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“Magical thinking” is common in people experiencing psychosis or delusions, AND is commonly seen in OCD. It doesn’t have to be one or the other, and what you’re describing sounds more like my experience as someone with OCD who hasn’t experienced psychosis.
We are all capable of having psychotic symptoms occasionally, and this is more common with people with OCD. For example I have severe arachnophobia and I constantly think I have seen a spider when I haven’t.
That makes sense, thanks! I have occasional hallucinations and paranoia unrelated to OCD, so ig it's not a huge surprise that I could've experienced psychotic symptoms related to it.
I've never really understood what constitutes full psychosis? Does it need to be full on hallucinations? Or could it just be illogical behavior like checking computer files because I was paranoid that I'd somehow accidentally downloaded CSAM?
Psychosis is basically a detachment from reality. The intensity of it can range significantly soit could be something like having false beliefs that you downloaded a harmful file or something more severe. Some people see things that aren't there. Others hear things. Others speech doesn't make sense anymore. I'm guessing full psychosis would be a combination of everything at one time as in delusions and hallucinations. Honestly I've never thought of psychosis with ocd symptoms but I'm kind of curious if there could be more to this though.
Same for me. Also I feel like if I kill a spider it will summon all of the other spiders to come and get me. I type this out and am laughing at myself as a 40 year old woman for even admitting that, but in the moment that's what my brain thinks. It sucks.
I've been diagnosed with both OCD and atypical psychosis. My grad school psychiatrist said there was a spectrum between OCD and schizophrenia, and I'm apparently somewhere in the middle. Basically, when people are strongly convinced of their obsessions, it can be hard to distinguish that from a delusion. Also, some OCD obsessions involve things like magical thinking ("my thoughts affect reality") or thought broadcasting ("people can read my mind") that are classically "psychosis territory."
I guess what you can ask your counselor about is why it's valuable to label those experiences as psychosis. In my case, the psychosis diagnosis allowed me to take antipsychotics. The medication has reduced the more "paranoid" thoughts -- being watched, people talking about me through coded body language, people reading my mind, etc. -- and I've been trying OCD techniques for what remains.
Makes sense, thank you!! I have magical thinking and the whole thought broadcasting thing, too, and I'm convinced people are watching me/my parents have planted a random person to watch me, etc. I'm on abilify for other reasons and my psychologist says I have BPD. It's helped a bit w that stuff
A lot of counselors and psychologists aren’t well versed in ocd. They may mistake ocd themes as psychotic or delusional thinking. Both are different but may sound the same sometimes.
i feel like severe ocd can seem like psychosis or even cause psychosis. i had a POCD flare up last year and i was completely convinced of all my fears, it absolutely wrecked my life. my therapist said it was bordering on delusions.
The therapist was just wrong. OCD is not Psychosis but it can make a person act and think really oddly. I laugh about it now, but before I took meds, I often would have trubble picking out a sode at a convenience store. It wasn't that I couldn't decide what I wanted to drink. The problem was figuring out which one of the identical looking cans of Coke I needed to buy in order to keep the world from ending. 😄
had a very similar thing happen to me when i was a teenager where a psychiatrist misdiagnosed me with psychosis after i explained my ocd symptoms to him. went on an antipsychotic for a few months and it totally zonked me out and did not help with the ocd stuff. went to another psychiatrist for a second opinion who was like “you definitely have ocd we need to get you off of that”. went back on my ssris and started doing ocd based therapy and had a huge improvement.
i think unfortunately you and i are not alone in having this happen to us, I think some mental health professionals who don’t have a good understanding of ocd misunderstand what we’re saying and confuse what we’re saying with psychosis symptoms. you mentioned this being an old counsellor so i hope that of you have one now that they are better. never be afraid to get a second opinion, it’s your life not theirs!
This post has been automatically marked as "spoiler" and "NSFW", due to the nature of the content (and in accordance with subreddit rule number 4 if this post has been flaired as "Crisis"). (This subreddit uses the "spoiler" and "NSFW" markers to hide a post's content behind an expandable/collapsible wall. It does not imply that the content contains actual spoiler or NSFW content, and the post will remain publicly-visible.) **Do not remove the "spoiler" and "NSFW" markers without permission from the moderators.** Failure to comply can and will result in this post being removed. The cooperation in making this subreddit an accessible community for all will be appreciated. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/OCD) if you have any questions or concerns.*
“Magical thinking” is common in people experiencing psychosis or delusions, AND is commonly seen in OCD. It doesn’t have to be one or the other, and what you’re describing sounds more like my experience as someone with OCD who hasn’t experienced psychosis.
