Obsessive, Intrusive, Magical Thinking: A Life Lived Obsessively

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Counting: People with magical thinking OCD may count to a specific number in their head or repeat certain phrases or words a specific number of times to themselves as a way of protecting themselves or others from potential harm. This may look like saying, “I love my mom,” three times every time a person hears any negative mention of a mother, whether in a book, movie, or conversation. The person may worry that something bad will happen to their mother if they don’t perform this ritual. Like all OCD subtypes, Magical Thinking can significantly affect people’s quality of life. While Magical Thinking OCD compulsions may start small, they typically will snowball over time. The ultimate motive of magical thinking compulsions is to prevent negative outcomes. The most common compulsions include: The current gold-standard treatment for the various types of OCD, including Magical Thinking OCD, is a form of Cognitive Behavior Therapy called Exposure and Response Prevention (E/RP). This treatment involves exposing oneself to the items, thoughts, images, and situations that trigger their obsessions and/or make them feel anxious so they can practice tolerating the anxiety without engaging in any compulsions. For instance, an individual with Magical Thinking OCD may benefit from purposely thinking a “bad thought” without neutralizing it with a “good thought.” E/RP helps individuals recognize that their OCD is lying to them and that they do not possess the ability to alter the course of future catastrophic events. Mindfulness can also be a great adjunct to E/RP as it can help individuals learn that thoughts are just thoughts and do not have power over them. Further, individuals with Magical Thinking OCD may consider speaking with a psychiatrist to determine if medications would be beneficial for them. Overall, it is important for individuals who are struggling with Magical Thinking OCD to seek treatment from providers who are knowledgeable about and experienced in treating OCD.

Having intrusive thoughts does not mean you have OCD, but if you find yourself trying to suppress these unwanted thoughts and fears with compulsions, this can be a sign of OCD. Magical thinking OCD compulsions may start small, but they can snowball over time. In more severe cases, magical thinking OCD can impede someone’s ability to function in their everyday life. These rituals can become incredibly time-consuming and lead a person to avoid situations, locations, or people as part of their compulsions. They can make it nearly impossible to perform sufficiently in assigned tasks or be attentive in social interactions.It is true that focusing your attention on positive vs negative things can shift your frame of mind and learning to be compassionate with yourself can benefit your mental health. However, the presence of negative thoughts themselves cannot directly influence the physical world. We can’t just think things into being. If that were true, horrible things like homelessness, cancer, and natural disasters would not exist. Since initially this technique is able to effectively assuage their obsessive content, they begin to believe, or at least to consider whether they have the ability to “cure” themselves of OCD. Examples for magical thinking OCD can be found among all four common obsession themes: Fear that failing to think or say certain words, phrase, sounds, or numbers a specific number of times will cause harm to oneself or others ERP exposes patients to situations related to their intrusive thoughts that cause them anxiety. The goal of this treatment is for the patient to prevent himself or herself from completing their compulsive behaviors when triggered by intrusive thoughts. The situations that are confronted will intensify over time, until the patient can face and overcome their most feared scenario. Once they are able to stop themselves from responding to their intrusive thoughts with compulsive behaviors, they can experience tremendous relief from the symptoms of OCD. In ERP, people work with a therapist to identify both external and internal triggers that cause them to stress and make them want to behave compulsively. ERP is designed to gradually reduce the anxiety that feeds the obsessions and compulsions through a process called habituation.

Magical Thinking OCD is a form of OCD in which people believe their thoughts, words, or actions can have real-life consequences.

They also carry them out to keep things safe, make sure that the thoughts do not come true, and make sure that something bad does not happen. Magical Thinking OCD compulsions tend to fall into one of these patterns: Overtime, you will see that nothing bad will happen (i.e., choking) when you do not perform the compulsion (i.e., counting), and your anxiety will decrease even without the compulsive response. Sources:

Counting to a specific number or performing a certain action a specific number of times (such as saying “I love my mom,” three times every time a person hears any negative mention of their mother) Contamination: Believing that excessive hand washing (or really any repeated response) can ward off any type of ailment.Choose an activity to do mindfully throughout the day, for one, two or five minutes. For example: Drink a cup of tea. Walk. Wash the dishes. https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/schizophrenia/for-friends-and-family/ Self help guide for OCD, using effective CBT strategies. Make sense of the problem, then learn how to make positive changes First things first: the opening chapter of this book was phenomenal. Marianne Eloise has a lighthearted, easily readable tone that is present all throughout the book and works really well when talking about mental health and neurodivergence. As a neurodivergent person myself, I found myself relating to the author a lot of the time - and when I didn't, her sense of humour and snide observations about the world around her made up for it. Compulsion: To reduce anxiety and prevent the feared event (the accident), they touch every doorknob in their house three times before going out.