Solipsism OCD: Unraveling the Mystery Behind This Intriguing Subtype

Imagine feeling as if you are alone – not just alone in your home, but alone in the universe. Imagine how scary that would feel. Now, imagine your mind telling you that nothing exists outside of you – your experiences, thoughts, beliefs, fears – everything. What if your mind kept trying to convince you that the people you encountered were not real? The little dog you saw dragging its owner to the grass where it could pee – not real. The smiling face of your mother – not real. Your colleagues at work – not real. And, your partner’s emotional pain – not real. It is all fake. Imaginary.

Nothing matters but what you think, feel, and experience. You are the creator of everything that happens in life. There is nothing beyond you. How frightening is that? Well, when you have solipsism OCD, this is a reality for you. You try to negate these intrusive and scary thoughts, but you can because there is no way to prove or disprove this theory.

You want to believe you are wrong but you are afraid that you are right. The world cannot possibly revolve solely around you, right? But you simply cannot shake the overwhelming, persistent, fear that you may be right and you are living in a make-believe world. Perhaps, you’re an alien, or perhaps, others are. You just don’t know.

If you have been questioning what is real and what is not real, you have come to the right place, because this article will help you determine if you could be suffering from solipsism OCD. The goal is to demystify this OCD subtype so you can get the OCD help you need to combat it and reclaim your life!

What is Solipsism?

The dictionary defines solipsism as “selfish” and “self-centered,” but that is a simplistic view of solipsism. This mentality involves much more than just being “selfish” or “self-centered.” Even if one wants to think that their thoughts, beliefs, and experiences are the only truth – the only experiences, most people know deep down that is not true. They know that there is life outside of themselves – i.e., thoughts, beliefs, experiences, emotions, etc. In other words, most people are able to take into account other people’s feelings, thoughts, and experiences. But solipsists are unable or unwilling to make this discernment.

Solipsism is the belief that your personal experience is the only thing that truly exists. So, not only does the whole world revolve around you and your experience, but the only thing that is real is your thoughts – your mind – your mental state. Everything else is make-believe – imaginary – false. Understand, however, those who have a solipsistic mental state equate “existence” with their personal experiences – i.e., objects, people, events, thoughts, emotions, visions, behaviors, and processes.

Thus, if you are a solipsist, you not only believe that your thoughts, emotions, experiences, and behaviors are a matter of fact, but that these thoughts, emotions, experiences, and behaviors reign supreme as the ultimate truth. In other words, your personal experiences are the only ones that exist and matter. So, in your mind, no other thoughts, emotions, experiences, or behaviors exist. Nothing truly exists beyond your personal experiences.

To solipsists, “sadness” refers to their “personal sadness,” “anger” refers to their personal “anger,” and “pain” refers to their “personal pain.” They are unable to wrap their heads around the idea that sadness, anger, pain, and other emotions, experiences, thoughts, and behaviors could exist outside of their own experiences, perceptions, and realities. These individuals have an egocentric mindframe. In other words, they believe that their own worldviews, mental states, and consciousness exist, and everything and everyone else are simply figments of their imaginations.

Most people are able to distinguish between their own thoughts, emotions, and experiences and those of others. For instance, say you are watching a scary movie, like Halloween. Well, you probably “know” what is about to happen before the characters experience it. This is called mentalization. Mentalization means you are able to suspend what you know or perceive so you can acknowledge or better understand someone else’s experience. When you “put yourself in someone’s shoes” you are demonstrating mentalization.

You are looking at the situation from a different perspective – outside of yourself. Well, solipsists are unable to do this. In other words, they are unable to look beyond themselves and their experiences to see things from a different view. People are not meant to live within bubbles of their own making – completely unaware of the world around them. That is what happens with solipsism – people are unaware that other experiences and worldviews exist. Solipsists also believe that the external world is simply the perception of themselves – that is it. Their minds create their existences. Nothing outside of this exists.

Solipsists are unable or unwilling to put themselves aside (thoughts, beliefs, emotions, behaviors, and experiences) to better understand others and the world around them. They are also unable or unwilling to put their own egocentric ideas aside to see something bigger than themselves. Unlike people who can “mentalize” and control their thoughts and behaviors, many solipsists are unable to control their urges and impulses, which is where obsessive-compulsive disorder comes into play.

What is OCD?

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common mental health condition characterized by stress, anxiety, obsessions, and compulsions. More specifically, hallmark OCD symptoms include unwanted, intrusive thoughts, urges, impulses, visions, fears (obsessions), and rituals or routines (compulsions) that are repetitive and cyclic in nature.

Contrary to popular belief there are many “types” of OCD, ranging from racist OCD and “just right” or perfectionism OCD to relationship OCD and postpartum OCD. Some people experience just obsessions, some just compulsions, and some both obsessions and compulsions. OCD is not only annoying but also time-consuming, and life-altering in some cases.

