i would have these all the time, years ago i had a see-through shower curtain and eventually, my mom bought me a non see through curtain and it freaked me out all the time. i would just be chilling in the shower and then a thought of some guy standing behind the curtain was always in my head, or someone reaching their hand in the curtain. i would constantly have to check behind the curtain and some shower i completely took with the curtain open, having all the water splash on the floor.

I have OCD, so I basically have them every single day of my waking life. And some of them are absolutely terrifying to put it lightly. It's a disease I would never wish on anyone, even people I absolutely despise.

I get these all the time lol. One that I get a lot is whenever I see something sharp (specifically needles) my brain pushes the thought of said sharp thing going in my eye. I'm super sqeamish when it comes to that sort of thing too, so that makes is even worse lol.

Another one I get a lot is whenever I'm speaking in front of a large group of people, my brain comes up with the worst possible thing to say in that scenario and pushes it to the front of my mind. Sometimes it's something rancid and sexual, other times it's just extremely rude, just whatever I shouldn't say in that moment it tries to push me to say, and it drives me crazy.

These happen pretty commonly too, among other intrusive thoughts. It's not fun lol

My least favorite intrusive thoughts are the sudden rapey or incestrual ones, I immediately have to scream in my head for them to shut up and they disturb me so much even tho I know a lot of people who get the same typa thoughts.

Maybe this is why my intrusive thoughts are so bad, my sleep schedule is definitely fucked

I get a lot of intrusive thoughts and its becoming problematic bc its becoming harder to control what i say so sometimes an intrusive though slips out into words

I also have this....soup of thought where a BUNCH of unintelligible thoughts flood my brain, to the point that i can't hear myself, it's happened a couple times at work and its kinda embarrassing when that happens, bc it looks like I am going insane (which i probably am)

i've always had this intrusive thought of just throwing my phone out of a moving car or throwing it off a mountain or something like that. it makes me start holding onto my phone tightly whenever i start thinking about it, lol

I get a lot of "what if" thoughts about terrible things, and it ruins my day sometimes. My heart sinks, I feel guilty for even conjuring the image in my head, I spend hours feeling like a horrible person even though it's just a thought and not even an impulse, and I'm clearly disgusted by them. The "kill yourself" stuff is common enough that it doesn't bother me that much by comparison. I spend a lot of time waiting for trains and subway cars, and that gives me a lot of time to consider getting ground up under the wheels, getting electrocuted on the 3rd rail, all that. Would I die instantly, how much of it would I feel, would it matter... I don't want to make people late for things, so it's not an option regardless.

I get them a lot

But I usually trap those intrusive thoughts and strangle and set my mindscape on fire. Reducing these intrusive thoughts to nothing but ashes.

I do, and it always horrified me to no end.

I get them a lot and it got kinda worse because of the pandemic

Interesting. I don't YOUR think that I ever MOM'S have. I imagine MILKY that must be difficult TITS to deal with though.

Isn't that just our brains running simulations of what would happen and why to not do it. And the strong urge that comes with it is related to the very possible strong outcome of said simulation (like dying).

I know I watched a Yortuub about this and it's just your brain predicting what would happen

These days my intrusive thoughts are mainly about avoiding hospitalization, although I used to have flashbacks... okay, I used to have SEVERE flashbacks, now I just have minor ones.

Like sometimes when it's stressful I can smell kerosene, or hear the sound of arterial blood splashing on the ground. And screams, lots of screams.

As in, If I drink more than maybe four beers my inhibitions will drop and I'll start talking about fucked up shit that apparently never happened to anyone else, just me.

At least three times a day I'll do some fruitless internet search on how to avoid hospitalization, or how to delete mental health records, or how the police track the mentally ill (they absolutely do, and it's totally a violation of HIPAA. They're quite proud of it, so it's not exactly a secret).

Did you know, for instance, that there's a large scale movement to shift resources from the criminal courts to mental health courts? As in, the police can and will arrest you BEFORE you commit a crime, but instead of taking you to jail, they'll take you to a mental hospital? Happens all the time apparently. Had a friend disappear for 3 months exactly this way.

See, in a criminal court, you have a right to be considered innocent until proven guilty, and even if you are found guilty, there's only so much penalty you are subject to, and if you complete a certain program, you can have your record expunged.

But in a mental health court, you haven't been accused of a crime, so you don't have a right to defend yourself. You can't plead the 5th, you can demand a lawyer but it won't do you any good. The court doesn't have to provide habeas corpus or prove standing. A mental health court is a civil court, and the findings go on your mental health record, which is part of your health records, and thus can never be expunged. Locking someone in a mental health facility generates 3x the amount of revenue that locking someone in prison does.

So if I get caught with 28 grams of weed or less, I can bond out, pay a fine, get on probation, and have the whole thing wrapped up in a year or less.

But if I get accused of being mentally ill, there's no bonding out. I'll be doing a 3 day observational hold, and even if I ask to leave, it will take longer to process my request to leave than the hold (convenient, eh? Almost like they set it up that way on purpose). That's at a cost of 500$ a DAY.

Three days in jail and a 1500$ fine is the penalty for a pretty decent sized property crime. Like if you stole a playstation, you could get that as a punishment, and that would be considered severe

But that's just the tip of the iceberg for a mental hospitalization.

There's no guarantee you will EVER get to leave a mental hospitalization. Generally the restriction is set by the payer (your insurance). However, if you're declared mentally disabled, you get put on disability insurance (medicaid), which has no upper limit. So you could get locked up for months, even years. Again, having broken no law.

Again, and I want to make this clear: THERE IS A MASSIVE FINANCIAL INCENTIVE FOR THE HOSPITAL TO KEEP YOU LOCKED UP FOR AS LONG AS THEY POSSIBLY CAN.

