Just Obsessive, Not Compulsive

[RBM]

Is it possible just to have Obsessive thoughts or do these two things work hand in hand?

I get very Obsessive with my thoughts to the point where I think I have a serious problem, but I don't really feel that I'm Compulsive although maybe I don't understand it properly.

I'll get disturbing thoughts in my head that I will think about over and over, but I don't really do anything that I can tell that is like a compulsive "ritual." I know some people will wash there hands, or shave or check the elements on the stove. I'll do some of those things maybe a tad bit more then average but I don't think it's to the extreme level of some people, I'd chalk it more down to perfectionism I have.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Yes, OCD can involve repetitive obsessive thoughts with little or no compulsive acts or rituals asssociated with those thoughts.

 

[MollyK]

I have obsessive thoughts to, in the form of fantacies where I act them out repeatedly in my head and even wake up in the night doing it. I think it meets some kind of need. For me I think the thoughts I am having are comforting, but really they are not because they are after all fantasies. I cant stop them going round in my head in any case