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The Intersectionality of OCD and the Shame Surrounding Sexuality 

By Mike Vatter

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is often misunderstood as a condition involving excessive cleanliness, organization, or ritualistic behavior. In reality, OCD is a complex mental health disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts, unwanted images, fears, and compulsive behaviors intended to reduce anxiety. One of the least understood and most painful aspects of OCD occurs when intrusive thoughts intersect with sexuality, creating a profound sense of shame, confusion, and isolation. 

Sexuality is already a deeply personal aspect of human identity. Many people grow up receiving messages, whether from family, religion, culture, or society, that certain thoughts, desires, or identities are inappropriate or unacceptable. When OCD enters this landscape, it can weaponize these fears and vulnerabilities. Intrusive thoughts often target what a person values most or fears most. As a result, individuals with OCD may experience unwanted sexual thoughts that feel completely inconsistent with their values, identity, or desires.

Someone with OCD may become trapped in relentless questioning: “What if I am attracted to someone I shouldn’t be attracted to?” “What if these thoughts mean something about who I really am?” “What if I am secretly a bad person?” These questions are not driven by genuine desire but by overwhelming anxiety and uncertainty. Nevertheless, the individual often feels compelled to seek reassurance, analyze their reactions, or avoid situations that trigger distress. 

The shame surrounding sexuality intensifies this struggle. Society frequently treats sexual thoughts as reflections of character rather than recognizing that thoughts can occur without intent, desire, or meaning. For people with OCD, this misunderstanding can be devastating. Many become terrified that simply having an intrusive thought makes them immoral, dangerous, or fundamentally flawed. As a result, they often suffer in silence, afraid that disclosing their thoughts will lead to judgment or rejection. 

The intersection of OCD and sexuality can affect people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. Some individuals experience obsessions centered on questioning their sexual orientation, regardless of whether they identify as heterosexual, gay, bisexual, or otherwise. Others experience intrusive thoughts involving taboo or unwanted sexual scenarios. In each case, the distress comes not from the thoughts themselves but from the meaning the individual fears those thoughts represent. 

This experience is particularly challenging because shame thrives in secrecy. The more a person attempts to suppress, analyze, or eliminate intrusive thoughts, the stronger and more persistent those thoughts often become. OCD feeds on certainty-seeking, convincing individuals that if they can just think hard enough or find enough reassurance, they will finally feel safe. Unfortunately, the cycle rarely ends that way. 

Recovery begins when individuals learn to separate intrusive thoughts from identity and intention. Evidence-based treatments such as Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) help people tolerate uncertainty and reduce compulsive responses. Through treatment, many discover that thoughts are not actions, urges are not intentions, and anxiety is not evidence. They learn that having an intrusive thought says far less about their character than the courage it takes to face that thought without engaging in compulsions. 

Understanding the intersectionality of OCD and sexual shame requires compassion, education, and nuance. It demands that we challenge cultural assumptions about thoughts and morality while recognizing the unique suffering OCD can create. When people understand that intrusive thoughts are a symptom of a disorder rather than a reflection of character, shame begins to lose its power. 

Ultimately, healing occurs not when every intrusive thought disappears, but when individuals no longer measure their worth by the thoughts that enter their minds. By replacing shame with understanding and fear with self-compassion, people living with OCD can reclaim both their mental health and their sense of identity.

The post The Intersectionality of OCD and the Shame Surrounding Sexuality  appeared first on International OCD Foundation.

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<![CDATA[Explore 2026’s fast-moving psych med pipeline: new Alzheimer agitation option, potential novel ADHD therapy, and promising psilocybin for depression.]]>
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The Download: whole-body rejuvenation drugs and five things to know about AI

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

David Sinclair plans to test whole-body rejuvenation drugs in the XPrize competition

The outspoken longevity scientist David Sinclair has predicted that, one day, you’ll go to the doctor and get a prescription that will make you 10 years younger. MIT Technology Review has learned of his latest step toward this: human tests of a “reprogramming” drug.

Sinclair, a biologist at Harvard Medical School, plans to launch the tests in a $101 million competition organized by the XPrize Foundation. The winners will “restore” a person to an earlier apparent age, as measured by improvements in immune, cognitive, and muscle function.

The grand prize goes to any team able to show a 10-year (or greater) relative improvement after one year of treatment. 

Sinclair says he plans to give an oral drug mixture to volunteers, in a bid to seek “evidence for age restoration in humans.” Find out how he hopes to reverse ageing through chemical reprogramming.

—Antonio Regalado

Five things you need to know about AI

—Will Douglas Heaven

At SXSW London last week, I gave a talk called “Five things you need to know about AI,” in which I shared what I think are the biggest themes in AI right now.

