Call of the Void

"L'appel du vide" or "call of the void"
I recently stumbled upon this and was really surprised to find it's a common thing. It's explaining unwanted or disturbing thoughts we have out of the blue.

Good examples I've had are :
-driving and I get the urge to drive into oncoming traffic
-the urge to jump off a high place when I am close to the edge
-the urge to yell at someone when you know it would be over-reacting
-inappropriate sexual urges towards someone you don't know or barely know
-the urge to do something sacreligious around someone who is religious
-the urge to drop or throw a baby

I used to think there was something wrong with me for having these thoughts and that caused great emotional distress. It's not something you talk about to just anyone because of fear of being judged or thought bad of. I don't know if mine are all that harmless so I will be discussing this with my therapist but I thought I would share this in the hopes of maybe helping someone else know they are not alone in this.

If you have these thoughts too, post a reply. What are some thoughts you have? If you have talked to a therapist or psychiatrist about it, what did they say?

You know, it is just a passing thought so I have never put much thought into it as you have. But two of them resonates with me.

The thought of driving into incoming traffic.
The thought of standing by the edge and jumping off.

I have had that thought on more than one occasion. Its like I want to take the wheel and just jerk it to see what happens. What stops me is I have been in many accidents before and I know the outcome. But I do still get that thought in my head,

As for the jumping off from a high place, I don't know where that comes from.

To me, I think its the unknown. The "what if" that we all think about. You're right when you say its not talked about. I guess I have never told any therapist or psychiatrist about those thoughts for fear they would lock me up for being suicidal.

However, I do have a pretty good therapist, one that I have known for 7 years. I will bring it up in next session if I remember that is. I see him Wednesday. I will ask him about it and try to remember to come back and post to tell you what he thinks,

There have been times in my life I have had these thoughts.
One actually scared me so...
It would be interesting to read more about this----any thoughts on where it comes from? Is it the "what if i did a terrible thing" or, more like the french phrase? A call? I wonder if/how often someone answers the call.

I had no idea it had a name.

Stepping out into the street in front of traffic.
Poking someone in the eye when we're just talking.
I'm sure there are more...

I think the french phrase is just the feeling it gives. That feeling of "where did that come from?!". I'm no expert but I think , for me anyway, it comes from a curiousness with things that are taboo and sometimes compulsions that I can't exactly explain. I plan to talk to my therapist too and do some more research. I'll let ya know what I find out!

I think you guys really need to be more relaxed. Call of the void is nothing to worry about or even be scared of. Almost everyone has these kind of thoughts every now and then. Actually, you should be more worried if you never thought of this before. Call of the void, as well as bizarre mind games, strange dreams, etc are necessary "vacations" of your mind from stress and all the many rules how to behave in our everyday life. It restores your mind to normality. Like watching a movie with drama and suspense just for fun.
Enjoy the view from heights, as long as you don't jump, you're perfectly fine.
And instead of spending lots of money on talking to your therapist about it, you rather donate that money to people who suffer from really terrible stuff.