A super short one this week to highlight something important everyone suffering with OCD should know.  If you’ve had OCD for a while you’re probably already aware of it’s ego-dystonic nature but if not, it can be enlightening to understand what this means.

What do we mean when we say something is ego dystonic?

Ego-dystonic means: against the self or being inconsistent with one’s true beliefs and personality.

When it comes to OCD we can say that the obsessions – unwanted, and intrusive thoughts, urges, or images – are ego dystonic, as they directly contradict a person’s values, desires, and self-image.

In fact, someone with OCD will find the obsession so repugnant in nature that they often lead to the compulsive behaviours we see in OCD – which are an attempt to ‘neutralize’ the anxiety caused – despite the fact we often recognise the compulsion as unreasonable. 

A couple of examples of ego-dystonic content could be:

Harm OCD – A caring person having unwanted, persistent thoughts of harming someone.

Or

Contamination OCD – A clean and tidy person worrying that they’ll spread a disease or infection to someone they love.

As with intrusive thoughts, everyone will experience ego-dystonic thoughts at times.  The difference being that someone without OCD can immediately recognize the thought as untrue, and move on with their day.

When it comes to OCD however this is where the ‘glitch’ or ‘faulty signal’ in the system seems to trip us up. For whatever reason we get stuck worrying that the thought might mean something – it doesn’t, but by giving the thought time, the brain starts to see it as significant and so we can see where the OCD spiral into fight or flight begins.

In conclusion it’s our job to notice these thoughts when they come in for what they are – ego-dystonic – and let them go, taking the fact we find them so distressing as our sign that it’s OCD at play and nothing more. 

I really hope this one helps, it’s one I often have to remind myself of, but it’s always really helpful when I do.

Remember you are not alone,
As always, Stay Strong xxx