Intrusive homosexual thoughts
What is homosexual obsessive-compulsive disorder (HOCD)?
HOCD and SO-OCD can have a severe and debilitating effect on a person’s life. For example, these conditions can:
Affect day-to-day life
A person may detect it hard to zero in on other activities besides those that relate to their sexual orientation.
The compulsions can take up a lot of time, and the person may evade certain situations to elude triggering the SO-OCD.
Impact relationships
A person with SO-OCD may have anxiety regarding social interaction, worrying that they may do or tell something that is seen as contradictory to their sexual orientation.
Additionally, people may feel that they contain to hide their fears from their friends and family.
HOCD and SO-OCD can also inhibit a person’s ability to have love-related or sexual relationships due to conflict and anxiety surrounding their sexual orientation.
The Anxiety and Depression Association of America note that having these thoughts and fears does not express that a person wants to act on them. In fact, the reverse is true.
The reason that people continue to contain fears about their sexual orientation is that they put a lot of effort into figh
Why am I afraid of my sexuality changing?
It’s completely normal to question your sexuality—many people do at some point in their lives. However, if you find yourself constantly obsessing over your sexuality, experiencing recurrent intrusive thoughts, and having intense anxiety, it could be a subscribe of a mental health condition. Excessive fears about your sexuality align with a common subtype of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) established as sexual orientation OCD (SO-OCD).
SO-OCD is much other from genuinely exploring your sexuality and reflecting on who you are attracted to. With OCD, the brain seeks % certainty about who you’re attracted to—something that’s very unlikely to attain.
Keep reading to learn more about how SO-OCD differs from strong self-exploration and how to find the right support.
What is sexual orientation OCD?
SO-OCD is a subtype of obsessive-compulsive disorder focused on concerns about your sexual orientation. OCD is characterized by a cycle of obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are repeated, unwanted intrusive thoughts, sensations, images, or feelings, and compulsions are repetitive behaviors or mental acts performed to neutralize the obsession,
'Homosexual OCD': Straight Men Who Suspect They Are Gay
Feb. 24, &#; -- Steven Brodsky, a psychologist who specializes in obsessive-compulsive disorder, says that at any one time he has a "handful" of clients who are straight and suspect that they are gay.
Brodsky, who is the clinical director of his OCD and Panic Center of N.Y. and N.J., said he had one adult patient who was so crippled by obsessive thoughts about being male lover that he was unable to live independently and had to move help in with his parents to cope. Brodsky said he determined his patient had OCD associated with homosexuality.
"He had a classic case," said Brodsky. "He had some sort of feeling that he was attracted to other guys."
This patient was straight, according to Brodsky, but he had intrusive thoughts that were not based on any hard reality in his behavior.
Brodsky said a previous therapist had misdiagnosed his patient as queer, and at the patient's request, sent him off to reparative therapy, a controversial method that has not been proven to be effective and can be harmful.
"I have many gay clients and phobia is my business," he said. "I treat the
12 Signs That You Might Have Homosexual OCD
1) Execute you constantly worry or fear an unwanted modify in your sexual orientation? For instance: Fearing that you will become queer when you are straight.
2) Do you worry that you are attracted to members of the equal sex, such as strangers, friends, or celebrities, when you currently identify as heterosexual? And vice versa for those who distinguish as homosexual.
3) Do you worry that you are NOT attracted to members of the opposite sex (if you&#;re straight) and that &#;that might mean&#; that you are gay? And vice versa for those who identify as homosexual.
4) Do you worry that others may think you are the opposite sexual orientation from which you identify? For example: A vertical man thinking &#;If my legs are crossed, execute my guy friends consider I’m gay?&#;
5) Have you ever checked your genitals for arousal after seeing someone of the matching sex? And vice versa for those who recognize as homosexual. For example: After viewing an arousing scene on TV, you stress that you were aroused by a character of the same sex even though you identify as straight. Or, you concern that you were not attracted ‘enough’ to a character of the contrary sex, eve
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