• A fear that you might forget or lose something.
• A strong need to reorder things until they feel “just right.”
• Worrying constantly about catching a deadly disease and/or that you will contaminate others with your germs.
• Fears about contamination with environmental toxins, such as lead or radioactivity.

12. “I see myself sitting on the window ledge ready to jump, or walking to the window to throw myself out, with a sudden urge to do it.”

If i don’t confess, how will i be free of sin?

Unacceptable Taboo Thoughts & Mental Rituals

The “taboo,” or “unacceptable thoughts,” symptom dimension characterizes individuals with unwanted obsessions that are often of a religious, violent, or sexual nature. This group has often been referred to as “pure obsessional” due to their lack of overt rituals . However, it is now apparent that these individuals tend to engage in covert rituals, such as mental compulsions and reassurance-seeking. This symptom dimension captures individuals who experience intrusive thoughts that severely violate their morals or values. Examples include thoughts of sexually molesting children, blasphemous thoughts about religious figures, and impulses to do violent things, such as to push pedestrians into oncoming traffic. Individuals who have these thoughts typically have no history of violence, nor do they act on their urges or impulses; however, because OCD patients often believe their thoughts are dangerous and overly important, they devote a large amount of their mental effort in attempts to suppress them.

Other attempts to control intrusive thoughts include mental ritualization (e.g., arguing with oneself over the morality of one’s character), neutralizing (e.g., mentally “cancelling out” bad thoughts by replacing them with good thoughts, engaging in excessive prayer or confession), and performing some form of checking (e.g., reviewing one’s behaviors, seeking reassurance from others, etc.) Behavioral avoidance of known triggers is also especially common in this group. For example, sufferers may make excuses to avoid childcare responsibilities or religious ceremonies that might trigger unwanted thoughts. Individuals with unacceptable thoughts may suffer with more severe obsessions than those with other forms of OCD.

what would happen if i did nothing?

• • Repeating to dispel anxiety. Some people utter a name or phrase or repeat a behavior several times. They know these repetitions won’t actually guard against injury but fear harm will occur if the repetitions aren’t done.
  • Ordering and arranging to reduce discomfort. Some people like to put objects, such as books in a certain order, or arrange household items “just so,” or in a symmetric fashion.
  • Mental compulsions to response to intrusive obsessive thoughts, some people silently pray or say phrases to reduce anxiety or prevent a dreaded future event.

When I was five years old,