

This will cause them to rely more heavily on their compulsions in an attempt to prevent more future negative events. A person may feel they are responsible for a tragic event because they did not perform a specific ritual years ago. Magical thinking OCD may also worsen after hearing about a tragedy. How else am I supposed to understand this?” I’ve done it every time and I’ve never failed a test. The person might think, “See, this is exactly why I do this ritual. This subtype of OCD is often exacerbated when the person experiencing it has a negative life event or something goes wrong in their life.įor example, a person’s magical thinking OCD can convince them the reason they failed their exam is because they didn’t sharpen 10 pencils before the test. These rituals can become incredibly time-consuming and lead a person to avoid situations, locations, or people as part of their compulsions. In more severe cases, magical thinking OCD can impede someone’s ability to function in their everyday life. Magical thinking OCD compulsions may start small, but they can snowball over time.
Magical thinking download#
Join our OCD community Download our free app Even if the person logically understands their fear and rituals are not connected or rational, the fear of causing oneself or another person harm is so great that they’ll engage in their compulsions just to be sure (e.g., I’ll turn my phone on and off three times just to be on the safe side. There is often no connection between what a person fears and the action they perform to prevent it. People with magical thinking OCD experience frequent intrusive thoughts that they will be responsible for something awful happening if they do not perform specific actions.Īn individual’s underlying anxiety could be specific (e.g., If I don’t make the bed, my spouse will get into an automobile accident) or it can be undefined (e.g., If I don’t turn my phone on and off three times every day, something bad will happen to my mother). Magical thinking obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an OCD subtype characterized by ongoing intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviors around superstition or magical thinking to prevent negative experiences or harm to oneself or others.
