Woman had one thought that caused her to think she was a pedophile - she was diagnosed with a condition

A woman who became convinced she was a pedophile after a single intrusive thought has revealed how she was eventually diagnosed with a little-known form of OCD.

Molly Lambert, 22, appeared on ITV's This Morning on Monday (June 8), where she opened up about being diagnosed with a subtype of obsessive-compulsive disorder known as P-OCD.

The condition causes sufferers to experience intrusive thoughts, images, fears, and doubts related to minors, often leaving them overwhelmed by guilt, fear, and anxiety despite having no desire to act on those thoughts.

For Molly, this all began when she was around 14 or 15 years old and preparing to go on vacation.

She recalled noticing a young girl wearing what she considered to be an inappropriate outfit for her age, but instead of dismissing the observation, she became fixated on why she had thought it in the first place.

That passing thought soon developed into an all-consuming fear that something was wrong with her.

Molly Lambert believed she was a pedophile. Credit: ITV

Although she managed to move on from the incident, the intrusive thoughts resurfaced the following year while she was revising for exams.

"From that moment, my life was forever different," she said in a previous appearance on the Tea At Four podcast.

"From that desk day, I was just a different person - obviously everyone around me didn’t know what was happening and just thought I was stressed about my exams. Every second of every day I was just thinking about how much of an awful person I was," she added.

Terrified to tell anyone

Molly's thoughts became increasingly severe, leading her to believe she was a danger to children and even those closest to her.

Looking back, she says she had no idea OCD could manifest in such a way.

"Obviously, when I first experienced it at 14, 15, I had no idea that OCD looked like this and could be anything that what I was experiencing," she said.

The 22-year-old knew she was experiencing thoughts about "harming people and being a pedophile," but believed that admitting them would get her into serious trouble.

"I couldn't eat. I lost so much weight. I wasn't sleeping. I was so terrified to be alone because obviously when you're alone, you know, the thoughts get worse," she explained. "My parents were like, 'Why is she always with us all the time?'

"I was quite an independent person before, and I was, you know, sitting in their bed all the time and just like terrified. They thought I was nervous about my exams. That was that was the least of my worries, you know."

She feared that if she told anyone what was happening, she could be arrested.

Breaking down on Christmas Eve

Molly continued to keep her fears hidden from those closest to her.

"I mean, my parents are amazing and like they've always been very, like, emotionally intelligent and quite an open household. And I thought I could never tell them that I'm obsessing about being a pedophile," she said.

Eventually, she reached the breaking point and opened up to them on Christmas Eve.

"They were amazing," she said, adding that her parents did not initially understand what she was describing, but quickly helped her find professional support.

"Obviously, they didn't know what I was talking about. I was quite distressed and um, they got me therapy pretty quickly," she said.

Although she was reluctant to seek help, therapy eventually led to the diagnosis she had been desperately searching for.

Molly now uses her platform to speak openly about her experiences in the hope of raising awareness and helping others who may be suffering in silence.

Featured image credit: ITV