Why am I having such intrusive thoughts!?

[whatifs1]

For ages now I keep getting horrible intrusive thoughts. I am not really an anxious person, I would say we have a stressful lifestyle though with children who have additional needs.

I keep having horrible thoughts about them dying.

I have horrible thoughts that my youngest will run in to a road, she is nearly 3 and has developmental delay. I’d say most of the thoughts centre around her.

I am so fed up of them.

I don’t know that I can really help I’m sorry to say but I can sympathise.

i am an anxious person and do get intrusive thoughts occasionally- but they really ramped up when i was pregnant and after birth, which was distressing.

On that note, are you perhaps having some hormone changes?

I remember reading that the best way to deal with them is to treat them as though they’re the most boring, dull thing in the world. Every time a thought pops into your head, think “that’s so boring!”. This is what worked for me when I was really struggling with them.

These kind of thoughts are totally normal, distressing as they are. I had this a lot when my kids were tiny. It's our brains weird way of protecting us from situations. This link explains it better

I get intrusive thoughts. You could self-refer to talking therapy in some areas. Sorry you’re going through this.

I get this too op - I don’t have any advice but it definitely ramps up when I’m down or stressed. Sending hugs x

I think it’s worry that stems from having children with additional needs. I’m similar I think it’s because they are so vulnerable so we are always on ‘high alert’ and always ‘risk assessing’ to keep them safe. My son has to sleep in an enclosed bed to stay safe and I always panic that I haven’t zipped it up and that he will walk out and fall down the stairs. I literally get up to double check it. I think it’s quite normal tbh with the weight of caring for our children that have higher needs. I just try to not focus on the thought and try to distract myself by doing something else or going on my phone (probably not the best advice 😳) but it does make you concentrate on something else.

Cbt sorted mine out completely.

Thank you, I know they’re sort of normal but I feel like they’ve increased quite a bit! I do go away next week without the DC and I have nagged DH so much about watching her intently. He’s a good dad and I have no qualms about his ability to keep our DC safe so I dunno why I’m nagging the poor sod.