Unwanted Thoughts Not Necessarily an OCD Problem - East Idaho News

Unwanted Thoughts Not Necessarily an OCD Problem

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GETTY 41014 Worried?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1397123946138Ridofranz/Thinkstock(PORTLAND, Ore.) — A definite sign of obsessive compulsive disorder is having intrusive thoughts that seem to linger.

However, as one Concordia University researcher points out, you don’t have to be diagnosed with OCD in order to think about strange and sometimes, dangerous stuff.

In fact, Adam Radomsky says that in a survey of 777 people from 13 countries, 94 percent admitted to having at least one unwanted thought during the last three months.

These intrusive thoughts might involve worries that your house is on fire or even imagining stepping in front of a moving car.

What separates most people from those with OCD is that the majority know that these thoughts are too ridiculous to dwell on and they soon pass.

On the other hand, OCD patients tend to focus on things that might hurt them, going as far as to believe that they’re in harms way.

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