This Is Paramisia

[PT: What kinds of posts trigger moral & checking OCD (and psychosis)? /End PT]

So many people write and reblog posts that have very direct triggers towards folks with moral & checking OCD. Here are posts NOT to make/reblog.

To get the terminology out of the way - moral OCD is a condition in which a person becomes obsessed about doing something "morally wrong", and develops compulsive behaviors over it. Checking OCD is a condition in which a person becomes obsessed over checking over their own (or others) actions, as to avoid a perceived disaster, and develops compulsions around it.

Do NOT make/reblog posts with phrases such as:

"Reblog/donate/share or else you are letting me/someone I know die/suffer." "Reblog or else you're [insert bad thing]"/"Reblog if you're not [insert bad thing]"

^If it is an urgent donation post that you feel deserves to be shared, at the very least, add "tw reblog bait" and "tw OCD trigger."

"Reblog/like/comment/share or else [insert creature] will find you/stalk you/come into your house/etc" "[Insert thing] is coming to your location. You cannot stop it. It will be outside your window soon"/"[Insert thing] is in your walls."

^These ones can also trigger hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia in people with schizospec disorders/psychosis! It may seem like a "haha funny meme" to you, but to people with OCD or psychosis, they could fret heavily over this, and wonder if they are going to be in danger if they don't reblog/like/comment/share.

"It is illegal to be/have [insert thing here]." (Example: "It is illegal to be nonqueer during pride month", "it is illegal to have internalized ableism during disability pride month", etc.)

Its complicated.

If you're having thoughts unwillingly pop into your mind (as para disorders tend to do), that doesn't make you evil. Thought crimes are not real. People have sexual fantasies about crushes who don't reciprocate all the time, does that constitute sexual harassment? No, because it's within the confines of their mind.

Now, do I ENCOURAGE masturbating to or purposefully (keyword is purposefully) fantasizing of beings who are literally incapable of consenting to you (real animals, real children, etc)? No, because studies have shown that fosters an unhealthy relationship with that being in your mind, and increases the amount of fantasies at play.

Will I call you evil if you've masturbated to or purposefully fostered one of those fantasies before? No, because you didn't harm anyone. It's just not particularly healthy for YOURSELF, but it didn't harm the being in question. I'd just encourage you to shift that sexual focus onto a FICTIONAL being instead, rather than one based within reality. (Ie; if you're fantasizing about your pet dog, try shifting to fantasizing about a fictional dog instead.) And to be clear, fictional =/= cartoonish. A fictional depiction with realism is still fictional.

Redirection may take some practice, though, which you can read more about here [link.]

A relevant quote from that post is "When you're fantasizing in a way you don't want to, try changing just one thing about the fantasy. It's okay if it's only a small change, like changing the color of someone's hair. Just try to make steps towards creating a less distressing fantasy. It'll get easier over time to create more changes. Sometimes your fantasy will return to how it was originally and that's okay. Any effort you make is progress."

Honestly, it's pretty easy to summarize, so I'll do so now.

1- Do not talk to minors online about sexual topics unless it is relevant to sexual education of some kind (educating a kid about paraphilias is also sex ed.) And if you talk to a minor about sex ed, I would recommend doing so off of DMs, because doing so in DMs can sometimes lead people to be suspicious. Its okay if a minor chooses to view sexual content in their own time, but don't talk about it with them unless necessary for sex ed.

2- Do not *purposefully* seek out CSEM, real beastiality content, or any other exploitative real content of non-consenting beings (stumbling upon it accidentally is not your fault.) Consuming essays or informative videos/articles about situations is different, as long as you're not doing so with intent of gratification. (Note: Experiencing unintentional gratification is not your fault. It's when you go out of your way to try and use said content to gratify yourself that it becomes a concern.)

3- Do not post explicit, suggestive, or kink/fetish content in unrelated tags. Also please just tag your content properly or at the very least put content under the cut and add a CW/TW, if you're not going to add tags.

4- Do not send explicit, suggestive, or kink/fetish content to individuals (including adults) who have not consented.

I feel arousal and attraction to horrible things and people and beings

I can't seem to feel empathy about victims even though I don't wanna feel like that and I keep trying to make myself feel empathy for them but I just feel immoral things instead

I can't watch the important news because I will just get obsessed and aroused

I tried to follow a PTSD podcast because I have PTSD symptoms but instead I would just replay the podcasts because hearing people's experiences made me feel aroused

I'm just a living breathing monster

Why was I born like this, what do I even do? Am I evil?

1 & 2 - Thoughts/feelings are not "immoral." Thoughts/feelings are inherently neutral. How you treat others is what matters.

3- You cannot choose what you feel. This includes empathy, sympathy, and compassion [link.] You do not need to empathize with victims, all that matters is you treat victims with kindness.

4 & 5 - Having a paraphilia with obsessive compulsive traits doesn't make you evil. I think the best thing for you to do would be to try and avoid these things, as to avoid obsessive spirals - not because it makes you "evil" but rather because it seems unhealthy in the way that it distresses you. Maybe try some of these therapy worksheets?

Get Self Help [link] - free self help resources.

Therapy Worksheets [link] - free self help worksheets.

OCD worksheets [link]

These may also help. They were designed with MAPs in mind, but could help even if you're not a MAP, just by changing the word "children" to whatever other term.

Self-help modules [link]

My input is the same as the above. You are not disgusting.

Where your sympathy is directed is not your fault, most people cannot choose that. The same for feelings of jealousy, anger, and annoyance. So long as you are not taking that out on the victims, thats all that really matters.

I feel arousal and attraction to horrible things and people and beings

I can't seem to feel empathy about victims even though I don't wanna feel like that and I keep trying to make myself feel empathy for them but I just feel immoral things instead

I can't watch the important news because I will just get obsessed and aroused

I tried to follow a PTSD podcast because I have PTSD symptoms but instead I would just replay the podcasts because hearing people's experiences made me feel aroused

I'm just a living breathing monster

Why was I born like this, what do I even do? Am I evil?

1 & 2 - Thoughts/feelings are not "immoral." Thoughts/feelings are inherently neutral. How you treat others is what matters.

3- You cannot choose what you feel. This includes empathy, sympathy, and compassion [link.] You do not need to empathize with victims, all that matters is you treat victims with kindness.

4 & 5 - Having a paraphilia with obsessive compulsive traits doesn't make you evil. I think the best thing for you to do would be to try and avoid these things, as to avoid obsessive spirals - not because it makes you "evil" but rather because it seems unhealthy in the way that it distresses you. Maybe try some of these therapy worksheets?

Get Self Help [link] - free self help resources.

Therapy Worksheets [link] - free self help worksheets.

OCD worksheets [link]

These may also help. They were designed with MAPs in mind, but could help even if you're not a MAP, just by changing the word "children" to whatever other term.

Self-help modules [link]

My input is the same as the above. You are not disgusting.

Where your sympathy is directed is not your fault, most people cannot choose that. The same for feelings of jealousy, anger, and annoyance. So long as you are not taking that out on the victims, thats all that really matters.