#groinal responses

Hi lovely!

Thank YOU for joining me on this blog! I’m so happy that you’re enjoying the content <3

I’m so sorry to hear that you’ve been experiencing a lot of triggers. I know how emotionally exhausting and scary groinal responses can be. They are confusing, and it can often feel like you don’t have control of your own body. 

It can be helpful to know the actual causes of groinal responses! I find that often clears things up for people.For people with OCD, one of the biggest causes of groinal responses is anxiety! So when you get a trigger, it can cause immediate anxiety, which in turn can cause an immediate groinal response. There doesn’t necessarily have to be a thought before for you to have a groinal response!Another cause of groinal responses are checking. When you check the area to see if you’re feeling anything, your brain will actually say “oh hey! Maybe I should be feeling something down there?” and will send a signal to the area, causing a response. So if you’re getting triggered, and checking the area to see if you’re responding to the trigger, that may also be the cause of your groinal responses.I also try to emphasize that groinal responses are a natural part of being human. They can happen randomly and to certain stimuli (sexual or not). But just because you’re body is reacting to it, doesn’t mean you agree with it or would ever partake in it. That’s just what bodies do! 

It can definitely seem like they become more and more common as time goes on, and I remember how awful it made me feel.

I’m really sorry to hear about all the trauma that your OCD has caused. It definitely sounds like a hard to thing to work and live through, and a hard cycle to come out of!I really want to commend you for reaching out the get help. It definitely is no small thing! OCD can be such a hard thing to talk about, and asking for help is one of the first things you need to do in order to feel better. You really should feel proud of yourself for coming that far!I know it can be hard when you’re still really struggling, but every part of the healing journey deserves to be celebrated. I hope you’re seeking therapy with an OCD therapist (someone who does Exposure Response Prevention and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy). These are the treatments to help OCD. If your therapist is trying to treat you with other therapies, they cannot treat your OCD.

Hi friend :)

I’m really sorry to hear that you’e struggling with all this doubt and confusion. I know how scary it is to feel like your feelings are running away without you. 

Absolutely! There is actually a term for this known as False Attraction. In the moment, when you’re anxious and obsessing, it can be near impossible to tell it apart from real attraction. But false attraction and real attraction are obviously very different. You might get an intrusive thought telling you that you’re attracted or feel affection towards something, and then begin to obsess about whether the thought is true or not. Checking to see how your body and mind reacts to confirm or deny this intrusive thought (which is a compulsion and only makes things worse / more confusing in most cases). 

Hey angel

I’m really sorry to hear that you’re struggling so much. OCD can really take a hold of your life and make it hard to focus on anything else. It’s painful and can be so hard.

The thing about groinal responses is that you can’t control them. In fact, when you try to control them and check if they’re happening, they actually happen more often! This is because when you check the area for movement, you brain actually sends a signal to the area and causes movement. Groinal responses are also a symptom of anxiety, and because OCD is an anxiety disorder, they are a very common side affect. They are also very normal, human, bodily reactions. I know that it can be so tempting to think “I just want these to stop, I just want my intrusive thoughts to go away completely.” But healing and coping with OCD actually takes a different approach.

Gross or graphic intrusive thoughts are also a very normal and natural human thing. So the goal is not to get rid of these things but to realign your belief that they must mean something. A groinal response and intrusive thought are just that, a response and a thought. Our bodies are complicated systems and they have quirks. It’s OCD that tells us “oh that thought must mean you like that, or that groinal response must mean you’re attracted to them” etc. Not only is this distressing, but very untrue. Now even though the goal is to learn to live with these thoughts and responses, like I mentioned, once you lose focus on these things, you will begin to experience them less and less. 

The most effective way to go through these steps is with an OCD therapist (Exposure Response Prevention and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy). You don’t need to do this alone, dear. This disorder can make it so difficult to even recognize when you’re experiencing symptoms, and it’s hard to know which steps to take. Talking with a professional can guide you through this and give you the tools to know how to react when you get an intrusive thought or groinal response. I know this can seem like a big and scary step, but the first thing you can do is just talk to your doctor. Tell them about all the symptoms that you’ve been experiencing and how they’re affecting your daily life (just like you mentioned in the ask, you’re always stressed, you’re constantly obsessing, you feel sick/nauseated, it’s affecting your willingness and ability to go to work, etc).These are not small things! I can understand how all of those symptoms would really affect the quality of your life. You deserve to get help, and you can . 

Hello love

I’m really sorry to hear that you’ve been struggling so much with these terrible intrusive thoughts and obsessing! A lot of people don’t realize how much this sort of thing can really affect your daily life. It can be confusing and isolating, and very hard to get information (especially when the subject can be stigmatized).

