Managing OCD's Fear of Someone Reading Your Intrusive Thoughts

Hey everyone! Welcome back to the channel. What if people knew the thoughts you’re having? Would they think differently of you? It’s quite common for those who struggle with OCD to fear that someone could read or know their intrusive thoughts. In fact, they themselves put their own judgment on these thoughts, thinking, “I can’t believe I had this thought. I’m such a fraud.”

In this post, we’re going to be talking about these fears, how to retrain the brain, and how to give yourself more grace for having a thought. I’m wondering if you’ve had any of the thoughts I’m about to talk about.

The Fear of Intrusive Thoughts Being Exposed

This fear can make you feel isolated and anxious.

Do you know what an intrusive thought is? Intrusive thoughts are unwanted thoughts that pop into your mind, often causing distress. They can be about anything: harming someone, sexual content, or even blasphemous thoughts. When you have OCD, these thoughts feel incredibly significant, and you might worry that if someone knew about them, they would think less of you or even think you’re a bad person. This fear can be so intense that you start to believe others can actually hear your thoughts.

Common Obsessions Related to This Fear

• “Did that person hear my thoughts?”
• “What if my spouse/friend/co-worker can read my mind?”
• “What if someone judges me because they know my thoughts?”
• “Everyone thinks I’m such a good person, but they don’t know what’s in my head.”

These obsessions can be triggered by various situations, such as being in social settings, making eye contact with someone after having an intrusive thought, or during conversations.

Is It OCD or Something Else?

You might wonder if this fear is OCD, anxiety, or something more serious like schizophrenia. People with OCD typically have a level of insight, knowing their fears are irrational but still feeling immense anxiety.

Compulsions That Come with This Fear

Let’s talk about the compulsions that come with this fear. These are actions you might take to feel better or to prevent something bad from happening:

• Asking people if they heard your thoughts
• Mentally reviewing past interactions, replaying facial expressions and tones of voice
• Checking someone’s facial expressions to see if they reacted to your thoughts
• Replacing “bad” thoughts with “good” thoughts
• Praying for forgiveness

Combating This Fear with Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) Therapy

So, how do we combat this fear? The answer lies in Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) therapy. ERP is all about facing your fears and resisting the urge to perform compulsions. Over time, this reduces your anxiety and helps you manage your OCD.

Examples of ERP for This Fear

• Have a conversation without seeking reassurance about your intrusive thoughts.
• Smile every time an intrusive thought comes in and develop a catchphrase, like, “Totally love this thought. Thanks for being here.”
• Say, “They may or may not be able to read my mind,” and sit with the uncertainty.
• Walk around people and say in your mind, “I hope you can read my mind.”
• Have a staring contest with someone and beg for them to know what you're thinking.
• Set timers throughout the day, sit in silence, welcome thoughts. If intrusive thoughts happen – cool. If they don’t – cool. Practice not putting judgment on a thought; it’s not good or bad.

Remember, the goal of ERP is to reduce your reliance on compulsions and learn to live with uncertainty. It’s challenging, but with practice, you’ll find that your anxiety decreases and you gain more confidence in handling these fears.

Breaking the Cycle of Judgment

People have often told me, “But if I accept my intrusive thoughts, I’m really that ‘bad’ person. I’m really a ‘fraud.’” Is that how it works? Right now, I’m purposely going to think about how I’m a cloud. In fact, I’ll do it hundreds of times a day. Does that make me a cloud? No matter how I think of it, what matters is how I’m living my life and the decisions I’m making. It’s not based on a random firing in my brain coming up with a thought that I’ve deemed important.

We’re taking this importance away by doing these exposures. Go live life. Here’s what I need you to know:

• Intrusive thoughts are a common part of OCD, and the fear of someone reading your mind is one of many themes.
• Compulsions might provide temporary relief, but they reinforce the OCD cycle.
• ERP therapy is an effective way to manage and reduce this fear.

Conclusion

If you’re not sure where to start, a trained professional is a good place. If that’s not an option, I’ve taken all my knowledge and packaged it for you in my step-by-step “Master Your OCD” online program. I’ll link that down below.

Thanks for reading! Stay strong, stay hopeful, and keep pushing forward. I’ll see you in the next post!