More Real OCD Questions from Reddit — A Therapist Answers

QUESTION #1

"Do people with OCD tend to have high IQs?"

Someone made the observation that every person they'd met with OCD seemed to be highly intelligent — always in their head, analyzing everything. And honestly? I can't argue with the pattern.

The people I see come through my office are some of the smartest people I've ever met. A lot of them end up as engineers. Problem-solving, problem-solving, problem-solving — interesting that a brain wired to constantly analyze everything would gravitate toward a field that rewards exactly that.

QUESTION #2

"I feel like my friend is dirty — their aura gives me the creeps"

The full post was about a friend who seemed to mirror other people's mental health diagnoses — and now claiming to have the same OCD diagnosis. It was giving this person a sense of violation and disgust.

My first read: this could be emotional contamination OCD. The idea that associating with someone "creepy" or "dirty" somehow makes you contaminated too. Just thinking about them, saying their name, seeing their picture — it all triggers that feeling of being tainted by association.

QUESTION #3

"I feel like I'm not disgusted enough at my intrusive thoughts"

This one I see constantly. The person has OCD, gets intrusive thoughts, and then starts worrying that they're not disgusted enough by them — because if they were truly a good person, shouldn't they be more horrified?

That's seeking evidence. It's a compulsion. The level of disgust becomes another thing to monitor and analyze, another way to try to verify you're okay.

You don't need to feel disgusted by your thoughts. A thought can exist without you reacting to it at all. We're not going to figure out whether the amount of disgust you feel means something about your character — because you're not going to get a satisfying answer either way.

QUESTION #4

"Nobody can convince me I'm a good person. I fear everyone will eventually see how terrible I really am."

Classic real event OCD combined with false memory OCD — taking actual mistakes from the past and then asking "but did it fully happen that way? What were my real feelings? Did I ruin their life?" The loop just keeps going.

Here's the thing: nobody is going to convince you that you're a good person. And I'm not going to try. Because even if I did, would you believe it? Probably not — and that's the point. OCD doesn't respond to evidence.

What matters is: what are you doing now? Think about everyone you know — do you know every mistake they've ever made? No. You see them for who they are right now. Let the past stay in the past.

QUESTION #5

"Does anyone else feel a sense of impending doom they can't pinpoint?"

Yes. That feeling personally — I get it. Waking up at 3 a.m., heart racing, anxious, but no idea why. The brain says: there could possibly be a problem. I don't know what it is yet. Let me put you on high alert.

And then what keeps it going is the attempt to problem-solve it. You start scanning all the what-ifs until you can pin it on something — and then temporarily feel better. But the pinning is the compulsion.

QUESTION #6

"If the disorder isn't my fault, how come I'm the one who has to fix it?"

That's a genuinely fair question. And it does feel unfair — because it is.

But here's the perspective that actually helps: we all face things in life that aren't our fault that we still have to deal with. That's just how life works. You didn't ask for OCD. You didn't cause it. And you're still the only one who can do the work to recover from it.

You can sit in the mindset of this isn't fair, so I shouldn't have to do anything — and stay stuck. Or you can say: this isn't my fault, and it's still my job to take care of it.