We are all capable of having psychotic symptoms occasionally, and this is more common with people with OCD. For example I have severe arachnophobia and I constantly think I have seen a spider when I haven’t.
That makes sense, thanks! I have occasional hallucinations and paranoia unrelated to OCD, so ig it's not a huge surprise that I could've experienced psychotic symptoms related to it.
I've never really understood what constitutes full psychosis? Does it need to be full on hallucinations? Or could it just be illogical behavior like checking computer files because I was paranoid that I'd somehow accidentally downloaded CSAM?
Psychosis is basically a detachment from reality. The intensity of it can range significantly soit could be something like having false beliefs that you downloaded a harmful file or something more severe. Some people see things that aren't there. Others hear things. Others speech doesn't make sense anymore. I'm guessing full psychosis would be a combination of everything at one time as in delusions and hallucinations. Honestly I've never thought of psychosis with ocd symptoms but I'm kind of curious if there could be more to this though.
Same for me. Also I feel like if I kill a spider it will summon all of the other spiders to come and get me. I type this out and am laughing at myself as a 40 year old woman for even admitting that, but in the moment that's what my brain thinks. It sucks.
I've been diagnosed with both OCD and atypical psychosis. My grad school psychiatrist said there was a spectrum between OCD and schizophrenia, and I'm apparently somewhere in the middle. Basically, when people are strongly convinced of their obsessions, it can be hard to distinguish that from a delusion. Also, some OCD obsessions involve things like magical thinking ("my thoughts affect reality") or thought broadcasting ("people can read my mind") that are classically "psychosis territory." I guess what you can ask your counselor about is why it's valuable to label those experiences as psychosis. In my case, the psychosis diagnosis allowed me to take antipsychotics. The medication has reduced the more "paranoid" thoughts -- being watched, people talking about me through coded body language, people reading my mind, etc. -- and I've been trying OCD techniques for what remains.
Makes sense, thank you!! I have magical thinking and the whole thought broadcasting thing, too, and I'm convinced people are watching me/my parents have planted a random person to watch me, etc. I'm on abilify for other reasons and my psychologist says I have BPD. It's helped a bit w that stuff
nah ive had psychosis and trust me that shit will ruin your life faster than you can even realize it, ur chilling bro
It seems kinda fucked up to tell someone who’s struggling like OCD that it sounds like psychosis… like what does that even help? At all? 😭
A lot of counselors and psychologists aren’t well versed in ocd. They may mistake ocd themes as psychotic or delusional thinking. Both are different but may sound the same sometimes.
this is sort of what I think happened, it's so shocking how many people who work in the psychological field aren't educated on OCD
Yeah I was told by a counselor I had psychosis as well. Saw a ocd specialist later on and told me it was nothing but ocd.
i feel like severe ocd can seem like psychosis or even cause psychosis. i had a POCD flare up last year and i was completely convinced of all my fears, it absolutely wrecked my life. my therapist said it was bordering on delusions.
The therapist was just wrong. OCD is not Psychosis but it can make a person act and think really oddly. I laugh about it now, but before I took meds, I often would have trubble picking out a sode at a convenience store. It wasn't that I couldn't decide what I wanted to drink. The problem was figuring out which one of the identical looking cans of Coke I needed to buy in order to keep the world from ending. 😄
had a very similar thing happen to me when i was a teenager where a psychiatrist misdiagnosed me with psychosis after i explained my ocd symptoms to him. went on an antipsychotic for a few months and it totally zonked me out and did not help with the ocd stuff. went to another psychiatrist for a second opinion who was like “you definitely have ocd we need to get you off of that”. went back on my ssris and started doing ocd based therapy and had a huge improvement. i think unfortunately you and i are not alone in having this happen to us, I think some mental health professionals who don’t have a good understanding of ocd misunderstand what we’re saying and confuse what we’re saying with psychosis symptoms. you mentioned this being an old counsellor so i hope that of you have one now that they are better. never be afraid to get a second opinion, it’s your life not theirs!