We all experience intrusive thoughts. I have worried about suddenly shouting in a lift full of people (thankfully I never have) or doing some other sort of silly behaviour that would generally be frowned upon. This is very common. I thought you might find it interesting to read about common intrusive thoughts that we all have:
The table below shows the results of research findings from a survey of 293 students (198 female, 95 male), none of who had a diagnosed mental health problem. The column on the left shows the type of intrusive thought and the 2 columns on the left show the percentage of men or women who said they had experienced that particular thought.
The research is from – C. Purdon and D.A. Clark (1992) Obsessive Intrusive Thoughts in Non Clinical Subjects. Part 1 Content and relation with depressive, anxious and obsessional symptoms. Behaviour Research and Therapy 31, 713-720.
| Item | Female % | Male % |
| 1. Driving into a window | 13 | 16 |
| 2. Running car off the road | 64 | 56 |
| 3. Hitting animals or people with car | 46 | 54 |
| 4. Swerving into traffic | 55 | 52 |
| 5. Smashing into objects | 27 | 40 |
| 6. Slitting wrist/throat | 20 | 22 |
| 7. Cutting off finger | 19 | 16 |
| 8. Jumping off a high place | 39 | 46 |
| 9. Fatally pushing a stranger | 17 | 34 |
| 10. Fatally pushing friend | 9 | 22 |
| 11. Jumping in front of train/car | 25 | 29 |
| 12. Pushing stranger in front of train/car | 8 | 20 |
| 13. Pushing family in front of train/car | 5 | 14 |
| 14. Hurting strangers | 18 | 48 |
| 15. Insulting strangers | 50 | 59 |
| 16. Bumping into people | 37 | 43 |
| 17. Insulting authority figure | 34 | 48 |
| 18. Insulting family | 59 | 55 |
| 19. Hurting family | 42 | 50 |
| 20. Choking family member | 10 | 22 |
| 21. Stabbing family member | 6 | 11 |
| 22. Accidentally leaving heat/stove on | 79 | 66 |
| 23. Home unlocked, intruder there | 77 | 69 |
| 24. Taps left on, home flooded | 28 | 24 |
| 25. Swearing in public | 30 | 34 |
| 26. Breaking wind in public | 31 | 49 |
| 27. Throwing something | 28 | 26 |
| 28. Causing a public scene | 47 | 43 |
| 29. Scratching car paint | 26 | 43 |
| 30. Breaking window | 26 | 43 |
| 31. Wrecking something | 32 | 33 |
| 32. Shoplifting | 27 | 33 |
| 33. Grabbing money | 21 | 39 |
| 34. Holding up bank | 6 | 32 |
| 35. Sex with unacceptable person | 48 | 63 |
| 36. Sex with authority figure | 38 | 63 |
| 37. Fly/blouse undone | 27 | 40 |
| 38. Kissing authority figure | 37 | 44 |
| 39. Exposing myself | 9 | 21 |
| 40. Acts against sexual preference | 19 | 20 |
| 41. Authority figures naked | 42 | 54 |
| 42. Strangers naked | 51 | 80 |
| 43. Sex in public | 49 | 78 |
| 44. Disgusting sex act | 43 | 52 |
| 45. Catching sexually transmitted disease | 60 | 43 |
| 46. Contamination from doors | 35 | 24 |
| 47. Contamination from phones | 28 | 18 |
| 48. Getting fatal disease from strangers | 22 | 19 |
| 49. Giving fatal disease to strangers | 25 | 17 |
| 50. Giving everything away | 52 | 43 |
| 51. Removing all dust from the floor | 35 | 24 |
| 52. Removing dust from unseen places | 41 | 29 |
Mandy X
Info: courtesy of IESO Digital health
Photo by Artem Maltsev on Unsplash
Author: Mandy Kloppers
Mandy is a qualified therapist who treats depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, trauma, and many other types of mental health issues. She provides online therapy around the world for those needing support and also provides relationship counselling.
