Have you been struck with “bad luck” recently? Maybe you went through a horrible breakup, lost your keys, and got the flu all within the same week. While some might just chalk all these experiences up to a coincidence with awful timing, others might say you’ve been “cursed.”
Curses—which are quite similar to superstitions—are expressed wishes rooted in cultural traditions and religion that are passed down through generations.
While there’s nothing wrong with believing in curses, if your life revolves around the fear of being cursed, you could be dealing with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
What are curses, and are they real?
Curses, also known as hexes, jinxes, or maledictions, are wishes that something terrible (such as harm or injury) will happen to someone or a group of individuals. Curses originate from religious and cultural traditions and can be found throughout history.
“I used to work in a neighborhood that was predominantly Hispanic, and they had somebody called the bruja or the witch doctor,” says NOCD’s Chief Compliance Officer Tracie Ibrahim, LMFT, CST. “You would go to her for good curses or to erase curses. She would make a variety of things (e.g., herbs, rituals, spiritual practices) for curses.”
Another example is the evil eye curse. It is found in many cultures and is the belief that if someone is envious of you, they can curse you with an evil or malevolent glare and send you bad luck.
In the Bible, God doesn’t directly curse Christians. However, the Bible has stories where God curses biblical figures Cain and Canaan for sinning. Curses can also be found in other religions, such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism.
So, are curses true? While curses are woven into many cultures and religions, Ibrahim says there’s no proof that they are real. “There’s no science behind curses,” she says. “Curses are magical, and magic is not real—therefore, curses are just magical thinking.”
There’s no science behind curses. Curses are magical, and magic is not real—therefore, curses are just magical thinking.
Tracie Ibrahim, LMFT, CST
Could my belief in curses be related to a mental health condition?
Believing in curses is fairly common, according to Ibrahim. However, it can become a concern if curses are having a significant impact on your life. “If you were really believing [in curses] and living your life based on this and felt stressed about it, there could be an underlying mental health disorder present,” she says.
Could believing in curses be a sign of OCD?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental health disorder characterized by a cycle of obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are intrusive thoughts, images, urges, feelings, and/or sensations that cause fear and anxiety. Compulsions are physical or mental behaviors that are performed to relieve distress from obsessions and/or to prevent something awful from happening.
There are two subtypes of OCD that may cause intense fear of curses: magical thinking OCD and scrupulosity OCD.
Magical thinking OCD
Magical thinking OCD revolves around re-occurring intrusive thoughts and compulsions about irrational beliefs and behaviors—such as curses. People with magical thinking OCD have frequent intrusive thoughts that if they don’t perform certain actions, such as rituals, they will be responsible for something bad happening.
“A common ritual I see is that if you knock on wood, everything will be okay,” says Ibrahim. “I had a member who believed that their family members were going to die if they didn’t do this ritual.”
Here are some examples of magical thinking OCD obsessions tied to curses:
- I did something really bad in the past, and now I might be cursed.
- If I don’t text my partner every morning, they might get into a bad car accident, and it would be because I cursed them accidentally.
- If I don’t do something perfectly, I might curse my loved ones.
- I had a bad thought about someone. Did I just curse them unintentionally?
- I had an argument with my roommate yesterday. What if they cursed me because I didn’t apologize the right way?
To get rid of these obsessions, you might perform the following compulsions:
- Counting to a specific number in your head or repeating certain words or phrases a certain number of times as a way to protect yourself.
- Performing rituals, such as picking up and putting an object a certain number of times or counting to five before answering your phone.
- Seeking reassurance that your loved ones are okay.
- Avoiding certain people, places, or objects you believe are cursed or unlucky.
- Excessively organizing or cleaning to “cleanse” your home or yourself of any potential curse or “bad energy.”
Scrupulosity OCD
Scrupulosity OCD, also known as religious or Christian OCD, is another subtype of OCD that could be tied to a fear of curses. People with scrupulosity OCD may have re-occurring intrusive thoughts about something they thought or did that goes against their religion, morals, and/or ethics.
Below are some examples of scrupulosity OCD obsessions associated with a fear of curses:
- What if I sinned? Will God curse me for it?
- I touched something “impure.” Am I now cursed?
- Will I be cursed if I don’t pray enough or in the right way?
- What if my past sins caused a curse from God that I can’t reverse?
- What if my bad thoughts or actions have cursed my loved ones?
Compulsions that may be performed to get rid of these thoughts include:
- Repeatedly asking spiritual leaders to remove the curse—even if they’ve done so several times.
- Excessive prayer.
- Performing rituals like purification to ensure a curse doesn’t “stick” or affect you.
- Engaging in excessive atonement, such as fasting or long prayers, to ensure you haven’t brought a curse upon yourself or your loved ones.
- Constantly seeking reassurance from family and friends that they’re not experiencing bad luck or frequently praying to protect them from curses.
How to overcome an intense fear of curses
If you have (or think) you have magical thinking OCD or scrupulosity OCD, it’s best that you seek mental health treatment to get your symptoms under control. The most effective treatment for all OCD subtypes is exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy. The evidence-based therapy is backed by decades of research, with 80% of people with OCD seeing a significant reduction in their symptoms after doing ERP therapy.
You’ll work with a therapist specializing in ERP to identify your triggers, obsessions, and compulsions and develop a personalized treatment plan to help you manage your fear of curses.
Your therapist will guide you through the two components of ERP therapy: exposures and response prevention techniques. “I would have someone write a worst-case scenario and have them say things like, “‘I didn’t do this, or I did do this, and this happened,’ and then test it,” says Ibrahim. “I had somebody who thought their luck had been terrible since they broke a mirror. So I went and got a few mirrors, and we broke them to see if our luck would change. And, of course, it hadn’t.”
While ERP can be very helpful in getting your intrusive thoughts and compulsions under control, don’t expect a significant change overnight. It’ll take some patience, being consistent with your therapy sessions, and doing your homework to see changes in your magical thinking or religious OCD over time.
Find the right OCD therapist for you
All our therapists are licensed and trained in exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), the gold standard treatment for OCD.
Bottom line
Depending on your cultural background, believing in curses may be a normal part of your life. However, if a fear of being cursed is becoming debilitating and impacting your mental health, it’s time to seek professional help.
If you believe you’re experiencing magical thinking or religious OCD, work with an ERP therapist. They can help identify the source of your fears and create a personalized treatment plan to address your symptoms.
Key takeaways:
- Curses are wishes or pronouncements that cause harm to someone, which are derived from religions and cultural traditions.
- While there’s no such thing as real curses, many still believe that they must perform certain actions, such as rituals, to protect themselves and their families from harm.
- A belief in curses that causes significant distress could indicate subtypes of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), such as magical thinking OCD or scrupulosity OCD.
- If you believe you have OCD, exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy is the best treatment for breaking the cycle of obsessions and compulsions.