At the risk of giving reassurance, what you described is normal. It’s known as a “groinal response” and is very common with sexual obsessions such as pocd or hocd. I’ll explain a bit as to why this happens and common reactions to the groinal response.Groinal responses can actually be caused by anxiety!It can also be caused when you’re checking for a groinal response. When you check to see if any movement or feeling is happening, it actually sends a signal from your brain to that area and causes the movement/feeling. It’s also very common for a response to happen when viewing or thinking about any sort of sexual content. Your body doesn’t wait to ask if you agree with the content, or if you’d ever want to participate, it just does it’s thing and reacts to it. It’s very normal but can understandably be confusing and upsetting.

Again, it can definitely be a hard subject to ask about, so I’m glad you did, and I hope that this offered some insight into what might be going on with you. I know it’s a different story when you have to go talk to someone in person, but I really think it might be beneficial for you to talk to someone about the symptoms you’re experiencing.  

Like I said, it’s always disgusted me. I’ve never had any inkling of liking that sort of thing, and that fact that I have the intrusive thoughts means I hate it. But I get thoughts like, “What if I’m one of those people that has it but doesn’t like it?” and that terrifies me. It’s probably irrational but, then, what was that twinge? I’m scared. I’m really, really scared, and it’s become the main topic for the thoughts today. (2)

Hello there!

I know that when you have a strange thought or your body reacts in a way you weren’t expecting, it can be alarming. It’s important to note that strange thoughts and weird bodily sensations happen all the time to everyone. The difference between someone with OCD and without is how we respond to these thoughts and sensations.

someone without OCD: huh that was weird

someone with OCD: why did I feel that? Does that mean I’m aroused? Am I a pedophile?

Groinal responses are very common for people with sexual obsessions (like pedophilia ocd). They’re uncomfortable and scary because we have it in our minds that they must mean something. “Why would I be thinking this if it wasn’t true? Why would I be feeling this if it wasn’t true?” All of these are common thoughts for people struggling with OCD.

But there are ways you can get through this and get help! I know these thoughts can cause immeasurable guilt and shame (these are actually symptoms of OCD), but you deserve to get treatment and help for the anxiety you’re experiencing.

One of the best first steps you can take is talking to your doctor about your intrusive thoughts and the anxiety you’re feeling. You don’t have to be explicit, but you can talk about how the thoughts are affecting you, your mental health and your everyday life. It can be so hard to reach out, but it is worth it, and that help is there for you. Do keep in mind that you’re talking to a professional and everything you say is confidential.

In the meantime, you can start doing coping mechanisms to help when a situation like that occurs. For example, respond sarcastically to your intrusive thoughts: so if you think “I just felt something, I must be a pedophile” you can respond with something like “LOL suuuure Janet, whatever you say” with as much sarcasm as you can manage! It might feel weird to do, but it helps invalidate these thoughts and makes them seem less intimidating.

Hey there!

As time goes on, and symptoms continue, it’s common for people to not react in the same way that they used to! Intrusive thoughts and compulsions are extremely exhausting, and a lot of people begin to feel exhaustion and sadness in response to these thoughts. I’ve received a lot of asks where people worry that they aren’t feeling anxiety anymore (even though their anxiety symptoms are just being overshadowed by other symptoms, and they aren’t able to recognize them). 

Groinal responses are symptoms of anxiety! And many mental health professionals want it to be known that it’s not the intrusive thoughts themselves that cause the anxiety, but the obsessive thinking that follows intrusive thoughts. Many people begin to worry because they didn’t react to the intrusive thought right away. Everyone experiences intrusive thoughts, but only people with OCD begin to obsess about their intrusive thoughts and start to feel anxiety and do compulsions because of them. 

Hey love

Absolutely! I’m not sure if the feeling or emotion you’re talking about is attraction, but if it is, false attraction and groinal responses are very common for people with OCD! Anxiety can mimic a lot of natural feelings, like arousal and attraction. That “butterflies in your stomach” feeling that the media associates with love, is actually a symptom of anxiety, not attraction. And groinal responses are also a symptom of anxiety! They can also be caused when you check for them. The reason for this is because when you check, your brain sends a signal to the area, which causes a response. This can all be very distressing and hard to understand in the moment.

But if it’s not attraction you’re talking about, anxiety can still mimic or confuse a lot of feelings and emotions, which causes a lot of distress for people with OCD. For example, it’s really common to get an urge when you have an intrusive thought. This makes people with OCD worry that they were actually going to carry through with the action, when in actuality, it was just a random nerve pulsing. Another is example is heart rate. Your heart beating fast is a symptom of anxiety, but many people worry that their fast heart rate is a sign that their thoughts are making them excited.