Having gay thoughts but not gay

Interestingly Swedo, et al. It can cause you to doubt even the most basic things about yourself — even your sexual orientation. Not reading or looking at videos news reports books or articles having anything to do with gay people or other sexual subjects.

The most obvious form is where a sufferer experiences the thought that they might be of a different sexual orientation than they formerly believed. Doubting something so basic about yourself can obviously be quite a torturous business.

Homosexual Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Do you think I could be gay or straight? A variation on doubt about sexual identity would be where the obsessive thought has fastened onto the idea that the person simply will never be able to figure out what their sexual orientation actually is. Visit our Anxiety Center to learn more about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), treatment options, and much, much more!.

I suppose this remains a question for research to answer. FWIW, I have heard about people having the same intrusive thoughts the other way around: that they identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, but maybe they are secretly secretly straight or binary, and it dogs those people as well.

OCD, as we know, is largely about experiencing severe and unrelenting doubt. Most likely, you will also experience the fear that you will act on those thoughts. How do I know whether I prefer women or men? It must mean I’m gay.’). Going a step beyond this, some sufferers have obsessions that tell them that they may have acted, or will act, on their thoughts.

Compulsive questioning can frequently take place, and usually involves others who may be close to the sufferer. At what point in their lives do people know what their orientation is? How does anyone tell what sex they really are? Some of the more typical questions sufferers are likely to ask can include those in the following two groupings:.

Can you suddenly turn into a homosexual or heterosexual even if you have never felt or acted that that way? Someone with SO-OCD might fear being gay, straight, or bisexual—regardless of their actual orientation. This has never proven to be so. For more general information, please visit our "About OCD" section.

The same thing can happen the other way around: a gay person with SO-OCD can develop a fear of being straight, with “straight thoughts” or fears of straight thoughts.

12 Signs That You

These articles are about special topics related to OCD and related disorders. The older psychoanalytic therapies often make people with this problem feel much worse by saying that the thoughts represent true inner desires. SO-OCD is a subtype of OCD involving intrusive thoughts, feelings, images, sensations, or urges about your sexual orientation and the compulsive need to find certainty.

Did I just act sexually toward you? Never saying the words “gay,” “homosexual,” (or “straight”) or any other related term. I have observed this symptom in young children, adolescents, and adults as well. When I first see people for this problem, they are typically engaged in any number of compulsive activities which may occupy many hours of each day.

Living with SO-OCD Bottom line What is sexual orientation OCD (SO-OCD)? For those with thoughts of being homosexual, part of the distress must surely be social in origin. If the sufferer is heterosexual, then the thought may be that they are homosexual.

Thats the path to beating intrusive thoughts. If on the other hand they happen to be homosexual they may obsess about the possibility that they might really be straight. But I think about them constantly. The questions are never-ending and repetitive. How will I ever be able to tell for certain?