I’m Having Obsessions

Please help. I think I’m going crazy.

I’m really struggling with a specific paranoid thought. I have severe anxiety and I think I could have OCD. I have a phobia of bats and rabies as well. That wouldn’t seem pertinent now, but it will.

So here it is. About 2 weeks ago, I woke up and the alarm was off at my house. But both doors were locked. No signs of a break-in. A day later I happen to see two tiny red spots on the bottom of my foot and my mind immediately goes to a bat bite. There were no bats in the house and really no way for them to get in. This is where things in my mind get crazy.

I begin to think that my ex, who I think was married, but can’t confirm, (he never wore a ring or talked about his family, but I saw him and a woman together with kids a few months back) had broken into my house, let a bat in to bite me, got it out, and now I’m going do die from rabies in a few months. Because he’s trying to get rid of me so I don’t tell her. Mind you I never confronted him about it.

It’s been 2 weeks and I’m still really scared,

To make matters worse we work the same job, and he was out the day after I found the spot, then a Wednesday and Thursday the next week, and today. And those are close to the rabies vaccine schedule.

PLEASE HELP ME! (From the USA)

I think the fact that you know how unreal your thinking is, how elaborate the narrative is to pin this on your ex, and the fact that it has this obsessive quality are all points in your favor. The capacity to reflect on our own unhealthy patterns is the first step in correcting them.

Of course this isn’t a diagnosis of OCD, but I can certainly understand why you would think it is. In fact, as you will learn about in the article below, a hallmark of OCD is that the person recognizes that their thoughts or behaviors are senseless or excessive. This is important because the you that is recognizing this is the you we want to have make the correction.

An article about OCD is here. An online quiz you can take to see if you match the criteria is here. and ways to distinguish between a generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and OCD here.

I highly recommend and evaluation by a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist. They can help determine it this is, indeed, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and what the best way to treat it would be.

Wishing you patience and peace,
Dr. Dan
Proof Positive Blog @ PsychCentral

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