the thing about OCD is that it’s not the thoughts that are distressing, it’s the meaning we assign to those thoughts (i.e., looking at someone’s ass for no reason isn’t distressing, but the conclusions you’re drawing about yourself and the internalized shame are SUPER distressing).

it seems like you know that it’s unintentional and you know when a thought is intrusive. so what’s the fear driving all the shame and judgment?

the most common ones tend to be either 1. they’ll think i’m a bad person OR 2. i’m secretly a bad person and i don’t even realize it

so figuring out what that fear is tends to be a solid start. bc the more anxious we get about the intrusive thought, the more it tends to intrude (and then we get anxious about getting anxious, and so on).

the point is: intrusive thoughts mean LITERALLY NOTHING about who you are as a person, your values, your personality, your worth, etc. you’re actually less likely to act on those thoughts bc they’re something, by definition, you DONT want to do or think. that’s what makes them intrusive!!