inappropriate thoughts

[youcantlabelme]

please help me to help my friend

someone very dear to me has said they have been having random inappropraite thoughts of such a nature, that in their words, 'if anyone knew what they were, they would lock me up'. Friend was so distressed about this that immediately went to the GP and has asked for some sort of help. Has now been waiting six weeks for an appointment, but has had a telephone assessment thingy.

Now I don't know or want to know what my friend has been thinking, but this person is a regular normal person, straight as a die and with no to my non professional mind, obvious MHI.

They had counselling before when they had panic attacks a few years ago, but isn't sure if it helped much.

my friend is so scared of what is happening, they have begun to avoid certain situations - in case they put into actions some of these thoughts.

has anyone heard of this type of thing before?

[TotalChaos]

sometimes depression or OCD can manifest itself by having intrusive unpleasant thoughts. this is quite a good info page on it (yeah I know wikipedia isn't the most authoritative source..)

wapedia.mobi/en/Intrusive_thoughts

from an OCD perspective, there's a good book on the topic called Imp of the Mind by Lee Baer.

working on the assumption that these are intrusive thoughts rather than some sort of urge/compulsion to do something bad- basically - it's important for your friend to recognise these thoughts are unpleasant and I imagine distressing - but not to attribute lots of significane to them - it's not because he/she's a bad person - but for some reason the odd thoughts that flit across virtually everyone's mind from time to time are lodging - almost like being allergic to your thoughts - in that they are causing anxiety - and the more anxious you feel, the more likely you are to have further unpleasant thoughts....

[youcantlabelme]

Thanks TC, I have read and printed the pages off to give to my friend.

they are also going to chase up at the GP about counselling or whatever treatment may be required.

i do know (from what they have told me) that my friend doesn't cope well with stress, has problems sleeping at night and also has slight ocd tendencies-checks the back door a few times before going out etc.

i just hate to see my friend in such a state due to these thoughts that seem to hound them at the moment.

[TotalChaos]

PS - NICE guidelines for OCD treatment are for CBT and/or medication if necessary (the medication would usually be a modern AD like Prozac). Obviously though your friend may not have OCD though so this might not apply.

[flakecake]

Hi, I don,t know if your friend is pregnant or post natal? Sounds like OCD and now she is developing avoidance behaviours. From my experience help her get proffessional help quickly before the illness gets so big and incapacitates her. Some antidepressants can be very good and work within a couple of days.
Good Luck