When it comes to OCD, nothing is off-limits, including political beliefs. Whether your OCD is latching onto politics, social justice, or a related topic, the most effective treatment for managing symptoms is exposure and response-prevention (ERP) therapy.
Anything can be political, but if you’re living with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), it may feel difficult to read the news or participate in political discussions—even if you want to. Maybe you feel overly concerned with political correctness, and experience extreme worries about being cancelled for saying the wrong thing. Or, maybe news stories of injustice trigger intense feelings of guilt about your inability to help.
If you’re concerned with examining and challenging your own biases, you may worry that you’re not saying, thinking, or doing the “right” thing—and that there could be grave consequences to making a mistake. “Political beliefs are often tied to a person’s identity, morals, and values, so when OCD takes hold in this area, it can create significant anxiety and self-doubt,” says NOCD therapist Mary Beth Overstreet, MA, LPC.
While these concerns can feel all-consuming, there are ways to lessen the power these fears have over you, allowing you to pursue your values in a more healthy (and often more effective) way. Read on to learn more about how to spot potential signs of politically-themed OCD, and manage these symptoms.
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Am I a bad person if I have politically incorrect thoughts?
If you’re experiencing frequent prejudicial or discriminatory thoughts on the basis of race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, or any other identity factor, it’s important to figure out what’s going on. These sorts of thoughts can impact behaviors, so it can be a good idea to examine potential conscious or unconscious biases through engaging with books, podcasts, and training courses that can help you learn to challenge these ideas.
However, it’s also quite possible to have intrusive thoughts about these topics, without believing them. In fact, intrusive thoughts often run contrary to what we really value. If you find yourself experiencing biased thoughts that cause significant distress—precisely because they don’t align with how you really feel or want to behave—it’s worth investigating whether a mental health condition, like OCD, could be at play.
How political themes latch onto OCD
OCD is a chronic mental health condition defined by two main symptoms. Obsessions are repeated intrusive thoughts, sensations, images, feelings, or urges that cause anxiety or distress. Compulsions are repetitive behaviors or mental acts performed to neutralize the obsession, prevent something bad from happening, or try to reduce distress.
OCD obsessions usually latch onto the topics that are most important to you, fueling fears and anxiety. If you care a lot about social justice, this might mean you experience more intrusive thoughts about those issues—such as preoccupations with being politically correct, or “woke.” It’s worth noting that generalized concern about these issues is not misplaced. “Wanting to strive to be better for all people in your interactions, words, and what you put out into the world is a worthy goal,” says licensed clinical psychologist Mia Nuñez, PhD, Regional Clinical Director at NOCD. That said, OCD typically triggers excessive worry about issues that there’s no way to achieve total certainty or perfection around. When it comes to being socially conscious, this excessive concern can sometimes be counterproductive, making it harder to engage with the issues you care about and enact your true beliefs.
If you’re struggling with OCD themes focused on politics and social values, your worries may not just focus on your present or future actions; you may become obsessed with the past. This can be especially tricky, since it’s impossible to be completely certain about your memories. OCD can make these doubts very intense. You may find yourself questioning whether you’ve behaved badly at earlier points in life, and have trouble accepting the idea that you may never know for sure.
In response to these fears, you may go to great lengths to try to prove to yourself that you have never had a biased thought, or acted inappropriately. Nuñez says this often results in mental compulsions, such as endlessly replaying past memories.
You might question if you ever wrote something terrible online, or were ever exposed to friendships where [biased] attitudes were the norm.
Mia Nuñez, PhD
Examining past thoughts and behaviors can be a healthy practice, especially when it comes to advocating for social justice and being a thoughtful ally. But, OCD compulsions never bring you the answers, peace, or growth you seek. They only serve to exacerbate a cycle of obsessions and compulsions that makes it harder to engage in daily life, or affect the change you may want to see in the world.
Common signs of politically-focused OCD
Common obsessions
- Am I supporting the right cause? You might repeatedly question whether your political beliefs align with your core values, or if you are accidentally endorsing something harmful—even if you’ve previously vetted the causes and groups you’re working with.
- What if I’m not doing enough to change the world? OCD can make you feel like you must take every action possible to change the political climate, even if you are already doing what you can.
- Fear of being cancelled: You may constantly feel as if you’re at risk of public humiliation— like being fired or ostracized by family or friends, even if you know you haven’t done anything wrong.
Common compulsions
- Apologizing to others “just in case” they might have a negative opinion of you.
- Ruminating on possible mistakes you’ve made, or thoughts you may have had.
- Frequently confessing intrusive thoughts or doubts.
- Asking others for reassurance that you’re doing enough politically, or haven’t done anything wrong.
- Scouring your social media accounts repeatedly to make sure you did not post something offensive in the past.
- Engaging in excessive research about social justice issues. While research is a good thing, Nuñez says the behavior can become compulsive if it takes up hours of your day or gets in the way of your daily functioning.
- Rehearsing things before you say them, “in ways that affect your ability to communicate,” according to Nuñez.
- Trying to replay or recreate events in your head to prove to yourself that you did not do anything wrong.
From our Community
How to manage your OCD while staying true to your values
If social justice movements have taught us anything, it’s that many of us have a lot to learn when it comes to unpacking implicit biases, and no one is perfect. That awareness can be an important catalyst for growth. However, if you suspect that OCD is causing you to make these practices compulsive, it’s important to seek help.
The most effective treatment for OCD is exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy, a specialized form of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) designed for OCD. During ERP, a qualified therapist will gradually and intentionally trigger your obsessions, which will, in turn, likely cause you to feel some anxiety. Rather than responding to these feelings with compulsions, you would instead be taught to sit with any discomfort. Over time, your body and brain will learn that anxiety is not an emergency. Eventually, the intensity and frequency of your obsessions will lessen.
If your OCD is focused on social justice, Nuñez says your ERP therapist will take special care. “We’re cognizant that ERP, even if helpful for an individual, could also reinforce problematic beliefs or actions,” she says. For example, if your obsessions center on fears of saying something racist, your therapist will not force you to confront this fear by saying something offensive.
What is justice-based ERP therapy?
In justice-based ERP therapy, treatment is individualized and “addresses the underlying fears someone has in a way that’s not harmful or marginalizing to any group,” Nunez explains. For example, maybe you fear that you’re going to write something inappropriate on social media, so you’ve begun avoiding the internet altogether. An ERP therapist would work with you to help you start re-engaging with the internet—perhaps starting small by looking at an Instagram page of cute animals, and slowly increasing your tolerance for discomfort by eventually visiting the Wikipedia page of a figure whose beliefs you strongly disagree with. In response, you’d resist compulsions, instead, learning to sit with any anxiety that arises.
Treatment may also involve prosocial exposure—behaviors that are beneficial to a community or larger society. For instance, if you’re avoiding members of an underrepresented group out of fear of offending them, you might be asked to start engaging with issues that affect this group by reading books or articles. In time, you might feel comfortable joining a related action or organization. “In justice-based ERP, we don’t need to ask people to behave in harmful ways. This can become an opportunity to do good, too,” says Nuñez.
Key takeaways
- OCD can latch onto anything, including politics and social justice.
- People whose OCD focuses on being “woke” or politically correct may experience a strong fear of being cancelled.
- All themes of OCD can be effectively treated with ERP therapy, without sacrificing your values.