Health3 min(s) read
Published 09:33 29 Jun 2026 GMT
A woman who horrified people around her when she spoke out about her fears that she was a pedophile discovered that her intrusive thoughts were a form of OCD.
Dana Da Silva first had what she described as a “sticky thought” when she was bathing a friend’s young child. Although she had no intention to harm the child, she began to question whether she was capable of pedophilic acts, as well as murder or incest.
It was only after researching what her intrusive thoughts could mean that Da Silva discovered she could have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Then, while deep diving into what her unwanted thoughts could mean, she found out about Pedophilia-Themed Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (POCD), which makes people have unwanted thoughts about harming or being attracted to children.
In a recent interview with The Sun, Da Silva described her symptoms, saying, “They appeared from nowhere. I never harmed anyone, but was terrified I would. I also feared being a murderer and incestuous. I ruminated on those possibilities, searching for answers. I wanted some confirmation whether the thoughts were real or not.”
Despite believing that her thoughts were a serious mental health condition, the Australian woman did not seek a diagnosis and remained silent for years for fear of being judged.
The 38-year-old found comfort in a podcast in which the host was talking about OCD, and it encouraged her to seek an official diagnosis.
Da Silva said, “I understood OCD to be repetitive physical rituals related to hygiene or organisation. But that’s a stereotype. Mental health misconceptions, resulting from a lack of awareness and education, are the reason I went so long without diagnosis and treatment.”
The mom-of-two revealed all the goriest details about her condition in a memoir that left her loved ones “shocked”.
Explaining why she wrote the detailed memoir, Da Silva said, “Everyone has intrusive thoughts. People standing on train station platforms sometimes think ‘oh I could push that person next to me’ but for most people those thoughts don’t linger.
“But for people with OCD they can and do. That’s why I call them sticky thoughts.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 1.2 percent of the US population is living with OCD.
Da Silva also explained, “I learned that everyone in the world has intrusive thoughts to some degree, but someone with OCD gives power to those thoughts. OCD types fixate on them, worry about their significance, become ashamed of them. OCD mostly involves irrational anxieties. For example, ‘what if this violent thought means I’ll kill someone?’
“We focused on my compulsions, which were mostly mental – arguing with the thoughts, seeking reassurance, searching for answers.
“Of course, therein lies one of the most dangerous misconceptions regarding OCD, that compulsions are always physical, external behaviours, when in actuality they can be mental, internal and hidden from the world.”
