Intrusive thoughts: 5 tips to prevent them from dominating your mind
Intrusive thoughts: 5 tips to prevent them from dominating your mind
Intrusive thoughts can be irritating at the best of times and absolutely debilitating at the worst. By recognising that these thoughts can be somewhat normal, and don’t dictate the type of person you are, you may be able to equip yourself with the tools required to prevent them from having a hold on you.
What are intrusive thoughts?
The first step to regaining power over these intrusive thoughts is to understand what they are and where they come from.
An intrusive thought is usually characterised by an image or idea that causes significant distress to the individual. These can vary from person to person. Many intrusive thoughts are about:
- Family or children
- Hurting yourself
- Hurting someone else
- Real or imagined events
The impact these have on your daily life may differ depending on your level of resilience, as well as overall mental health.
We may all get these thoughts at times. A common one occurs when driving. You might think “I could drive off of this bridge”. For some, this thought comes and goes without any impact on the individual. Whereas others may be concerned that having that thought means there’s something deeply wrong with them.
In particular, violent or sexual intrusive thoughts can lead to severe anxiety and depression, leading an individual to believe that they must be a bad person for those thoughts to appear in the first place. However, it is important to highlight that these thoughts do not define you as a person.
Those who suffer from anxiety, OCD, or other mental health diagnoses may be relieved to know that their brain has simply latched onto certain stimuli that will lead to distress. This doesn’t mean you are a dangerous person. If anything, your disgust and negative responses towards the thoughts show the exact opposite.
That being said, it can be incredibly difficult to live with these thoughts. Any attempts to distract yourself may work against you, bringing the thought further to the front of your mind. This is why learning how to manage and let go of intrusive thoughts can be so vital.
Practise mindfulness
Keeping yourself calm when experiencing intrusive thoughts can be difficult. While you may be able to acknowledge that they aren’t real, you may still find it difficult to move forward with your day.
The negative emotions and responses attached to intrusive thoughts could leave you feeling worried and upset, or even lead to physical responses such as stomach problems, vomiting, or shivering.
Before addressing the thoughts themselves, you may first want to work on gaining a bit of peace within your mind. Practising mindfulness techniques could help to ground you, allowing you to reduce those feelings of anxiety.
Talk to someone you trust
You may be initially hesitant to discuss your intrusive thoughts with friends or family, especially if they are grotesque in nature.
Yet, this could give you some semblance of clarity, as well as reassurance that you are not a bad person.
Some people even find that their loved ones experience similar thoughts. Together, you may be able to share your different coping strategies, including things you tried in the past.
What works for one person may not be as successful for another. However, you can pool your ideas to try and help each other through those experiences.
Seek medical support for your intrusive thoughts
You might have concerns about personal or legal ramifications if you share your intrusive thoughts with a medical practitioner. It can be good to remember that these are individuals who are trained to deal with such matters.
Any good doctor or therapist may tell you that you are not your thoughts. They should listen to your concerns and help you to find coping strategies, or even refer you to therapy sessions which may help you to improve your well-being.
Intrusive thoughts about previous experiences
There may have been times in your past when you engaged in toxic behaviours and coping mechanisms. Those incidents might be plaguing your present.
Those who have struggled with self-harm in the past, as an example, may be deeply concerned that their intrusive thoughts mean that they are going to relapse. Working through toxic coping strategies, and replacing them with healthy ones, isn’t always easy and relapses can occur. However, these have nothing to do with intrusive thoughts.
Realistically, it can be good to remind yourself that these thoughts are causing you distress because you don’t want them to occur. If anything, it shows just how far you have progressed that something you may once have partaken in now fills you with revulsion or concern.
You may want to closely monitor your emotions as you work through intrusive thoughts. Some people may be so horrified by these thoughts that they act as a self-fulfilling prophecy in that, by having the thought the person feels shame and guilt for their negative emotions and ultimately ends up self-harming as a means of punishment.
It is key that you do not view intrusive thoughts as an extension of yourself, or berate or punish yourself due to them occurring.
Should you become deeply concerned about your intrusive thoughts, contact your doctor or mental health team immediately. Outside of service hours, the Samaritans can be a good point of contact.
Allow your thoughts to come and go
It may sound counterproductive, but one of the best ways to combat the aftereffects of intrusive thoughts can be to let them come and go at will.
Imagine a raging river. It will take a lot of energy to build a dam big enough to hold it back. That would also take a significant amount of time. You may not even have the materials required to hold that river back indefinitely.
Now apply the same thought process to your mind. Intrusive thoughts can occur at any time, often catching an individual off guard. Trying to hold back those thoughts will take a lot of energy, potentially leading to burnout, and you may still be unsuccessful.
A teaching of Buddha is that life itself is the river, and many different experiences, both good and bad, will be thrown into it. It is up to you to allow it to continue flowing calmly.
Therefore, both suggest that you should allow these intrusive thoughts to ebb and flow, creating as little disruption to you as possible.
When you notice an intrusive thought, take a few seconds to acknowledge it, as well as to tell yourself that it holds no power over your identity or life. Then, you may find it easier to let go of that thought.
Have your say
Intrusive thoughts can absolutely destroy you if you aren’t able to properly work through them. Rather than allowing any subsequent guilt or anxiety to consume you, you may want to consider working on your well-being.
By liaising with people you trust, as well as trained medical professionals, it is possible to stop intrusive thoughts from having control over your life.
If you have experiences with intrusive thoughts, you might want to think about writing a guest post for Mindful Me.
Together, we can feel better both inside and outside ourselves, and break the stigma associated with struggles.