Jennie Kuckertz, PhD, and Martha Falkenstein, PhD, contributed to this post. Drs. Kuckertz and Falkenstein are clinical psychologists at McLean Hospital’s OCD Institute. Intrusive thoughts are normal.

If you have OCD or anxiety, you are all too familiar with endless doubts, unwanted thoughts, and painful worries. You may feel misunderstood by family, friends, and past therapists who don't seem to ...

Haupt is a health and wellness editor at TIME. Haupt is a health and wellness editor at TIME. It takes an average of 14 to 17 years for people to be diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) ...

Many of us have wild thoughts that pop into our heads out of nowhere. But what if those thoughts were harmful and seemed to want to destroy good things in your life? And what if they happened all of ...

Obsessions and compulsions in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) vary between people and may focus on one or more themes. The term “taboo OCD” refers to OCD themes that center around socially ...

Here's a thought experiment: don't think about a panda. Did it work? Or are you thinking about a panda? I'm assuming, now that you've read the word panda for the third time, that you're thinking about ...

In a review of previous studies, McMaster University researchers observe a stronger signal for psilocybin as a treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder than cannabinoids.

Intrusive thoughts are a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a mental health condition in which a person experiences involuntary obsessions and compulsions that may cause distress.

It’s easy to unintentionally say something that hurts your loved one with OCD more than it helps, even if you mean well. Here’s how to avoid that. Life with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) can be ...