Some people with OCD may start to experience physical sensations that aren't actually there. For example, someone with contamination OCD could start having the physical sensation that their hands are dirty. They might be able to “feel” dirt and grime on their hands, even though they can't see it.
False attraction is a common symptom in several subtypes of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) where a person experiences unwanted and intrusive thoughts, images, or doubts about their attraction to someone or something entirely unusual for them.
Studies suggest that people with OCD are more likely to experience rich false memories. False memories OCD takes this to an extreme. The distressing thoughts around false memories can lead people to participate in compulsions in the hope they'll be able to determine whether their memories are true or false.
When you have OCD, you may experience false memories that feel like real experiences. This may lead you to doubt your recollection of important events or your memory performance in general. This lack of confidence, in turn, may lead you to more false memories.
Factitious disorder is a mental disorder in which a person acts as if they have a physical or psychological illness when they themselves have created the symptoms.
This way of thinking is called catastrophic thinking, and it can be caused by problems with mental health or mental illness. Because of psychological issues or illnesses, a person may make up fake scenarios. For instance, an individual with an anxiety disorder might worry all the time about things they can't change.
The more you attempt to either push away or to "understand" the thought, the "stickier" the thought becomes. When the thought feels uncontrollable and "sticky" and the efforts to get rid of it don't bring a lasting relief, this may be a sign that your OCD got you on the hook again.
Here are some examples of false memory OCD obsessions: Fear of having committed a crime or hurt someone in the past, even if there is no evidence to support this. Someone might think, “Did I cause that person harm?” or “Did I really commit that crime?”
People struggling with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) are often misdiagnosed as having other psychological conditions. One of the most common misdiagnoses for this population is Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).
Anxiety can be so overwhelming to the brain it alters a person's sense of reality. People experience distorted reality in several ways. Distorted reality is most common during panic attacks, though may occur with other types of anxiety. It is also often referred to as “derealization.”
People with these disorders know these thoughts are irrational but are afraid that somehow they might be true. These thoughts and impulses are upsetting, and people may try to ignore or suppress them. Examples of obsessions include: Thoughts about harming or having harmed someone.
On the other hand, someone with OCD can have unrealistic thoughts, but they're aware that their thoughts aren't grounded in reality. While they may feel like something unrealistically bad could happen, they know it's actually irrational and impossible.
Examples of obsession signs and symptoms include: Fear of being contaminated by touching objects others have touched. Doubts that you've locked the door or turned off the stove. Intense stress when objects aren't orderly or facing a certain way.
Individuals who experience Magical Thinking OCD may become preoccupied with lucky or unlucky numbers, colors, words, actions, sayings or superstitions and link them to catastrophe or 'bad things' that might happen.
While anxiety disorders are typically characterized by excessive worry, OCD is marked by unwanted thoughts that lead to compulsive mental or physical reactions. A person with an anxiety disorder will experience excessive worry, but not engage in compulsive behavior to reduce their anxiety.
Fake scenarios are daydream type stories that people think about in their minds, in order to help them drift off to sleep. They can be about anything but usually they are about some imagined desirable situation, rather than remembering a specific and real event – hence the name 'fake' scenario.
This has been linked to anxiety—suggesting that frequent catastrophizing may be a factor in developing certain mental health problems. Catastrophizing comes from the belief that by imagining what might go wrong, we're better able to protect ourselves from harm—both physical and mental.
A note from Cleveland Clinic
These daydreams are usually a coping mechanism for other mental health conditions or circumstances. It's common — but not required — for people who have this to have a history of childhood trauma or abuse.
In OCD, a fear of false memories does not go away once the person has gotten reasonable evidence they are innocent. Instead, their brain starts finding further possibilities of uncertainty, creating new scenarios that start the cycle over again.
Self-talk can be a symptom of a number of mental illnesses. It can be a sign of an anxiety disorder, depression, PTSD, or obsessive-compulsive disorder. More severe mental illnesses associated with self-talk include schizophrenia and psychosis.
It's common for people with OCD to think in extremes, known as black-and-white thinking. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a serious mental health condition that affects your thoughts (obsessions) and behaviors (compulsions).