I pulled a few things from our first AI10 list, an annual guide to the top trends in this buzzy world, but I also veered off on several tangents. In my half-hour slot, I tried to cover the key talking points that I think help to make sense of what’s going on in tech—and thus the economy—today.  

Five key thoughts emerged: AI is everywhere all at once, it’s getting scary, a backlash is growing, it’s becoming a big deal for science—and I didn’t even need to show up at the talk. Read the full story for all the details.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 OpenAI has confidentially filed for a US IPO
The listing could come as early as September. (Reuters $)
+ OpenAI is targeting a valuation of up to $1 trillion. (Financial Times $)
+ The IPO will test investor appetite for AI companies. (WSJ $)
+ The move follows IPO filings from Anthropic and SpaceX. (CNN)

2 The US claims BYD, Baidu, Alibaba, and others are aiding China’s military
The Pentagon added them to a list of military-linked companies. (WSJ $)
+ The designations limit their operations in the US. (BBC)
+ The new additions also include humanoid firm Unitree. (TechCrunch)
+ The Pentagon is adapting to China’s tech rise. (MIT Technology Review)

3 Apple’s long-awaited AI overhaul of Siri is finally here
“Siri AI” promises to be a more conversational assistant. (NYT $)
+ It includes a standalone app and screen-reading features. (Reuters $)
+ And arrives after two years of repeated delays. (Axios)

4 The White House and Congress are working to limit state AI laws
A new deal would curb state rules for federal legislation. (Axios)
+ AI regulation has divided US politicians. (MIT Technology Review)

5  Meta is launching a “workforce academy” for building data centers
The five-week program is free of charge and guarantees a job. (WSJ $)
+ It arrives shortly after Meta laid off 8,000 employees. (NPR)

6 Taiwan is mulling curbs on AI chip exports to China
The new controls would further align with US restrictions. (Bloomberg $)
+ Future AI chips could be built on glass. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Meta has quietly removed face-recognition code from its smart glasses app
The code identified by investigators has disappeared. (Wired $)

8 Humanoid robots are edging towards the battlefield
American and Chinese militaries are pursuing the tech. (BBC)

9 The world’s first wind-powered underwater data center has launched
It uses less power and water than land-based equivalents. (Guardian)

10 You could get some benefits of sleep without having to nod off
If new brain stimulation works as well on humans as on mice, that is. (New Scientist $)

Quote of the day

“You’re on the train, but you know that there’s no destination.”

—Clara Shih, a former top AI executive at Salesforce and Meta, tells the New York Times that AI training can’t keep up with the field’s advances.

One More Thing

biomilq concept illo

ILLUSTRATIONS BY AMRITA MARINO


Inside the race to make human sex cells in the lab

An embryo forms when sperm meets egg. But what if we could start with other cells—if a blood sample or skin biopsy could be transformed into “artificial” sperm and eggs? What if those were all you needed to make a baby?

That’s the promise of a radical approach to reproduction. Scientists have already created artificial eggs and sperm from mouse cells and used them to create mouse pups. Artificial human sex cells are next.

The advances could herald the end of infertility, but they raise major scientific and ethical challenges. 

Read the full story on the new recipes for sperm and eggs.

—Jessica Hamzelou

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun, and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line.)

+ These chefs turn Pop-Tarts into the desserts that inspired them.
+ A choir has beautifully transformed System of a Down’s “Chop Suey!”
+ Scientists finally traced crabs’ sideways walk in this fascinating study of evolution.
+ This nostalgic essay on the family computer is a touching throwback to early internet life.

Top image credit: Stephanie Arnett/MIT Technology Review | Getty Images

Please send Pop-Tarts to hi@technologyreview.com. 

You can follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks for reading!

—Thomas

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A data-driven measure of REM sleep propensity for human and rodent sleep

