What is Pure O? | OCD Explained
A sometimes-misunderstood way OCD can present is in the form of “Pure O” which is when a person experiences obsessions as unwanted thoughts but does not have any outwardly observable actions or behaviors associated with it. Many people go years without realizing this is OCD.
Examples of these types of thoughts are unwanted intrusive images, and sudden mental images which shock the individual, often imagining things they would consider a terrifying or horrific thought. For some people these can take the form of imagining doing something harmful to another person, fears of doing something illegal, fears of violating a religious rule, or any rumination on a topic or mental image such as fears of a relationship ending when everything is fine. Often the topics that occur in pure O are disturbing and follow a pattern of violation of norms or violations of the own person’s moral code. Sometimes it can present as a person being overly concerned with being “honest” about these thoughts.
Although there are often no observable behaviors such as those we might notice with the typical presentation of OCD such as checking to make sure the door is locked several times, repeated hand washing, or having to have things lined up a certain way. There can be unobservable “behaviors” going on - even the compulsion to be honest is a “behavior” meant to alleviate the intensity of the feelings.
Pure O is not the same as having a random unwanted thought while doing something. This happens to almost everyone some of the time. In most cases we just dismiss the thought and move forward with what we are doing. With Pure O the individual is not able to move on and they get stuck in a thought loop. The thought loop usually starts because the individual allows themselves to perseverate on the thought which only serves to strengthen it. The brain is malfunctioning and sees the intrusive thought as dangerous and that it needs to be fixed immediately. This starts the fixation loop. An individual is likely to have a thought like “This is bad!” Or “I am a terrible person I need to control my thoughts” which starts a further downward spiral.
The way Pure O has to be handled is to back out of the thought by recognizing it for what it is - just a thought. In fact the intense thoughts that are unwanted are often because these are your worst fears (I obsess about my relationship = I believe I am unlovable), (I imagine myself suddenly harming my dog = I love my dog so intensely I am fearful of my dog being harmed or hurting my dog).
Pure O is hard to deal with though because often the individual is dealing with this internally and they may not realize it is a mental health condition initially, and as I have mentioned in prior posts, OCD does not usually get better on it’s own, it almost always requires treatment and awareness of the condition in order for it to get better.
If this is something you suspect you or a family member may be dealing with, seeking treatment from a professional is the best course of action. The information provided in this blog should never be used to diagnose or delay seeking medical treatment.