OCD can prevent you from snagging and keeping your dream job, especially if it requires punctuality and strict deadlines. It can also damage your relationships, especially romantic ones. The truth is it can be hard to date someone with OCD because obsessions and compulsions can take precedence in an OCD sufferer’s life, pushing romantic partners and loved ones to the side.

It is important to understand that this is not a conscious choice. The most pressing thing on the mind of most OCD sufferers is to make the “noise” in their brains stop – not to alienate loved ones. The only way to get the distress to go away is to perform compulsions (rituals or routines). These routines can take up a lot of time, leading to missed dates, family gatherings, and social events.

So, while it may look as though your partner or loved one does not care about your feelings or recognize your pain, they are not doing that on purpose – it is in all likelihood a manifestation of their condition. However, in some mystifying cases, solipsism or the belief that one’s thoughts, urges, feelings, beliefs, experiences, etc., are the only ones that exist, this belief set can turn into a “type” of OCD.

What is Solipsism OCD?

Solipsism OCD is an obsession with the idea that nothing exists outside of one’s own mind and experiences. It is a never-ending doubt or fear that the only thing that is real is one’s own mind or mental state. A constant questioning of what is real and what is false. A person with this “type” of OCD is unsure of what is real outside of their own mind and experiences. So, they try to disprove that their minds and experiences are the only true things in life, but they can’t. It is a frightening experience because it causes one to question life, existence, and even the possibility of a creator of life or a supreme being, like God.

Because a person with solipsism OCD is consumed with doubts that there are other experiences, people, beliefs, thoughts, and fears outside of their own, many do not know what to believe. These individuals become obsessed with determining what is real and what is not. Are their thoughts, experiences, perceptions, emotions, etc., the ultimate truth, or are these false perceptions? If you are real can you convince me that you are just as alive as I am?

People with solipsism OCD are determined if their mentality is the only mentality – the right mentality – the true mentality. They try to prove that their minds are not the only real things in the world by seeking reassurance from other people. The stress and anxiety of not knowing what is real and the feeling of being alone in their existence only add to their fears. These individuals desperately want to convince themselves that they are wrong. They are afraid that they are alone and it is terrifying for them. They do not feel like they can trust their minds, perceptions, or beliefs. Eventually, this fear and quest for the truth turns into an obsession.

Therefore, people with solipsism OCD are obsessed with the idea that their inner worlds are the only thing that is real and true. These individuals compulsively try to disprove this theory by seeing reassurance from articles, people, and OCD Reddit groups. Researchers suggest that people who spend long periods alone have the highest risk of developing solipsism. What does that mean? It means that people with one “type” of OCD have an elevated risk of also developing this “type” of OCD (solipsism OCD).

Why does this happen? Well, when people are left alone for long periods with little-to-no interaction with the outside world, they begin to turn inward. In other words, they start to lose their connection with others and the world around them. As a result, they start to rely on what their minds are telling them, regardless of whether or not it is true or real. These individuals start to believe that their existence is the only existence and that their thoughts and emotions are the only thoughts and emotions.

Yet, some doubt (and even fear) remains, so they make it a mission to prove that what they feel, believe, or think is not real, right, and true, and that everything else is not imaginary. The questions and doubts take over causing them to wonder if they can trust their own minds. Thus, solipsism OCD is the fear of being totally alone in the universe. More specifically, it is an extreme form of skepticism that is completely illogical and irrefutable.

For people with this “type” of OCD, it feels like they are living in the Matrix, where nothing they think is real is real – it is all part of some elaborate plan – a synthetic/RPG type of reality. Keep in mind, however, that solipsism OCD is usually not recognized as a subtype of OCD, even though it shares similarities with existential OCD, which is a fixation on the mystery of life and existence (i.e., the meaning of life, an individual’s purpose in life, and the purpose of life, in general).

Although similar, one of the main differences between solipsism OCD and existential OCD is that people with solipsism OCD fear that nothing exists beyond their own experiences, while people who struggle with existential OCD struggle with knowing and understanding the meaning of life and their purposes in it.

What is it Like to Experience Solipsism?

It can be hard to understand what solipsism is and what solipsism OCD is. It is a mystifying and terrifying mentality and “type” of OCD. Research on this “type” of OCD is virtually non-existent, so there is not much information on it. So, the best way to understand what it is like to experience solipsism is to hear from others with the condition.

Listed below are real-life OCD sufferers who struggle with solipsism OCD:

• “I am having really bad depression, anxiety, intrusive thoughts, and even depersonalization, because of this solipsism. I am not sleeping well, and I cannot eat. I feel hopeless. And, this has been going on for 2 months. Since being diagnosed with solipsism OCD, I feel dead inside. I am a ‘Law of Attraction’ believer, so solipsism makes sense to me, which is freaking me out. I cannot disprove my belief that I am somehow a type of god, which is making me feel insane. I need an answer.

