That’s what OCD is. According to my psychologist, everyone has some.
I’m recalling vaguely something about a “perverse imp”.
Of course I do. My second-favourite hobby is threatening to skullfuck people into oblivion.
I still do, but not as bad as in years past when some horrific news story or some kind of ‘bad thought’ would loop around in my head till I was half crazed and cold-calling psychiatrists for an estimate. Now it’s died down to the mundane. ‘Earworm’ tune caught in head for one, and the occasional loud persistent voice telling me : “go get an ice cream out of the freezer” repeated non-stop till, dammit, I just have to go get an ice cream to shut it up!
Never had such thoughts, but now that I know they exist, I probably will.
Wait, was that an intrusive thought? :smack: The curse of this website: You learn too much!
Ever since I had my son I periodically get horrible thoughts about bad things happening to him.
Yes, extremely so. I have OCD and it’s awful.
I had PPD and had intrusive thoughts of causing injury to my baby. It’s hard to describe if you’ve never experienced it. I don’t think the use of “urge” or “impulse” in the article is accurate, at least in my case. It was like my brain was trying to graphically catalog all the ways I was capable of hurting my baby, in order to guard against doing those things. I never had any actual desire to do them, only the thought, "Oh no, what if I . . . "
I still have anxiety issues, and have what could be classed intrusive thoughts about harm coming to my children. Like I’ll notice that my 7yo was sloppy about looking both ways, and I’ll imagine the scenario of her being hit by a car, with a compulsion to fill in all the horrible details, the aftermath, whether she died or was disabled, etc.
I also occasionally have thoughts like, “I have to get into the car before the garage door opens all the way,” with a feeling like doom will descend in some vague way if I don’t.
Both of the latter types of thought I can eventually recognize and most of the time I can cut off and just deal with the discomfort of not giving in to them, which then makes them less frequent (i.e. self-administered exposure therapy).
(When I type all this out, it looks way crazier than it feels!)
Not as described in the wikipedia link. I have earworms, sure. But I don’t recall violent, sexually deviant or “religious blasphemy” ideas knocking around my noggin. (Of course, many of my religious ideas would be considered blasphemous by other religions, but they’re pretty mundane for mine.)
I did have an anxiety disorder at one time, and I did/do have some issues with clinical depression, but the thoughts that come up with those are pretty realistic and related to actual stressors in my lif, not irrational or incorrect. Thoughts that keep you awake at night because you’re worried you can’t pay rent may be intrusive, but if you really can’t pay rent, they’re not inappropriate, are they?
You mean like, “Kill them! Kill them all!” Yes.
But only in our Diplomacy games. 
I’m assuming it’s part of my anxiety disorder, but it’s not aggressive thoughts; it’s horrors, like thinking the bridge I’m about to drive over will crumble while I’m on it, and actually seeing it in my mind while trying to drive. I can feel the terror of the descent. Only briefly if I’m able to collect myself quickly, otherwise I’ll end up pulling over for a full-blown panic attack. This rarely happens, not to this extent that I can’t push it away but I am still constantly having those thoughts. Well not constantly but when I had to log them one day it was around twenty a day. So one terrifying distracting intrusive thought about some personal horror every waking hour.
I have always assumed it was due to my panic/anxiety disorders. They are usually more like visions for me.
Example: a moment before walking down the stairs, I see myself turning my ankle and falling all the way down. I can feel it in my ankle which will actually ache for a minute or two.
Used to entertain thoughts about throwing myself off of tall buildings, and such.
Thanks to my cultivation of quasi-Buddhist mindfulness and discipline etc., I don’t have such thoughts anymore.
I voted “severe” but I think it’s really closer to “moderate”, which was missing from the choices.
I have repetitive thoughts. Unless most people who have intrusive thoughts, they are without meaning. They are nonsensical phrases that just loop around and around. During the day, they rarely make it to the forefront of my mind. When they do, it’s really really bad. Usually, though, they make their appearance at night when I’m about to go to bed and I don’t have any distractions. Because I take medication that knocks me out fairly quickly, they don’t bother me. But their presence serves to remind me why I’m taking medication.
The content of the thoughts used to bother me because it was so off the wall, but now I’m just bothered by the painful pressure they exert in my mind. They keep me from concentrating well, and I just feel sick when they get really “loud.”
To keep them at a bay, I keep myself busy. No down time for me. I’m doing yoga, which I enjoy, but I struggle to clear my mind.
I guess so, but since I don’t care if I have them and they don’t bother me, I’m not sure “intrusive” really describes it. I have “thoughts.”
And here I thought I was the only one! Then I assume your favorite hobby is knitting?
ETA: I’m with Rushgeekgirl… it’s irrational morbid horrors that can blindside my thinking sometimes, only rarely has it spiraled into full-blown anxiety or depression.
Quite often. Multiple times daily, some weeks are worse than others. Nights are the worst. Recently my sister was cheated on by/subsequently broke up with her girlfriend. My brain fixated on the idea that she would commit suicide, and graphically detailed the possible ways she would be found dead. My brain will often think back to the sexual abuse I suffered as a kid, and won’t let me stop dwelling on it. When the security guard here at work wrote a letter to my supervisor because I smoked on the wrong side of the building after a policy change, my brain kept playing a movie about how her brains would look like splattered on the wall after a gunshot wound to the head. And I’ve had recurring thoughts and nightmares about methods of killing myself.
I would never kill myself or anyone else, but my brain won’t stop going there.
If you’re interested in understanding the nature of intrusive thoughts and their manifestation and calming I’d highly recommend you read some Buddhist writings. There is a lot to learn on this front and the Buddhist’s are way out front as they have spent centuries delving into the nature of mind/thought.
Just a suggestion, hoping not to offend your Christian devotion.
Apparently, my “intrusive” thoughts have taken over, to the point where they are my only thoughts.