I suffer from sexually intrusive thoughts, racists thoughts, and I am not racist, but it's to the point where I have auditory hallucinations about certain things and I know its because I hate racism and stuff it makes my mind think about it more because I don't WANT to think about it. This is the way OCD/Intrusive Thoughts work....what you don't want to think about the most you have a hard time keeping out of your mind, and if you TRY to suppress thoughts it actually can make them worse and reoccurring.

This is my experience with it.

Hi, I believe Pure O is a misnomer because the compulsions are there they are just not easy to identify at first. I have "responsibility" OCD and I thought it was Pure O but I was actually doing compulsions. I worried that I could cause someone to harm themselves because I wasn't nice enough or didn't look happy enough to see them..weird obsessions like that. I didn't realize that constantly monitoring my facial expressions and replaying the conversations I'd had throughout the day were the compulsions associated with the obsessions. I would call people to make sure they were still alive and I didn't cause them to commit suicide.
You talk about how fighting the thoughts just makes OCD worse which is so true. What are you doing to fight the thoughts...these may actually be the mental compulsions. Also you mentioned auditory hallucinations....OCD doesn't cause auditory hallucinations. Do you have another issue besides Ocd?

I am so glad that you brought this up. I was actually just considering writing a similar post, but hadn't gotten up the courage. I also suffer from several different intrusive thoughts, some morbid (I constantly imagine my significant other being hit by a car), some very uncomfortable (particularly sexually intrusive thoughts), but the absolute worst are the intrusive racist thoughts. I live in a very diverse area, and constantly have the most awful stereotypical thoughts about others, and am immediately panicked and upset because I truly do not believe them or feel that way. I have been in a relationship with a man who is a racial minority for many years, which makes me feel even worse. I constantly question myself and why these thoughts are happening, and feel like the worst person alive. I have been avoiding bringing this up with my therapist, because as a member of a minority, himself, I don't want to offend him and I worry that he won't believe me when I say that it is the exact opposite of how I feel. I'm afraid he's going to want me to find some kind of inner explanation for why I have those thoughts, but there isn't one, and I am mortified to have such intrusive thoughts as these. I'm still not brave enough to bring them up to my therapist, but it does make me feel minutely better to know that this experience is not mine alone.

Hi Sarasalt, can you get another therapist? Not because he is a minority (I understand that would be really uncomfortable),but because a therapist who understands OCD won't be trying to make you figure out why you feel a certain way. That kind of therapy doesn't work with OCD. They would practice CBT with you and make you learn to live with the risk that you are a racist ( which I know 1000 percent you are not---it seems OCD always messes us up with what we care a bout the most. If you read my post above you will see my obsession was feeling responsibility that my actions can cause someone to commit suicide. That obsession started after a friend committed suicide .) Once you learn to live with the risk and do exposures to the thing you fear, OCD loses its power. Of course it always likes to come back and morph into another obsession, but the same techniques will work to combat the next obsession. I have had so many different types of OCD over the past 25 years including scrupulosity,which was the worst to me.

Jake,

ALL OCDers have intrusive thoughts. EVERY single type of OCD has intrusive thoughts. If you did NOT have intrusive thoughts, you would NOT have OCD. INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS are a HUGE part of ALL OCDers lives.

As someone once wrote; "fighting your OCD thoughts with other thoughts (a mental compulsion) is like trying to put out a fire with gasoline". Makes it worse as you noticed.

Lastly and for the 1000th time, I will paste a link from our good shrinks from the UK who have written so eloquently about this so called 'Pure O" type of OCD which does NOT exist.

http://www.ocduk.org/pure-o

In case people did not want to hit the link here is what they wrote. There is also a link to this piece which furthers explains why Pure O just does NOT exists. A very simple rational to understand. Hit the link above to get more info about Pure O being a misnomer.

"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.

Pure O is like any other form of OCD, it will involve both obsessions and compulsions which are the problems that need addressing through Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)."

Thanks Lostandinpain, that is well put.

I agree with that. I have those compulsions, such as avoiding certain people. Thanks for the info.