IntroductionMammalian sleep is characterized by alternations between episodes of rapid-eye-movement sleep (REMS) and non-REM sleep (NREMS). The phenomenon of REMS pressure, namely a drive for REMS that builds up between REMS episodes, is thought to govern the timing of these ultradian NREMS-REMS cycles. Prior analyses of NREMS-REMS cycles in mice suggested that time in NREMS is a primary contributor to REMS pressure. We previously introduced a REMS propensity measure defined as the probability to enter REMS before the accumulation of an additional amount of NREMS. Analyzing mouse sleep data, we showed that REMS propensity at REMS onset was positively correlated with REMS bout duration and with the probability of the occurrence of a REMS bout followed by a short inter-REMS interval, called a sequential REMS cycle.MethodsHere, we extend the analysis of NREMS-REMS cycling to human and rat sleep behavior. We compare REMS propensity measures computed from sleep data recorded in humans, mice, and rats. As REMS in humans is influenced by the circadian rhythm, we also analyze circadian modulation of the expression of NREMS-REMS cycles across the human sleep episode.ResultsWe find that, as in mice, human and rat sleep contain both short sequential NREMS-REMS cycles and longer single NREMS-REMS cycles, with differences in the timescales of cycle durations. Although rodents exhibit polyphasic sleep in contrast with the consolidated sleep of humans, the calculated REMS propensity measures in all three species show similar profiles as functions of time spent in NREMS. Importantly, positive correlations of REMS propensity at REMS onset with REMS bout duration were present in both human and rat data as previously found in mouse data, suggesting that time spent in NREMS also influences REMS duration in these species. In the human data, we identified nuanced changes in the occurrence of single and sequential NREMS-REMS cycles suggesting that increased percent time spent in REMS as the sleep episode progresses is not solely due to increased REMS bout duration.ConclusionResults suggest that similarities in the regulation of NREMS-REMS alternation exist, despite temporal differences, in nocturnal polyphasic rodent sleep and diurnal monophasic human sleep.
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Pulvinar and total thalamus volumes are preserved following early monocular enucleation

BackgroundMonocular enucleation, the surgical removal of one eye, occurs early in life and leads to changes in visual, auditory, and audiovisual processing in adulthood. These changes can be observed behaviorally, as well as through cortical structure and white matter connectivity of visual and auditory pathways. Subcortically, the thalamus is a critical sensory processing structure that modulates both unisensory and multisensory stimuli, which are later processed in the cortex. Previous studies have shown that following monocular enucleation, the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) is reduced in volume, although this reduction is less than predicted. In contrast, the medial geniculate body (MGB) is asymmetric but maintains its volume. Together, this may support the auditory and audiovisual enhancements observed following early monocular enucleation. Another key subcortical thalamic nucleus, the pulvinar, plays a broad role in human visual information processing and sensorimotor integration.MethodsThe current study used structural MRI to anatomically localize and measure the total pulvinar and its subnuclei, as well as total thalamus volume, in individuals who had undergone early monocular enucleation during postnatal maturation compared to binocularly intact controls.ResultsOverall, people with one eye demonstrated preserved pulvinar and total thalamus volumes compared to binocularly intact controls.ConclusionThe preserved structural volume of the pulvinar and total thalamus may support the intact lower-level auditory and audiovisual processing previously observed in individuals with one eye. The absence of pulvinar volume changes in this broad-function supporting, subcortical region builds on previous studies regarding thalamic plasticity after early monocular enucleation. These findings provide evidence that not all thalamic nuclei show measurable long-term volumetric alterations and that neural plasticity is both regionally and functionally dependent.
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Trajectories and predictors of self-care from pre-discharge to 12 months after discharge in people with spinal cord injury: a longitudinal study using growth mixture modeling

IntroductionSelf-care is essential for preventing secondary complications and supporting community reintegration after spinal cord injury (SCI). However, evidence is limited on how self-care changes over time after discharge and whether distinct subgroups exhibit different trajectories.MethodsUsing convenience sampling, 220 patients with SCI were recruited from a tertiary hospital in northern China between August 2023 and December 2024. Self-care was measured with the Self-Care in Spinal Cord Injuries Inventory (SC-SCII) at pre-discharge baseline and at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after discharge. Baseline mental health literacy and perceived social support were assessed using the Multicomponent Mental Health Literacy Scale (MMHL) and the Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS). Repeated-measures ANOVA was used to describe the population-average time trend, and growth mixture modeling (GMM) was used as the primary person-centered analysis to identify latent trajectory classes. Multinomial logistic regression examined predictors of class membership.ResultsA total of 209 patients completed all assessments (attrition rate: 5.0%). Mean SC-SCII scores peaked at 1 month post-discharge and then declined gradually over 12 months (F = 25.965, p < 0.001). GMM identified three distinct self-care trajectories: low-level decreasing (31.1%), moderate-level stable (39.7%), and high-level increasing (29.2%), with high classification accuracy (entropy = 0.965). Sex, educational level, mental health literacy, and perceived social support were associated with trajectory membership.ConclusionSelf-care trajectories after SCI are heterogeneous, and early post-discharge improvements may be transient for many individuals. The identified trajectories provide preliminary evidence for developing future prediction tools and trajectory-informed transitional nursing interventions.
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Overlaps and differences in the core symptoms of patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and patients with borderline personality disorder

BackgroundIndividuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) show symptomatic overlaps. They both suffer from deficits in emotional regulation, are impulsive and have problems with their self-concept. Therefore, a precise diagnostic differentiation is of great importance. The aim of this study was to find symptom overlaps and differences in patients with ADHD and BPD.Methods80 patients with ADHD, 55 patients with BPD and 55 healthy controls were examined regarding their ADHD and BPD symptoms and their degree of emotional dysregulation using self-report instruments.ResultsPatients with ADHD and patients with BPD did not differ significantly in their expression of emotional dysregulation. However, the ADHD patients showed higher scores in impulsivity, inattention, and hyperactivity, whereas the group with BPD showed higher scores in self-concept problems and suicidal behaviour. The two clinical groups showed significantly higher scores in emotional dysregulation and all other symptom domains compared to the control group.ConclusionThe symptom overlap in emotional dysregulation yields implications for both further research and diagnosis of ADHD. Further studies should define emotional dysregulation consistently to examine the same construct. Key Practitioner Message: This article yields implications that individuals with ADHD and BPD have several symptom overlaps and in fact have no difference in their emotional dysregulation. This has a vast importance for differential diagnosis and treatment of ADHD.
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Beyond aesthetic outcomes: psychodermatological benefits of botulinum toxin treatment in the upper facial third. A narrative review

BackgroundBotulinum toxin type A (BoNT-A) is widely used in aesthetic dermatology, particularly for dynamic wrinkles in the upper facial third. Beyond cosmetic effects, BoNT-A may influence emotional processing through the skin-brain axis. This narrative review synthesizes evidence on psychological and psychiatric outcomes of upper facial BoNT-A treatment, with a focus on mechanisms extending beyond aesthetics.MethodsA structured search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science through January 2026. Search terms included “botulinum toxin,” “upper facial third,” “psychodermatology,” “facial feedback,” “depression,” “anxiety,” and “psychiatric disorders.” Original studies, randomized controlled trials (RCTs), observational studies, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses assessing psychological, psychiatric, or neurobiological outcomes were included.ResultsUpper facial BoNT-A is associated with clinically meaningful reductions in depressive and anxiety symptoms, and improvements in self-perception and social functioning. Inhibition of corrugator and procerus muscles modulates afferent signaling to limbic structures, supporting the facial feedback hypothesis. Neuroimaging evidence demonstrates attenuated amygdala activation after BoNT-A treatment. Psychosocial improvements may reinforce these neurobiological effects. Evidence in bipolar disorder and personality disorders remains limited and methodologically heterogeneous. Caution is advised in patients with body dysmorphic disorder.ConclusionsBoNT-A in the upper facial third provides psychodermatological benefits beyond aesthetics, improving emotional regulation and affective symptoms. It should be considered a complementary intervention within a biopsychosocial framework. Future large-scale RCTs with standardized psychiatric and neurobiological endpoints are warranted.
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Cognitive and neuropsychological correlates of the attention training technique: a systematic review and evidence synthesis

IntroductionThe Attention Training Technique (ATT) is a brief metacognitive intervention recognised as a possibly efficacious standalone transdiagnostic treatment for emotional disorders. The cognitive and neuropsychological mechanisms underlying its clinical effects are of particular interest in understanding and developing the technique. The aim of the systematic review was to synthesise and evaluate the cognitive-attentional task performance and neurocognitive correlates of ATT in the context of theoretical mechanisms from which ATT is derived.MethodsFive electronic databases (PsycINFO, MEDLINE, PubMed, Web of Science and EMBASE) were searched from January 1990 to November 2025. Studies that used ATT as part of a metacognitive multi-component treatment package or combined with other therapy/technique(s) were excluded. Sample inclusion was diverse to capture effects on non-clinical and clinical individuals and across age groups for potential sub-group analyses.ResultsIn total, 20 studies with 1, 230 participants met the inclusion criteria. Four studies included clinical samples, four studies included non-clinical participants, two studies used experimental induction of pain or mind wandering, and 10 used healthy samples of which two used school children. Study quality varied from strong to weak with the majority receiving ‘moderate’ ratings. Across 14 cognitive-attentional tasks and three neural methodologies (EEG, fNIRS, fMRI), the review found small to large cognitive and neural effects associated with ATT. Nine cognitive tasks showed significant ATT-dependent effects in at least one study, with the most consistency shown on the emotional dot-probe. Neural findings across all methodologies converged, suggesting that ATT modulates cognitive control, frontoparietal, dorsal attention networks and reduces default mode network connectivity.DiscussionInterpretation and synthesis of findings based on the S-REF model are consistent with cognitive and neural effects involving reduced threat monitoring, improved executive control, and enhanced disengagement from self-referential processing; central theoretical mechanisms and design parameters of ATT. Where inconsistencies across study effects emerged, they may be due to heterogeneity in cognitive task and measurement factors and ATT protocol deviations. Future research on individual differences in neurocognitive effects associated with ATT across clinical and sub-clinical populations is needed. Studies must safeguard fidelity and adherence to the ATT protocol and improve reporting of these important factors.Systematic review registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, identifier CRD42024483053.