Hello, I just wanted to point out some misconceptions I have seen in relation to OCD and how it can affect doubts people how around their sexuality. 1. Although specialists and psychiatry bodies encourage people not to use the acronym HOCD this should not be taken as an excuse to discredit it. The reason that OCD UK discourages the use of the acronym is "thinking of the illness to be something other than Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) may also hinder progress in understanding and tackling the illness". It does exist. 2. OCD does not necessarily involve external compulsions. Again according OCD UK - "Commonly referred to as ‘Pure O’ by the OCD community, ‘Pure O’ is a form of OCD where people mistakenly believe that it differs from traditional OCD, in that it features no outward compulsive manifestations; instead, the anxiety-inducing obsessions take place only in the mind. However, a person with ‘Pure O’ will still have compulsions which mainly manifest as unseen mental rituals, and they will usually also engage in compulsive behaviours like seeking reassurance from loved ones, and avoidance of particular objects, places or people. They are compulsions, nonetheless, which is why the term ‘Pure O’ is somewhat imprecise." These fears can relate to a range of obsessions of which becoming gay is one. 3. People can have OCD on that focuses on one topic only. The issue for lots of people on here is the obsessive nature they give their worries about their sexuality. That is not to say they are not bi or gay. Remember that OCD affects up to 1 in 50 people and studies from Stanford University estimate that 25% of OCD sufferers are sexual in content. The problem with OCD is that if a sufferer gets past one phase it is likely that another will.
I wouldn't say its controversial, but rather it's being used incorrectly. As soon as someone has an obsession (or if they think they have obsessions) over their sexuality, they think it's HOCD when it probably isn't. It's more likely for someone to experience HOCD if they've been diagnosed with OCD in general, then you can break it down to its specifics (HOCD for example).
I have OCD but I haven't had obsessions about my sexuality. Jax12 is right I think, it sounds more like HOCD would be a focus of the obsessions, like I have them about food and things being "just right," and i have intrusive, repetitive thoughts. I wonder if the treatment is the same though. I do CBT therapy and take prozac and risperidal. I would imagine the treatment would be very similar to the treatment for all OCD. A bit of exposure therapy, a lot of reworking thought patterns.
That's right kataracts. Treatment is CBT focused and focuses on removing the unhelpful behaviours such as checking for arousal and looking for reassurance. The main thing goal is to remove the anxiety around the subject and this allows people to see things clearly.
The issue isn't whether or not OCD exists. It does. And obsessive thoughts about whether or not one is gay can be an obsession that people with OCD experience. Nobody credible disputes that. However, it is really rare for someone with OCD to have *only* an obsession on sexual orientation and no other symptoms consistent with OCD. For those who have an obsession with sexual orientation, and no other symptoms, they are likely not suffering from OCD.
Really? Do you have any evidence for that? There is a study titled frequency of religious themes in OCD which finds that 40% of OCD sufferers suffer from individual themes. I refer to another study by Amin A Muhammad in the journal of Pakistan medical association which states that 50% of OCD cases occur under 25. In addition here is an article about a man who spent his entire life worrying about having HIV - The nightmare of living with OCD | Life and style | The Guardian What you are saying is not correct. You need to be careful as you are advising people about major life decisions.
Whilst studies and commentaries are useful in helping us to further understand OCD and how it affects individuals and groups, they do not, in themselves, amount to a full body of widely accepted evidence. OCD is a real and serious issue - nobody here denies that, but so is self acceptance amongst LGBTQ people and we shouldn't convolute the two issues. So often we see people indulge in life limiting self diagnoses at the expense of self acceptance and it's a matter of great concern to us. It's not just opinion, it's something we have clearly seen many times over. As a matter of fact we do take care in advising people on these issues, but it's very clear that some people are not bothering to properly read our comments and are going off 'half-cocked' with circling comments on this subject.
