Managing Intrusive Thoughts

[brave_heart7]

Hi!

I'm new here and am unsure if I'm posing this in the right section. I have had anxiety for as long as I remember but was only diagnosed with GAD with panic attacks 4 years ago. I feel like recently most of my anxieties have revolved around catastrophic and intrusive thoughts, that are out of my control. I know the thoughts are irrational but they still effect me and I'm unsure how to shut them down. These thoughts cause me overwhelming anxiety/panic attacks and are effecting my day-to-day life. I was just wondering if anyone is going through the same thing and has tips for managing them?

Thanks!

[jess334]

Hi Brave-heart,

Welcome to the BB forums. I hope you continue to find support and advice here. It can be a very welcoming place.

Intrusive thoughts are awful. They can be so distressing and cause so much anxiety. Plus its so frustrating because it's all inside our own heads!!

It is basically impossible to stop thinking these thoughts. It really is out of our control. Some people will tell you that if you think about positive thoughts you can train your brain to stop thinking negatively, but unfortunately that doesn't work. Our brains are literally hard wired to consider all the worst case scenarios.

But you can change the way you react to these thoughts. The thing that helped me best was reading The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris. He talks about using diffusion techniques to make these thoughts less scary and traumatic. It really helped me. I still have the thoughts, but I have stopped interacting with them.

Visiting a psychologist who is trained in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) can be helpful too.

Please keep using the forum if you are able.

Kind thoughts, Jess

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi brave_heart7,

Welcome to the forums and thanks for being here!

Yes I've had my fair share of intrusive thoughts; I understand how they can be overwhelming and cause so much anxiety.

There are a few different ways of managing them; ultimately it's about finding what technique or tool might click with you.

Jess mentioned ACT and the idea of diffusion. This is definitely one helpful technique. It's around the idea that we are not our thoughts, and even though thoughts come and go (at an almighty speed!) we attach onto certain thoughts which is what causes all this pain. If you're not a huge fan of reading there's a video that explains it well here (also by Russ Harris) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzUoXJVI0wo&index=37&list=PLXOzd1qGhrhqTdoG0trnjLM0hpEnZb2g0&t=0s

Another technique is CBT which is the idea of looking at how our thoughts affect our feelings and behaviours. This might be around saying "hey, how likely is it that I will act on this thought or that this thought will come true?' 'what's the evidence for that?'

and finally - mindfulness is also helpful. Not always in the sense of meditation, but just being able to try and sit with that damn thought and all the feelings that come with it. The thought itself is awful, but it is only a thought.

I hope this gives you some ideas. Let us know if we can help more.

[geoff]

Hello Bravw_heart, thanks for posting your comment and both Jess and romantic_thi3f have given you some great suggestions.

These seem to come from out of nowhere, and suddenly cause a great deal of anxiety and often focus on unacceptable thoughts but they don't mean something is bad about you as a person.

Sometimes these are what you try to avoid but the more you do the scarier they become and can be usually caused by OCD which comes from anxiety and there are numerous thoughts where you lose control and there will be a lot of emotional distress.

I've had these for thoughts for years but would like to see how you are going.

Geoff.