Dear Visitor

This is the POCD subreddit for people suffering with a form of OCD called pedophilia-themed OCD (POCD). Before you jump to any conclusions, I ask that you please read the following thread to educate yourself a bit more about one of the top ten most debilitating disorders in the world. It is best to approach this thread from a place of understanding. Hostility should not and will not be tolerated. Thank you.

OCD often makes people fear the things that go against their core morals and values. They experience unwanted thoughts, images, or urges about these fears, which by definition are ego-dystonic (or against the sufferers values). They also often hold a lot of internal shame that then manifests into the disorder by convincing the sufferer the the shame means the thoughts must be real. Some people might think that the worst thing that they could become is a pedophile, which absolutely disgusts the person suffering. With that said, people with OCD can’t just let a thought that makes them uncomfortable go. Rather, they sit and think they need to find meaning in every thought they have.

An example is how people without OCD might have an intrusive thought like “what if I swerved my car off the road and hit that biker?”. Obviously we don’t actually want to do it, and we move on with our day without assigning any meaning to the thought. However, the person with OCD cannot let that thought go and begins to worry that they are a harmful person who wants to hit someone with their car.

All of this is to say that OCD brings people into very dark places, but those people are the least likely to act on any of those things because they fear that at such a core, interpersonal level. I’m glad you brought that one up though because it is the least talked about and makes people suffering live in dread and terror for too long.

Thank you for reading.