You're completely misreading and mischaracterizing that study. The researchers were looking at religious themes among a deeply religious population (Muslims in a Muslim country.) There were multiple obsessive and compulsive behaviors, even among the 40% you list above. Additionally, the study is looking at whether a religious background is likely to influence the development of OCD, and there is a major confound given that we know, pretty well, what the cause of OCD is... it's a dysfunction of the same neurotransmitter pathway that gives rise to anxiety disorders and certain types of addictions, and the causal factors appear to be very highly correlated to early infancy bonding issues between mother and child. There are a lot of potentially confounding factors that could affect the meta-factors that impact early childhood bonding among mothers in Pakistan 20+ years ago. Additionally, among the diagnostic criteria that the DSM-V provides is the specific critaria that most OCD suffers have both obsessions and complusions, and that symptoms most commonly appear across more than one dimension or theme (typical themes include cleaning, symmetry, forbidden or taboo thoughts, and other things. Another diagnostic criteria of OCD is that there is not another disorder that fits better. Finally, the man who spent his entire life worrying about HIV does, according to the article, exhibit multiple obsessions and compulsions. The HIV may form an overarching theme that ties together the behaviors, but the separate behaviors are all there. As for Dr. Mohammed's study, the age of onset of OCD is widely recognized to commonly be in teens or 20s, and we also know, based on what we now know about the origin of the disease, that there are an increasing number of people at risk for it now, so the age factor isn't remotely surprising. Finally, the issue of OCD with a focus on homosexuality (commonly referred to as the nonexistent "HOCD") is a settled issue. Nobody credible believes it exists as a standalone disorder. I always find it somewhere between amusing and annoying when people get some idea in their head that goes against all of the data that anyone competent or knowledgeable can see in a second, and then cite one or two studies out of context, and misstate their findings, in order to justify their beliefs. You're more than welcome to hold your misguided beliefs; you're not welcome to try to disseminate them as fact. If that's your main purpose for being at EC, you're probably best finding some other community to share your thoughts.
There are literally hundreds of sources I could quote. You do not understand the condition. You have done enough research to validate your own point of view and something that has worked for you. 1. Ignoring the religious theme of the study it found the that 40% of OCD sufferers suffer from single themes with OCD. This completely discredits where you have said it is really rare for someone to have an obsessions about sexual orientation only. I would say this is broadly in agreement with what you have quoted from the DSM below as thoughts commonly appearing across more than one theme i.e. 60:40. 2. People with pure obsessional OCD perform mental rituals which are compulsions. e.g. watching gay porn, looking at males and females to see who they prefer. 3. HOCD is a abbreviation for OCD of a certain type. To argue that it doesn't exist is purely semantics and should not be used as an argument against the condition. I have said enough now. The fact that you do not want me saying these things on the forum shows that you only want one point of view on here. By not recognising this condition you are doing your members a disservice.
Actually, that isn't the case. I have no skin in the game. I'm not OCD, I don't obsess over my sexual orientation, and I'm not gay and in denial (the three basic groups to which most HOCD apologists belong.) I spend a lot of my time reading and studying a lot about psychological disorders, and while I'm certainly no expert on OCD, I understand it enough, and have studied the underlying neurotransmitter and biochemistry function to have some understanding of the basis for its origin and impact. And enough to know that your interpretation doesn't match commonly accepted thinking. I also think that if you actually read the DSM-V, you'd understand that themes and specific OCD-oriented behaviors aren't the same thing. Again, I refer back to the DSM and what I said above. Nobody credible identifies "locking doors OCD" or "washing hands OCD" or "not stepping on cracks OCD" as legitimate conditions. There is only OCD, and as the DSM says, OCD almost always has, as a differential diagnosis attribute, a combination of symptoms. Therefore, someone suffering from one of the above in absence of all others would not likely be classified as OCD absent other related symptoms. Likewise, there's no "homosexual OCD." That point is acknowledged by just about everyone on the planet who has any professional credibility. Given a choice between the professionals who work in the field and some random guy who seems to have joined EC simply to perpetuate his (wrong) interpretation of all of the existing literature, I'll choose the majority viewpoint, thanks. I really, really hope that's true. We'll see.
I would add onto what Patrick and Chip have said but I'm afraid I wouldn't be as articulate. They're both highly intelligent individuals, and I'd suggest at least hearing what they have to say about this.
There's not much that I can add on to what Chip has said beyond the fact that addiction is not OCD. If you watch lots of porn and it's a problem, that's an addiction. What's next? Drug OCD? Alcohol OCD?
