How You Could Come to Terms With Your Intrusive Thoughts
By no means feel like you need to engage, but do let them in.. all of them
Some might call intrusive thoughts ‘brain hiccups’, but you could say they are like advertisements that pop up on your screen, which could be either relevant or irrelevant.
They can even develop to a distant point where you can’t differentiate between what you are actually thinking and what the intrusive thoughts are anymore; a state when you can’t label those particular thoughts ‘intrusive’ anymore. These states are when the intrusive thoughts become obsessions, where we definitely have to turn to cognitive behavioural therapy, or else selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or other antidepressants.
I’ve been having thoughts, almost delusional, just before the crack of dawn when I wake up, that I have already gotten out of bed like it’s top of the morning for me and started getting my body and mind ready for the day ahead. By the time it dawns upon me that I’m still in bed lying half-unconscious, I would have already gotten my morning routine timed out or myself knocked out into another limbo. So instead of waking up energised and in high spirits, I get my morning thrown into turmoil.
But whilst intrusive thoughts are not obsessional yet, we can alleviate how intrusive thoughts influence us ourselves.
The Lead-in
Let us call the hypothetical centre where one’s tangible thoughts flow inside of, over the course of this story, the ‘availability bubble’. All sorts of hideous thoughts and imageries try to infiltrate your availability bubble, impelling you to be awfully steadfast on blocking them all out. But if you do apply even the slightest bit of mental strain to push them out of the bubble, it only fuels their availability. Like Friedrich Nietzsche, an influential philosopher, once said, “When you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you.” Focusing on pushing out the thought will only result in pulling it back into the bubble with even more intensity.
Every time a conflicting imagery appears in my mind, I have the impulsive propensity to just tear up the mental imagery so as to relieve my mind of what could happen afterwards. But that only brings out a myriad of possibilities of what could happen afterwards. And that is even worse.
Moreover, an experimental analysis found that individuals who use event marking such as a counter app to assess unwanted intrusive thoughts are more likely than those who monitor their thoughts or those who think freely, to overestimate the number of unwanted intrusive thoughts that they experience.
People have reported not having intrusive thoughts whilst listening to music, mostly the heroic or euphoric ones. A hobby you like might help you to occupy your bubble, kicking out the intrusive thoughts off it. Immersing yourself in the touch of your surroundings can help but doesn’t work for every person. Whilst there are lots of good strategies to inhibit intrusive thoughts, the potent one is to solemnly come to terms with them.
They are ours to use — not the other way around — however we want, whenever we want, if ever we want.
You cannot keep a tight rein on what thoughts enter your mind. So you just have to accept them, let them flow by, and move on. Suppress your emotional responses to these thoughts that you may call horrid, violent, inappropriate, frenzy, or unacceptable, and do not try to pull their strings.
Our thoughts don’t define us, how we apply them to our lives does indeed. Prof. Paul Salkovskis, a clinical psychologist, believes that we are hardwired to have these thoughts and that they “are our brain’s way of dealing with uncertain circumstances, which we’ve had throughout our evolution.” We’re too agitated by these thoughts that we almost think that they are right, even though we know, deep inside, that they’re not in favour of our preferences. That is something we should often ponder. They are ours to use — not the other way around — however we want, whenever we want, if ever we want.
As long as you try to not pay attention to them, or otherwise just treat them as they are downright frivolous and insignificant, as you should, recognise the difference between reality and thoughts, and move on with your life as minimally-swayed-by-them as possible, your availability bubble wouldn’t be too flustered by them.
For Special Cases
As I've mentioned above, this might not be the case for every person.
People with OCD are distressed by unwanted or uncontrollable thoughts, which might cause the person to feel like they have to repeat specific behaviours. An article published in 2020 has shown that researches and observations on fully or partially remitted patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder have indicated that with the reign of SARS-CoV-2, they exhibit fear and panic about the infection so much that it’s likely for them to develop mental health issues such as depression, also probably causing them to have irrational and unclear thoughts. Whereas, especially, in contamination-based OCD, an overestimation of threat may even include having obsessions with becoming ill or contaminating others as a result of having health anxiety-based symptoms.
A few people with bipolar disorder can experience intrusive thoughts as obsessions, the consequences being perturbing as intrusive thoughts negatively influence mood swings.
PTSD intrusive thoughts are prevalent as people with PTSD can have unsettling thoughts and memories, mostly which are related to a traumatic event.
Intrusive thoughts are common in people with anxiety disorder as they are one of the major stressors of anxiety.
Postpartum depression can cause a mother to have disturbing, frequent and intrusive thoughts about hurting themselves or their baby. A study from 2019 shows that whilst depressive symptoms have the most influence on maternal responsiveness, it is also important to target intrusive thoughts in the context of postpartum depression in order to aid new mothers and their offspring.
These are instances suggesting it is necessary to turn to medications and most significantly cognitive behavioural therapy when your intrusive thoughts are highly influencing your life.
As cognitive behavioural therapy is a common type of psychotherapeutic treatment, it can help you learn how to identify destructive and negative thought patterns that can contribute to and exacerbate depression, anxiety, and emotional quandaries, challenge them, and replace them with ones that are objective and genuine.
CBT explores a range of techniques and approaches that address thoughts, emotions, and behaviours; ranging from structured psychotherapies like role-playing and mentally distracting strategies to self-help materials like relaxing techniques and journaling.
Joining a support group could help too as it might be nice to know that there are others like you, if not, someone you could relate to, and to know how they are handling their respective health issues.
Though you might like to keep them to yourself, it might not always be the best way to deal with your intrusive thoughts.
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