  I feel like the only way I can feel happy and whole again is by disproving this stupid theory, which has been impossible. I usually read anti-solipsism arguments all day long to calm myself down, but this only works for a little while. Then the intrusive thoughts and OCD kick back in, and I find myself falling into the rabbit hole again. I cannot even talk to people anymore. They do not seem real to me anymore. Please, I need help!”

• “I ABSOLUTELY have extremely bad solipsism OCD, so bad it literally stops me from even being able to sleep. My solipsism obsession has gotten to the point where I can literally almost physically feel it as a sensation inside my skull. It has given me so many anxiety attacks with each one uniquely horrifying in its own way. I just don’t know what is real and what is not real. I can’t trust my own mind. I feel like I am. Trust me. If there’s anyone who’s been through solipsism OCD it is me.”

  “I have never shared this with anyone thus I am answering anonymously. I have solipsism OCD. Ever since I was a very, very young child (2 or 3 years old), actually one of my first memories was that I do not belong here. By here I mean, earth. I was sure I was brought here but I do not know how. Maybe, I was part of an experiment. 

  As a child, I believed that everything around me was a facade created for some reason that I was not aware of. I believed that every time I left a room either everything outside of that room did not really exist or all of the people I encountered after leaving the room were wearing masks so they looked like me (human). 

  I remember my father reading me a story as I sat next to him. I reached up and tried to find where his mask was attached. He asked me what I was doing, and I answered that I was trying to find out how to take off his mask. My father’s response was to chuckle before going back to reading the story. I am now 69 years old and have never forgotten that feeling. 

  I have led a fairly normal life and have accepted that there is life outside of me and that people are real, but every once in a while doubts creep in and I start questioning it again. Then, I have to reassure myself that it is in my imagination by calling a friend or going to the store. It’s the scariest thing I have ever encountered.”

• “I am seeking reassurance, which is a compulsion. I just started therapy and we are working on exposure and not doing compulsions, but she does not expect me to stop doing them immediately. I am currently working on just minimizing them. I just have to tell her the compulsions that I do. When I first heard about solipsism, I was 15. I would get glimpses of it and it would stress me out, but would quickly go away. 

  A couple of years later when it popped up again, I became intrigued by the idea and found it interesting that it could not be disproved. But not being able to disprove it did not trigger anxiety. Now, at 21, it’s full-blown solipsism or existential OCD. I am not sure which one. Maybe, I have both types of OCD, who knows? It’s just a constant obsessive fear. Idk.”

How is Solipsism OCD Treated?

Solipsism OCD is treated like other “types” of OCD. The main OCD treatments involve psychotherapy, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) or exposure-response and prevention (ERP) therapy, along with other forms of therapy, like trauma therapies, or acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), medications, such as SSRI antidepressants, SNRI antidepressants, antipsychotics, etc., self-help tools and natural remedies like mindfulness meditation, online OCD forums, hypnosis, art therapy, OCD support groups, healthy coping skills and strategies, and OCD recovery treatment programs like Impulse Therapy.

Final Thoughts

Solipsism OCD is a perplexing, and mind-bending “type” of OCD. Not much information is known about this form of OCD, so more research is needed to get a full idea of what it is and what it is not. But what is known about solipsism OCD is that it involves a never-ending question of what is real and what is not. Is one’s existence based on what is created in one’s mind?

If so, does that mean that we are living in an artificial world created by some unknown entity, such as an alien or artificial intelligence(AI)? Are the people we encounter simply facades – masked beings or could it be that everything we think we are experiencing, feeling, doing, and thinking are simply figments of our imaginations? Are we truly alone in the universe, alone in our experiences, and alone in our existences? 

People with solipsism OCD grapple with these never-ending, unprovable questions like songs on repeat. It’s confusing and quite frightening for these individuals, primarily because there is no way to make these thoughts go away. These questions are open-ended which means there is no closure for these individuals. As a result, they are always trying to seek reassurance that they are not alone in this world. That there is something outside of their own minds.

People with solipsism OCD want to believe that the people they encounter are real and that their experiences, emotions, and behaviors are interconnected to other people’s experiences, emotions, and behaviors. Therapy, medications, natural remedies, and self-help aids can help people with solipsism feel more connected to the world around them.

References

• Mitroff, I. (1971). Solipsism: An essay in psychological philosophy. Philosophy of Science, 38(3), 376-394. Retrieved from https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/philosophy-of-science/article/abs/solipsism-an-essay-in-psychological-philosophy/D083ED3140865183EA4236A4AFA0A169