Worried about 10-year-old's intrusive thoughts

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I just posted this in pre-teens but reposting here as thought perhaps this is a better section for it. Any help gratefully received!

I was wondering if anyone could offer any advice/thoughts/reassurance about a developing situation I have with my 10-year-old DS that is starting to really worry me. He is quite a sensitive child and has always had a bit of a disproportionate fear of getting into trouble (I must stress, although I am firm, I am certainly not an ogre; his dad and I are super loving parents so this fear of getting into trouble isn't coming from us being disciplinarians!!)
Recently, he has unfortunately started to become aware of swear words – he has a close friend who has a teenage brother, so I think things filter down from him in particular. The knowledge of these 'bad words' seems to really distress him and he has started to become more and more worried about accidentally saying one of these words at school, and what the consequences of that might be. Things have really escalated this week, and he seems to be fixating on this issue to the point where this has become a loop of intrusive thoughts that he can't control and it's having a noticeable affect on his mental health. He is not his normal happy self, he seems subdued, and is constantly worrying and 'confessing' these thoughts to me. I have done a bit of reading up and see that this points to an anxiety disorder of some sort. To this end, I have contacted the school and reached out to an occupational therapist for advice.
In the meantime, I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this with a child of this sort of age? And if so, how did it resolve/what helped? I am very alarmed and very worried about him.

Sounds very much like my DS9, and the current stress for him atm is also swear words.
His anxiety was terrible last year, constant intrusive thoughts that became unbearable. We ended up paying a child psychologist who did 3 sessions with us and taught us how to bring his anxiety down. It worked very quickly to reduce and improve things, but didn’t get rid of the anxiety completely. He seems much more in control of his thoughts since tho and they don’t spiral like before, but I’m thinking he may also benefit from CBT in the near future.

Sounds like my 10year old. Hates hearing swearing and will get upset or shut down even if I say ‘crap’ under my breath if I drop something.

Breaking free of child anxiety and OCD was the method we used and he recommended we read the book (can buy it on Amazon or listen to on audible)
Set a worry time slot and don’t accommodate with reassurance, that makes things worse. Good luck

@maria127 @tellmesomethingtrue thank you so much for your responses. I did a stupid thing when I posted this yesterday as I was in such a panicked and fraught headspace, I got myself in a muddle and posted then deleted this and reposted but apparently it didn't delete, so I have this going on in more than one thread! I really appreciate your thoughts. It's good to know we're not alone. Just can't believe this is happening really, it's such a bolt from the blue.

Oh we had almost this exact same thing re swear words! For us there were two drivers…

1. turns out he’s got PANDAS (OCD and other things that result from a strep infection)
2. the intrusive thoughts started when he went on a brown preventer inhaler, and stopped when he stopped it…

Sharing in case either of those things may apply in your case.

PS if sudden onset please read the PANS PANDAS UK website - your GP may tell you it’s not a real condition (awareness is very low) but it really is and is treatable.

Great advice already, not sure of your history my ds is like this but it stems from neurodiversity, rigid thinking & rejection sensitivity where any correction is a disaster to him!

@MiniMaxi @maria127 @Pinkchilli thank you so much all. Could I ask you @MiniMaxi how did you get your DS diagnosed with PANS? I mentioned it to the GP yesterday and she hadn't heard of it. I have eead the website and I'd like to get him checked for a strep infection but don't know how I will get a doc to take it seriously? Also, for anyone else with a child experiencing this, did it happen suddenly for them? Trying to work out how common a sudden presentation is.