Intrusive First World Thought Problems

For the longest time I thought I was just some sick, sadistic, evil individual. Anyone who knows me personally might have heard me comment every once and a while that I must be evil. This was mostly related to the fact that I would have disturbing scenes and images go through my head of killing people or hurting animals. It wasn't that I wanted to do those things, it was just that these things went through my head. I thought there was something wrong with me. Then I found out these are called "intrusive thoughts", and I'm not the only one with this problem.

Since intrusive thoughts are related to OCD, and since a large portion of the population has OCD (whether mild or intense), then a good chuck of the population has intrusive thoughts. Recent statistics show that about 78% of people with OCD have intrusive thoughts. This could mean that as much as 60% of the general population could have intrusive thoughts. Some psychologists think that as many has 95% of the population could have intrusive thoughts (once PTSD, postnatal depression, clinical depression, and anxiety are factored in). It could be that everyone has them, it's just than very few people will admit to it. So we are not evil, especially if we constitute the majority.

And it's not so much that intrusive thoughts are evil, it just one of those many odd things that the brain does. It may be related to hormones, either hormones out of balance or just hormone circulation in general. It may simply be human nature. If this is the case, then the question of evil goes out the window. From an ethics viewpoint, if one never acts on it, then there is no evil in it.

The problem is the morals viewpoint (if I may use Aristotle's definition, morals involve God, while ethics do not). The Catholic faith (and even most of the the Christian faith) leave us to believe that if we think it, then we have sinned. If one thinks about homosexual behavior, then you have sinned, regardless of acting on it. (This is ignoring the fact that most Christians I know say, "You can think it, but don't act on it", even though if you tell them you thought about it, then you will go to Hell). This sort of mentality is set up for failure with intrusive thoughts. Consider Fred Phelps : at some point in his life he may have had a homosexual intrusive thought, leading to the "God Hates Fags" picketing. And let's not forget Ted Haggard, though he was probably a homosexual already. In fact, this sort of mentality may be the root of many first world problems.

But more so than religious hatred, one has to consider some people, such as anorexics. Though they may have been completely healthy, with a healthy body fat level, they may have had an intrusive thought along the lines of: "I know I'm skinny, but is this little pooch of a belly fat? OMG!" People are starving in Africa and we are worried about a pooch of a belly. One must only look at teenager (first world) problems to see the full extent of hormonal related OCD intrusive thoughts. The problem isn't whiny wealthy people with first world problems. The problem is a lack of understanding our basic human nature.

As humans we are opportunistic, taking advantage of everything. We are warring, murderous, sexually explicit, xenophobic, and exploit anything we can. Though many of us choose not to engage in these actions, our human nature occasionally brings them to the forefront of thought, leaving many of us distraught.

Understanding that these thoughts are not in our control may be the key to living mentally healthier lives. Ever since I have found out what intrusive thoughts were I have been able to live a little freer, and they rarely visit me much these days.

"Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offense unto to me."
~Matthew 16 : 23