![]() ![]() ![]() Construing any positive reaction to a member of the same sex as evidence of being gay.Preoccupation with one’s level of arousal toward either sex.Reviewing your day or week to feel sure that at no time did you feel attracted to someone of your own sex.Diminished attraction to the opposite sex.Difficulty setting aside thoughts about your sexual orientation.The core symptoms of HOCD are intrusive thoughts about being gay. Everything written here can be applied to a gay person with obsessions about being straight just swap the words “gay” and “straight.” The Warning Signs of HOCD For simplicity’s sake, this article describes the experience of a straight person with obsessions about being gay. Note: HOCD can affect people of any sexual orientation. HOCD has been around for a long time and, to those in the know, is an established and well-understood sub-type of OCD. Others mistakenly interpret it as an early part of the coming out process. For this reason, many people misunderstand it to be “repressed” homosexuality. HOCD is poorly understood outside of the OCD community. These can indeed be symptoms of OCD, but for some people, OCD can look completely different. If you ask most people what OCD is, their answers will likely involve a preoccupation with order, being excessively neat, or washing your hands. Therapists who specialize in OCD are typically familiar with HOCD, but most other therapists are not. One factor that perhaps makes HOCD more torturous than other types of OCD is its relative obscurity. This a large number for such an infrequently discussed phenomenon! It’s similar to the numbers estimated for Americans living with multiple sclerosis, and more than the number of people living in Cincinnati, Ohio. So a reasonable estimate of the number of Americans suffering from sexual orientation-themed OCD would be 315,000. Of those 3.95 million, estimates are that 8% of them have sexual orientation obsessions. OCD, the broader category in which HOCD falls, affects 1.2% of Americans - approximately 3.95 million people. HOCD affects less than 1% of the population. It’s also known as SO-OCD (sexual orientation) or “gay OCD.” It is a variant of OCD, and can have a profound impact on the lives of those living with it. Redoing something if they had an intrusive thought during to neutralize it (i.e.HOCD is the abbreviation for homosexual obsessive-compulsive disorder.Sanitizing their groinal area if they felt something down there after having a thought.Punishing themselves (not eating enough, calling themselves mean names, etc.) for having the thoughts.Confessing intrusive thoughts to others.Neutralizing thoughts by replacing a “bad” thought with a “good” thought.Keeping a mental note of, or writing down, markers throughout the day to use as reassurance that they have not acted inappropriately.Washing hands after touching kids or objects that kids have touched so as not to be “contaminated”.Repeatedly asking others for reassurance about the content of the obsessions or reassuring themselves mentally.Excessively searching the internet for reassurance that they are not a pedophile.Mentally reviewing past situations to make sure that they have not acted inappropriately.Ruminating (analyzing, trying to solve, attempting to seek certainty) about the obsessions.Doing something appropriate with a child (i.e., high-fiving them or holding them) to check that they are not aroused by or attracted to them. ![]() Staring at kids to check that they do not arouse them.Purposely bringing on the thoughts/images to gauge their reaction to them.Mentally checking bodily sensations (for example, checking their groinal area to see if they are aroused) to prove or solve obsessions.Mentally checking feelings internally (for example, Do I enjoy this thought?) to prove or solve obsessions.Avoiding sexual intimacy with themselves and others for fear that a thought or image will pop in during the act.Avoiding media (TV shows, movies, photographs, social media platforms) that have children in them.Avoiding being around children, looking at children, holding children, etc. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |