these thoughts but not everyone obsessed about them

[@user-hx7mi7ml8u]

I think you should reassess your relationship with him. Not that he’d do anything because he has OCD and those are the symptoms. But, maybe he should have kept that issue to himself until he got to know you REALLY well. I hope he sounded disgusted with his issue and not like “oh well, what’s the big deal.”

[@mikeyerian2562]

This isn't that helpful. If your harm OCD involves specific people, testing them in front of a train will do nothing.

[@gjianaisaac2281]

I need to act on my urges, the only thing stopping me is my mum. She’s the only thing I’m scared of. I’m not scared of police, judgement from the public, nothing. Just my mum. But man, that feeling I get when I start to act on my thoughts, is one of the best feelings in the world.

[@rositsastavreva9145]

What kind of thoughts you have ?

[@fionaberg4997]

You don’t have ocd bro u genuinely enjoy hurting others u probably have some type of psychopathic personality

[@vixromanov]

Then you don't have OCD

[@Ashleyyyy_xx]

Eww, psycho

[@Ashleyyyy_xx]

Why has no one noticed that this mental person is actually ACTING on his compulsions and liking it 😡😡

[@lucastostes9460]

If she had pushed you into the train you will Have become an advocate for why OCD Harm is so bad. But instead your little experiment worked and now here you are playing down a mental disorder you don't have. I would've pushed you