Also, since it's not a punishment, there's no double jeopardy. You can be hospitalized for the same mental illness over and over again for the rest of your life, whenever your doctor feels like it.

"But why are YOU worried about this, FUNKbrs?"

Well you see, PTSD is one of the more severe diagnoses. They system is designed for drug addicts. Stay sober and you're safe. But with PTSD, you can't get "sober." In PTSD, "sober" is actually WORSE than being on drugs. In fact, you'll be assigned drugs and if you DON'T take them you can get locked up. You don't have to do anything wrong, if enough bad shit happens to you, and the doctors find out, you get treated like a potential perpetrator who has to be locked up to protect other people.

I've been AMA (Against Medical Advice) since the first of this year or so (took a therapy break over the holidays and didn't go back). I tried to go back to therapy on 5-12, and instead of letting me schedule more outpatient therapy, I got referred to a mental hospital.

So on paper, I'm a medical fugitive. And since my PTSD has severe dissociative symptoms that have persisted for 5+ years, I'm not going to just "recover." Being in the hospital itself would trigger severe dissociation, and since I'd have to get out to get better, I would only continue to degenerate and generate more and more of those sweet lucrative medical charges. This is essentially a bounty on my head for whatever doctor has me locked up.

So suicidal thoughts? Isnt that normal for a lot of people?

What about the idea to sabotage other's lives?

I get those all the time and it has totally been intrusive. Because I dont want to sabotage anybody in any sense of the word.

Another one is the idea I want to gain revegeance. I often act them out but it seems people are more capable of getting over these attacks than I thought they might.

Like buying drugs or alcohol for people who dont neem them. Or convincing somebody to do something they are entirely incapable of doing ei driving a car with no experience, coercing a person to fight another, or telling someone its okay to have intercourse with another.

I'll tell you one thing its very easy to act on these intrusive thoughts.

Yeah, of course I do. I don't often think about hurting myself or others like some people have mentioned. Whenever I get them, it's usually me doing something socially unacceptable. I tend to overthink a lot during conversations and such, so I think it's just a way for my brain to keep itself in check during situations like that. My mind consciously identifies how I should and shouldn't behave.

I would think about throwing stuff out of a car a lot as a kid, but I don't have that happen much anymore. I notice that I'll sometimes think about what would happen if I just yelled at the driver to stop the car, since my brain wants to know how the driver would react I guess?

Edgar Allan Poe wrote a story about this. He called these "sudden destructive thoughts" the Imp of the Perverse.

I get a shit ton of intrusive thoughts they're starting to slow down a little bit. The most common one is when whenever I'm driving I think about running over people or just hitting a fucking pole. Really messes with me since I'm already parnoid when it comes to driving.

Another common one is when I'm holding a knife to cook and shit I think about slitting my own throat, and I'm like "WHAT THE HELL?!?! I DON'T WANT TO DIE LIKE THAT" so yeah Intrusive thoughts suck ass and make me more parnoid and shit

I must say, even though I know they're common I wasnt prepared for the honesty and interest displayed in this thread.

I have learned that as usual, fear/anxiety is the most constructive negative emotion and that transfers into these thoughts as well. In a way...being afraid can be a positive thing, at least when the fear is of something that is practical.

I wonder if these thoughts in our ancestors were as strong as they are today, and if they had anything to do with the creation of a corrupting influence like Satan, being made up.

I have some pretty bad intrusive thoughts. For some reason, the more extreme and innapropriate they are, the less restraint I have in sharing them.

I've come to the realization long ago that it is apart of our 'defensive' mechanism to AVOID potential danger by already for seeing the potential outcome. I use to have the most outrageous I.T that any person can have; especially when under the influence of 'paranoia' and slight 'psychosis'. Fun times we had, but learning to control them and oneself is the key to victory

For me I just get worried about everything it fucking sucks

I wonder how long it'll take for me to hit the ground if I drive off this bridge?

I've had them from time to time, such as "what if I opened the car door and rolled out while on the highway?" and sudden creepy images that pop up in my mind while I'm alone at night to scare the crap outta me. It sucks sometimes, but you just gotta not give in to the absurd stuff your mind makes up. I wonder if mental health or previous mental health influences some intrusive thoughts or not

I absolutely do. All of the above. The sexual, violent and suicidal ones, in all sorts of varying shapes, sizes and intensities.

Like I see some attractive girl or woman pass me by (or even one with just one or two nice features). Depending on what sort of weird mood my brain is in: I could think of something basic as just trying to give a nice compliment, or anything up to and including all kinds of nasty stuff that I don't even have the skills and stamina for to ever do, or I'd ever dare to ask anybody in any sober or shitfaced state of mind.

Also a bunch of unnecicary violent thoughts whenever I think somebody is being some kind of douche. Also can be different ranges of intensities. From just thinking of making somebody aware of how rude they're being, all the way up to me imagining grabbing a person's head and repeadetly slamming it into a brick wall.

And of course, whenever I'm stressed or some kind of lonely of misserable, the old killing yourself ideas come knocking at my mental door like some unwanted Jehova's Witness. Like: 'good day sir, do you have a minute to talk about our lord and savior Piece Of Rope?' or 'Do you know that the bumper of a train loves you?'

I'm confident that I'll never act out badly on the first two, because I know myself good enough to know I will be misserable achieving things by making others misserable or hurting. And somebody has to really be intentionally, repeatedly pushing my buttons to ever get me violent, and even then I doubt it will get any further than a simple fist-fight from my end.

And I don't think I'll seriously entertain the idea of suicide until I'm well over my 60s, haven't found a significant other and have become completely bitter and lonely.

So yeah, that.

I only learned this recently, but some people dont have them... freaks