Educational reference
About this symptom
Intrusive thoughts are thoughts, images or urges that arrive without being invited and are experienced as unwanted. Most people have them from time to time; they become significant when they recur, cause distress, and prompt an attempt to neutralise or undo them.
The themes vary widely. Common ones include contamination, doubt about whether something was done, a need for order, and fears of harm coming to oneself or others. Some intrusive thoughts involve aggressive, sexual or religious content that the person finds especially disturbing.
A point often misunderstood: these thoughts typically run contrary to what the person values. That contradiction is much of why they are distressing. Having an intrusive thought is not the same as wanting it, intending it, or being likely to act on it, and distress about the thought is characteristic rather than a warning sign.
Attempts to suppress or argue with such thoughts often increase how often they return. This is why treatment usually works on the response to the thought rather than on the thought itself.