Harm OCD

Common Doubting Fears

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  ~ Accidentally hitting an individual while driving.

  
  

  There could be an instance where an OCD patient sees someone on the side of the rode as he passes by. While driving, he may start to worry that the little bump he felt while driving was the body of the pedestrian. This person knows deep-down that his thoughts are too far-fetched and that he didn’t really hit the pedestrian. But his mind will continue making “what if...” scenarios and invent elaborate possibilities, eventually creating a shred of doubt. The OCD patient will contemplate on the thought until it gets intolerable and that they must drive back to where they last saw the pedestrian, in order to reduce the stress.

  
  


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  ~ Leaving electrical or gas equipment on such as an oven, stove, flat iron, hair dryer and so on.

  
  

  Another common and potentially practical fear is leaving on hot equipment that can be a cause of fire. This could include objects like stove, oven, hair dryer, and curling iron. The gravity of the actual obsession is impertinent to a person with OCD. Even though forgetting to turn off the hair dryer is not as serious as hitting a pedestrian, an OCD person may exaggerate it and may feel tortured by the thought of causing harm. A typical person may go back to check on the stove, but a person with OCD will check and re-check, thinking they must have forgotten to correctly switch off the item. They may go back a second time, a third or more depending on the severity of the disorder. If this is the primary obsession, the person with OCD may have this fear every time they leave the house. A common compulsion associated with this is when an OCD sufferer stares at the knobs on the stove - making sure they are turned off before leaving the room – only to come back in, check again and again before leaving the house. There are also times when an OCD patient feels a certain relief when checking things, a certain number of times. For example, such person may look at the knobs three times, then leave the room, and come back to check on the knobs again, three times for each.
  

  
  


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  ~ Leaving the doors unlocked that may result in a robbery.

  
  

  Leaving a door or window unlocked that could result in a robbery is also a common doubting fear. This is somewhat similar to the fear of leaving on a hot item causing a fire. If this is the main obsession or the favorite obsession of the time, it can be as torturous as hitting a pedestrian or burning down a house with your loved ones. Again, it is not the severity of the potential disaster that causes distress but the severity of the disorder. Those who worry that they forgot to lock their door may also be worried that they forgot to turn off the stove. People with OCD will often be nagged by doubting fears even when there is no present danger.