Dr Nina Higson-Sweeney, who was diagnosed with OCD when she was 10, explains when you should seek help.

Intrusive thoughts are unwanted and distressing ideas or images that can appear suddenly and feel impossible to control. With obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), intrusive thoughts can become ...

Obsessive-compulsive disorder can be disabling without treatment. Learn more about when and how to seek professional help.

At 35, I started having intrusive thoughts about harming my loved ones. I was diagnosed with OCD, which was a relief but also confusing. I eventually learned more about OCD and how to manage it to ...

What if I kissed this stranger? What if I just stopped turning up for work? While intrusive thoughts like these can pop into your mind, they are common and usually easy to brush off for what they are ...

Many people with OCD first get advice from internet chat forums or therapists untrained in OCD. Although the advice-givers are usually well-meaning, the messaging isn’t always consistent with best ...

You’ve had a date night worthy of a (non-cringy) Bachelor episode. The romance? Off the charts. The mood? Lit. And then it happens. OCD-related intrusive thoughts burst into the bedroom. Indeed, ...

The term “intrusive thoughts” has become common parlance from mental health creators on social media such as TikTok, and people have resonated with it. In psychiatry, we don’t usually talk about ...

None of us can escape intrusive thoughts, the random and usually off-putting musings that include visions of shoving your hand through the center of a beautifully decorated cake or a bridge collapsing ...

Too often, people say they “let their intrusive thoughts win” after spontaneously dyeing their hair or making a late-night purchase. There’s a difference between impulsive and intrusive thoughts, ...