I was wondering if others did this.

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I imagine bad stuff happening to me. Like seriously getting injured paralyzed etc. I don't know why I imagine this kind of stuff. Does anyone else do this?

Yes, I do it all the time. I imagine getting raped, kidnapped and/or murdered and ending up on Dateline. Sometimes I imagine what it would be like if I got attacked by a dog and lost one of my hands or a foot. Sometimes I also imagine what it would be like if I went deaf from listening to my music too loudly (my hearing is already worse than it used to be).

I can't allow myself to get too deeply involved in these fantasies though, because they can get pretty upsetting. I've come pretty close to tears a couple of times from getting too wrapped up in depressing fantasies.

LOL! Ya I'm not crazy! I don't get to tears but I remember medical documentaries and put myself in that situation usually with a loving friend OR Boyfriend holding my hand. NOT my family for obvious reasons! Oh and being clutzy me I imagine stepping on a sharp object or something.

That's perfectly natural.

I do this... more so with driving. When i am crossing an intersection and turning with out a light i watch the on coming traffic and wonder what it would happen if my car just stopped I play the whole scenario out like a movie in my head and at the end of it I'm like... "that wouldn't be that bad" and shake my head till the thoughts disappear.

Yes, everyone does this. It is common, Edgar Allen Poe once wrote about it. It has something to do with the ID, part of the brain. (I read an article about it years ago, but remember very little about it now)

I am ashamed to admit I have because for one I thought if it happened to me I'd get sympathies and people be nicer to me and like me. Or have people think how cool I am to survive.

I didn't know this was common. I guess that's why some people fake their own kidnapping or seizures or rape and other stuff, especially making up stories about what has happened to them and what they have gone through.

I'm mr unemotional no imagination - but I have heard the like from my wife, with the female deep emotion variety. No, you'e not crazy [are you even allowed to use the word in a psych program before earning your degree?!]. Just don't let it make you crazy.

LOL! I'm not sure. Honestly I think "Crazy" is overall a bad term and have always hated "Mental Illness" Why not Psychological issues? IMO that's what they are/should be called Psychological issues not "mental illness." It has such a bad stigma. I guess the C word is bad as a Psychology major huh?

Yeah I do it, but the reason is OCD. Then I have to do things to neutralize the thought.

me to...but I learned not to neutrilze the thought or it makes the OCD worse

Yeah, sometimes I'm able to fight it. Other times the OCD wins. i am working on it though.

So, you just let the thought be, but not respond to it?

Yes, basically, but it's very difficult in that you're mind will often get caught up in the compulsion before you even realize it - as its default, like an under current. I think that's where the disorder comes into play. It's like a glitch in an algorithm. Everyone has those thoughts but something happens in the OCD mind that is outside the normal paradigm of response. It truly makes you feel mentally ill. The mind is fractured between rational and irrational, magical and logical thinking. It's not the normal, healthy mind.

But yes, letting it be is ultimately what you're trying to train yourself to do. I think that's why the only place I've ever found relief is in meditation.

I imagine myself having stuff stolen from my apartment.

I used to. If it is not severe it's probably normal. I still imagine the worst in some areas.