Hearing about murders on the news. - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Message Board

stargazer11180 · 06-08-2008, 12:37 PM

Hi everyone,

This is my first time posting. I was diagnosed with OCD a couple years ago.(intrusive thoughts mostly.)

I do really well for awhile, then BAM, something triggers it and I am back in the loop again.

What happens frequently is if I hear something horrific on the news, like that man who killed his twin daughters, I start thinking, my god, could I just snap like that? It scares the bejesus out of me, and I end up going around and around in my head with it. Things like, do I have any thing in common with this person? What if I have some unresolved issues with my mom and have not totally forgiven her for things from the past, and I snap one day.
Could I just one day lose all sense of reality and hurt someone?

I am like most people on here, very loving and compassionate, and wouldn't hurt anyone ever. I have read Brain Lock, so I try and remember the advice from that.

But I find myself constantly looking for some kind of assurance that I could never do something like that.

Is anyone effected this way by things they read in the news?

horrorshow · 06-08-2008, 05:34 PM

YES! the news is horrid...I try not to watch it. I know what you mean about the reassurance thing. I think I need to keep that under control or that will become a whole other part of my ocd. ...was brain lock pretty good? I've never read it.

worryworryworry · 06-27-2008, 07:31 AM

Hi there, strangely, I was talking to my mum last night about exactly the same thing. I was asking 'what if I flip and my mind takes over'?

She told me that a lot of murders committed by who you would imagine as 'decent' people are motivated by jealousy/ money and that unprovoked attacks are usually carried out by 'yobs' and to be honest, I feel a lot better now knowing this because I don't consider myself greedy and certainly don't see myself as a yob so I tell myself it's impossible

.

Whenever you get thoughts like this, whatever you do is that you must not read into them. Whatever you are doing at the time (eg. washing dishes), change to something different, something that's going to make you feel happy or make you laugh. Concentrate attentively on you are focusing on. It's all I can think of doing to be honest. Hope this helps!

Oh, and do not watch the news, I warn you lol. I'm coping a bit better now that I don't watch it or read about it.

Bam23 · 06-27-2008, 07:50 AM

Hi Stargazer,

I find it amazing how 2 years ago I thought I was MAD when having the same problems and was even embarassed to tell anyone cause I was afraid of their reaction... you are not alone!!!! I have never been diagnosed with OCD however my understanding was I was suffering with anxiety/panic attacks - basically if one thing wasnt worrying me, believe me I would find something just as good to worry me even more !! For example the news.. Again I could imagine myself loosing control and even coming up with fake plans of what could happen because my understaniding was firstly..Im not mad so therefore why would I do that, my mind would jump to the next part thinking well, maybe I am a little mad ... then I would re-assure myself by thinking only mad people do things like that, Im not mad to why would I? people like that have major problems and I dont and anyway you would need a plan etc so there is no way I would do something like that , then within seconds I would have intrusive thoughts and be convinced I have a plan,. its a VICIOUS VICIOUS circle..... Im completely ok now thank god ... what I did was the minute anything which was going to trigger this comes on I would get up and do something, walk away, change the channel.... basically my understanding is you need to train your mind which can take a while but 8 months on and Im all better !! I can watch the news... I can lead a normal life, the odd time I feel the panic coming back and what reassures me is that if I can figure what has triggered it then Im ok...its the not being in control of knowing what triggered it is what gets me....

Sorry I hope this might help you even a little cause I know its a lonely, scary frame of mind to be in!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by stargazer11180

Hi everyone,

This is my first time posting. I was diagnosed with OCD a couple years ago.(intrusive thoughts mostly.)

I do really well for awhile, then BAM, something triggers it and I am back in the loop again.

What happens frequently is if I hear something horrific on the news, like that man who killed his twin daughters, I start thinking, my god, could I just snap like that? It scares the bejesus out of me, and I end up going around and around in my head with it. Things like, do I have any thing in common with this person? What if I have some unresolved issues with my mom and have not totally forgiven her for things from the past, and I snap one day.
Could I just one day lose all sense of reality and hurt someone?

I am like most people on here, very loving and compassionate, and wouldn't hurt anyone ever. I have read Brain Lock, so I try and remember the advice from that.

But I find myself constantly looking for some kind of assurance that I could never do something like that.

Is anyone effected this way by things they read in the news?