Does a Groinal response feel like arousal?

Anxiety and arousal

This attention and the anxiety you are feeling may actually increase blood flow and physical arousal. This can make you feel as if you are aroused by the intrusive thoughts when in fact the opposite is true. Many people with this type of OCD call this ‘groinal response’.

Can you be aroused by intrusive thoughts?

Sudden physical arousal can happen to anyone as a result of intrusive thoughts — not just those with POCD or OCD. Simply experiencing a thought that is sexual in nature can cause physical arousal.

What does an obsessive thought feel like?

Obsessions are unwelcome thoughts, images, urges, worries or doubts that repeatedly appear in your mind. They can make you feel very anxious (although some people describe it as ‘mental discomfort’ rather than anxiety).

Can HOCD cause Groinal response?

The HOCD sufferer is very likely to have groinal responses around the same relationship for the precise reason that they are checking and telling themselves not to.

Are Groinal responses normal?

People with and without OCD can experience private parts sensations, referred to as the “groinal response,” in situations of anxiety and fear. The neuroscience of touch sensation, attention, and arousal explains why the groinal response occurs and why it’s perfectly normal.

What is unwanted arousal?

Sometimes people feel sexual arousal for someone and it’s not reflected in a private parts response. Sometimes people have a physiological (genital) response and they do not feel desire. This is a known and researched phenomenon called arousal nonconcordance.

Can anxiety be mistaken for arousal?

Although clinical reports generally link anxiety to impaired sexual arousal, laboratory studies suggest that, under certain conditions, anxiety may facilitate private parts sexual arousal responses.

Can HOCD cause arousal?

SO-OCD and arousal

A person with SO-OCD and HOCD may check their body to see how it responds to the intrusive thoughts and unwanted images. According to Mind UK, having sexual intrusive thoughts and unwanted images may cause a person to constantly check their genitals for signs of arousal.

Is Pocd just denial?

What does that mean for POCD sufferers? It means that ultimately there is no way to definitively prove that people with POCD are not in denial about being pedophiles. This means that the only sensible strategy for those with POCD is to accept that the certainty they seek is just not possible.