Intrusive/Unwanted Thoughts

alo1587

Just wondering does anyone on here suffer from reoccurring intrusive/unwanted thoughts and what is the best way to deal with them? Thanks everyone.

4zn76tysfajdxp

What kind of thoughts do you mean?

alo1587

Like a bad memory that keeps popping up in your mind or a disgusting image

Faith

I think that happens to everyone, and I'm not sure there's anything you can do about it. If it's something that has happened to you personally, you can try to deal with the event and move on, and hope that helps. Keep yourself busy too, so you're not just sitting around mulling the thoughts over.

BroomBurner

Happens to me, followed usually by guilt and shame, if it was something bad. You can either:

• try thinking about something else
• tell someone, it can actually help providing the person you tell is trustworthy and able to help you rationalise things
• try to rationalise it yourself. It happened in the past. Try to learn a lesson from it, as in how to avoid that thing happening again, etc.

I've used all of the above methods and they work with varying degrees depending on what it is you're trying to forget.

Don't forget, it's making mistakes that makes us human. That took me a bit to get used to, but it has helped.

LolaLuv

I agree it happens to everyone. I was seeing a therapist once and mentioned this problem, and she told me to keep a rubber band around my wrist and to snap myself whenever I started having weird thoughts. Seemed a little bizarre to me so I ultimately didn't try it, but I thought I'd put it out there for you.:rolleyes:

Nevyn

PillyPen wrote: »

I agree it happens to everyone. I was seeing a therapist once and mentioned this problem, and she told me to keep a rubber band around my wrist and to snap myself whenever I started having weird thoughts. Seemed a little bizarre to me so I ultimately didn't try it, but I thought I'd put it out there for you.:rolleyes:

That is also used to stop people from starting to or to divert them from if they are already self harming
and cutting themselves. Self aversion therapy.

unhappycamper

It is a very interesting post OP. Our taught directly effects are perception of positive and negative emotions. I find when I think negatively I feel negative and thus am perceived as negative. To control this I must practice avoiding these negative images and ideas. I also pretend to others that I am always in the positive when I know and they know that this is a false. So imagine a taught as a person trying to call you and practice not answering. Negativity will always be there but with practice it will have nowhere to go. Do not allow guilt to override your good nature and place you in a cycle of negativity. Allowing yourself to change plays a big part in moving away from negative thinking. Best of luck OP..

If it's recurring and trying to avoid it doesn't work, is it possible you can engage with the memory or image and find out where it comes from or what triggers it, as it may be better to deal with it from the root. Or at least get an idea of your thoughts before it shows up so you can try changing your train of thought quickly.

Just an idea.

Untense

Heya,

One thing I've found that really helps me is something called 'Inquiry', it's a method for looking at unwanted or stressful thoughts to find out if they have any truth.

It's pretty straight forward, and I found that after doing it the thoughts still came up, but now I am able to smile at them instead of letting them get to me.
You can find lots of stuff about it on youtube, I suggest watching some of the videos after reading the introduction on the official website, as you really get a sense of how to apply the questions to your thoughts. It also helps to write them down on paper.

http://www.thework.com/thework.asp#top (the official website for the work)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1x03oSZpSI (there's loads more here if you keep browsing)

It's very straight forward and actually fun once you get used to it. But at the start it can help to have someone with experience of doing the work to help you through, so if you want a hand feel free to PM me.

MLE

To try and stop the unwanted thoughts in the short term you could take the natural Bach Flower remedy White Chestnut. You can get this in your health food shop. Take a few drops a few times a day and it really help.

I think everyone gets unwanted thoughts every now and again. But I found this remedy helped me.

LegacyUser

Hey

That used to happen to me a lot. When a friend of mine told me that her mum had drowned kittens I couldn't stop thinking about it, I tried not to but I just kept picturing it, it was horrible and kept coming into my head when I tried to sleep. It lasted for a few weeks. One night I started crying because of it and called up my boyfriend and he calmed me down. Bad stuff like this does happen and theres no point in someone telling you that it doesn't but just telling someone what you are thinking can help. It gives you a sense of perspective.

Sometimes what you are thinking may have been very extreme and telling another person can bring you back to reality.

I found it hard to find a way of not thinking about these negative things so I just had to wait until it the periods at which I thought about it went from days to weeks to months to years. Other stuff will come in your head, so maybe try to keep busy, don't give yourself the opportunity to think about this negative stuff.

I hope you feel better soon, Please PM me if you are willing to be specific about the kinds of thoughts you are having.

LegacyUser

1. you can recognise the thought, consider it as an old friend and say "ah yes, welcome back. Here you are again. What's your purpose this time?"

So, you are separating the thought from you.

2. If you are looking for a better method, get Dr. David Burns "Feeling Good Handbook" which a whole section on dealing with thoughts/feelings - very practical and very worth while

baglady

I've read about this in relation to OCD before and cognitive therapy was something that used to treat it, i think you should talk to your doc if it really is becoming a seriosus problem in your life
good luck

alo1587

Thanks for all the replies.Much appreciated.