Molly Lambert, 22, says she was left feeling like a ‘monster’ after being convinced she was a paedophile for four years
Molly Lambert claimed to have developed intrusive sexual and violent thoughts as a teenager that had her convinced she was a danger to others. She spent four years believing she was a paedophile until being diagnosed with a rare form of a well-known medical condition.
What began as childhood anxiety and graphic fears about death soon escalated into relentless, unwanted thoughts that the 22-year-old says “changed my life forever.” At 15, while revising for exams, Molly (@Mollambert) became consumed by the belief that a single intrusive thought meant she was a “monster”.
For six months, she says she lived in constant fight‑or‑flight mode. The teenager was barely eating, not sleeping and terrified of being alone. After seeing a video of a woman talking about paedophile OCD (P-OCD) – a type of OCD in which a person has unwanted sexual thoughts or images about children – on TikTok, Molly was able to get diagnosed in July 2025, reports Lancs Live.
P-OCD is not paedophilia, and Molly is now speaking out to help others who may be silently suffering with intrusive thoughts.
The digital PR worker and mental health advocate from Deansgate, in Manchester, said: “I genuinely thought I was a paedophile. No matter what you’re worrying about, it’s the same brain process each time, but when it’s that deep, and such a horrid thought, the shame is unbearable.”
Looking back, Molly believes the signs were there from childhood. She claimed to “obsess over things” like Madeleine McCann and was worried she would end up kidnapped.
She said: “If there was a Brownie trip coming up, I’d think about every single thing that could go wrong until my mum had to pick me up.” But the turning point came when she was 15 during a family trip through an airport.
She said: “I saw a little girl wearing a crop top and short skirt and thought, ‘That’s weird for a child to wear that’ and then I panicked – ‘Why would I even notice that? Why would I think about that? She’s a child’.”
Though the thought faded at first, it returned months later while she was revising for exams. She said: “I was 15 and I remember thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m a paedophile – I thought, I’m never going to forget this thought. My life is over’.”
From that moment, Molly says she was trapped in her own mind, where “every thought was dark”. She told her parents that her sudden change was down to exam stress as she “just couldn’t put it into words” about the real problem.
The intrusive thoughts expanded beyond one fear, and Molly began to question her past. She said: “I was thinking – ‘what if I’ve hurt someone? What if I’ve raped someone? What if I fancy my friends?’
“I even have a phobia of dogs and I’d think, ‘what if I fancy my dog?’ I knew I didn’t feel anything, but what if I was unsafe to everyone? The shame was overwhelming, I felt like a monster. I couldn’t even tell anyone what I was going through.”
Despite loving children and describing herself as a “kid person,” Molly began changing her life choices out of fear she was “unsafe”. For four years, Molly suffered in silence, even studying psychology at university without realising she had OCD.
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She said: “I thought OCD was cleaning and tidying, that wasn’t me at all. The more controlling forms of OCD like mine are the ones we don’t talk about.”
But after coming across a TikTok video in 2021, she was able to get diagnosed after understanding that “there were other people like (her)”. She said: “The weight that lifted off my shoulders was crazy. I thought only freaks had this.”
She began researching intrusive thoughts and confided in a friend at university, who encouraged her to seek therapy. Eventually, after breaking down to her parents, she started professional treatment and was officially diagnosed in July 2025.
While Molly still experiences intrusive thoughts daily, her reaction to them has changed. “My brain can still say, ‘You’re a paedophile,’ but now I can tell myself that’s not true,” she said. “OCD won’t let you move on from intrusive thoughts. Everyone has them, but OCD makes them stick.”
Therapy helped her move from severe to mild on the diagnostic scale, though she admits recovery is ongoing. Molly now uses her social media platforms to raise awareness and says she receives both support and hate.
She said: “I get a lot of hate, but this conversation is so important for the people suffering in silence.” She believes the stigma around certain intrusive thoughts makes sufferers feel uniquely evil when, in reality, OCD often attacks a person’s core values.
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