Intrusive thoughts

[NicNak]

I had not realized what I have done, when I have intrusive thoughts lately until today.

I had a very bad image flash today for maybe two minutes. After it happened I said quietly to myself "Oh my, that wasn't a very nice thought" and was able to "fluff" it off without any anxiety.

It was a "premonition" type intrusive thought, toward going to take out the garbage. I was able to do it anyway, with no anxiety as I did.

I think maybe I was able to desensitize in a good way, from those intrusive thoughts and realize they are just that thoughts. They don't represent something to come, or reflect on me as a bad person.

I am wondering if me saying to myself "Oh my, that wasn't a very nice thought" if I am assuring myself in a sense that, it a thought and it is not something that has happened or is likely to happen either.

Although I know not to assure myself too much over them too, cause that can start an obsessive cycle.

Just thought I would share about this.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

I think that you are very likely correct, NicNak. Speaking that sentence put the thought into context and took away the power that it might otherwise have had over your emotions.

 

[Jazzey]

....My psychologist has me referring to bullies in my workplace as 'that little man, Mr. X', to remove some of their effect on me. They have a tendency of bringing on the rage and that invites other thoughts from past experiences...and then just more rage. :blush:

I do find that calling them 'that little man' has diminished some of that effect on me. (And no, I do NOT do this to their faces) .

Amazing how our thought processes can shift to make our entire bodies feel safe again.

 

[NicNak]

Thank you Dr Baxter and Jazzey

I remember a few years ago, the racing and intrusive thoughts were brutal and terrifying.

I know some others on the forum who are suffering with them too and I like to post so others can see they can subside over time as we learn further how to cope with them.

I did have to take medication, to help with racing and intrusive thoughts, for a few years, which helped very much. I was then able to go off that medication with minimal symptoms.

Maybe with the medication helping to take the edge off the racing and intrusive, I was able to find ways to cope, through therapy, with them at that lesser level. So now if I do get them happening on occasion, I now understand what is happening and usually can acknowledge it happened and cope, such as I did.

When the realization came as to how I was handling the intrusive thoughts I shocked myself :blush: cause I realized I had done this many times in the past few months, coping this way.

Granted there are still times when they get away on me, so to speak. But they have lessened by alot since they first started.

 

[vernulas]

You are absolutely right about seeing your thoughts in this way.

I too was attaching importance to unwanted thoughts and therefore creating anxiety about what they said about me as a person.

I realise now that I can have these thoughts without misinterpreting their meaning. I saw these thoughts as an integral part of me but now I can easily separate them from who I am as a person. I control them now instead of the other way round.
Also I have found that desensitization to the thoughts through exposure exercises is a very effective way of disarming their potency to the point of absentmindedly dismissing them.