There's something called pure-o ocd (the name makes no sense because they named it before they understood it) where people have a thought they don't like and they end up obsessing over it thinking these thoughts are desires when really they are just thoughts. Thats the quick explanation at least. I don't think this is common, however most mental illnesses like anxiety have a normal emotional response/trait that has been brought to an extreme. There's nervousness and then there's anxiety disorders, shyness and then social anxiety, sadness and then depression, anger and then anger problems, liking yourself and then narcissism. So I'm not talking about people with that disorder however I do believe people are capable of experiencing this "phenomenon" to a lesser extent. It's common for people to try and bury these thoughts for fear of what people will think which actually makes it worse. It's important for people to understand that they are just thoughts and not desires. Just because somebody has thoughts of themself dying by accident or on purpose ( steering the car off the road for example) doesn't mean they actually desire these things. For somebody with a disorder it's hard to overcome and it normally manifests in people who are being made to suppress certain things. I knew somebody who although it was illogical was horrified of the idea of being gay. He didn't even dislike gay people and he obviously wasn't gay but his father was so homophobic that being that way terrified him. He didn't have this disorder as it didn't stop him from living life however it was certainly something he had to work through.

I imagine somebody who has been in an environment where people say degrading things about addicts and how horrible they are might find themselves in a position where they fear becoming that as my friend feared being gay. Even though that person might might not think the same way about addicts or in my friends case gay people it still affects them.

I typed that all out because one of the ways to deal with that is to understand it. It's important to understand when these are thoughts as opposed to desires.