Do you ever have a random thought of doing something you shouldn't do, that you would never actually do

[SunshineSunshineSunshine]

I have no idea if that makes sense.

But the past 2 nights I have been lying in bed whilst it's rainy, dark and windy and thinking
"I could get out of bed and walk to that 10 minute away creepy lake right now if I wanted to and sit on the tree swing"

I'd never actually do this at night though as it is across a long field and just gives me the creeps.

Never thought of if that way, but one morning while on holiday (in the UK) last year I felt wide awake at 4:30am, so decided to walk to the cliffs to watch for dolphins (didn't see any).

It's an intrusive thought, I get them all of the time. I see myself jumping off of the bridge and cracking my head. I'm not suicidal, but I do have some anxiety and the worse the anxiety is, the more thoughts I have. When ds3 was a newborn I would think about dropping him all of the time, I could actually hear the crack in his head, it turned me into a paranoid mess, but I had pnd.

Intrusive thoughts . I have them horribly at heights eg ‘I could throw my phone off that ledge’ ... I won’t actually go up high because it feels so powerful !

And railway stations - ‘what if I jumped off the platform/threw my phone down there’

I also get them around sex as well - that feels awful and something I don’t ever tell others about ... ie totally non sexual situations I find myself thinking, what if I were to do xyz ...

Yes, but worse things than that.

I am surprised, for example, that people don't throw rubbish into open topped cars parked in the street. Open invitation!
I would never do it, but I always think of it as I walk past, and am always surprised other people don't...

Yes I recognise that. I'm lying in bed right now listening to the wind howling through the trees in the Woods behind us. I could get up and go downstairs, out the back gate and wander around the wood in the scary pitch black. I could if I really, really wanted to, but nah.

The other time it happens is when I'm driving on a three lane highway and I suddenly think, I could do a handbrake turn now if I want. Sometimes I even goad myself 'Go on then, dare you, dare you'. But of course, I don't.

OMG I get these thoughts all the time, does not everyone get them? It seems to be getting worse for me, why???

Glad to know i'm not insane

Yes, intrusive thoughts of kicking people if I see pointy shoes. And sometimes imagine the dc' s funerals which I hate. All normal wierd things that the mind throws up!

Is this the imp of the perverse? I always want to lick the charging cable for my phone or laptop when it's plugged into the wall but not yet my device.

Yes. About jumping off cliffs/bridges. Scalding myself/burning myself. Sticking my fingers in plug sockets. Opening car doors (especially on motorways). Sticking things in my eyes. Pulling my teeth out. Sticking something in my temples. All things I would never do as dangerous/deadly. I have had Horrible intrusive thoughts when I had a new baby and was really sleep deprived. Mine seem to be the worst things I can think of in that moment. I have had anxiety forever though, had intrusive thoughts always, and never acted on a single one.

Also kicking/hitting/biting etc. Or swearing at people, calling them vile names etc. It's horrible it's like everything is tainted by them a little bit.

I used to get this a lot during exams, imagining what would happen if I started to jump from table to table screaming my head off, pushing all the papers on the floor and kicking the examiners that tried to stop me

I regularly have to drive up and down the same motorway, many times a thought pops in my head that says...just keep driving, just think how far you can be in an hour, no one will be able to find you.
I have missed my exit a few times thinking this. Not because I'm planning on driving far, far away, but because I've not realised where I am.

My intrusive thoughts are pretty benign really, although would be difficult to sort out if I actually did them. My most common one is when I see a post box or a drain I think I'll get my car / house keys out of my bag and just put them in there.

I remember seeing a documentary about mental health which dealt with this. Some people's intrusive thoughts were really distressing, and impacted a lot on their daily life. One woman had a real fear that she would pick people up in the street and put them in litter bins. I seem to remember she said she knew that probably sounded genuinely funny to most people but it terrified her. She was getting CBT for it though, and making great progress.

Call of the void is one of my favourite rabbit holes for anyone who likes this kind of psychology!

www.healthline.com/health/call-of-the-void

I had no idea it wasn't just me!

I felt so bad sharing a thought with DH about being high up and my thoughts were throwing/dropping DD who I was holding at the time off the top. He said he'd had the same and looked equally relieved.

I get mad thoughts during staff meetings about standing up and yelling something loud and rude calling everyone wankers

Why do we get them????

@FitbitMum oh my god, that is the most random instrusive thought i've heard and it actually gave me the giggles😂

Some of you appear to say you have these intrusive thoughts when you feel anxious oe PND - is there a link to these and mental health? I always thought everyone just got these urges

@backseatcookers will definitely look into that!

Also my children's funeral and then I lie awake haunted and petrified.

@SunshineSunshineSunshine I think if they're repetitive it can be linked to OCD (it was for the people in the doc I mentioned upthread, anyway)

I think it is anxiety more than the pnd. Though aren't they all linked really anyway? I can cope by telling myself it's only a thought, mindfulness really helps you to learn to allow thoughts but not react to them.

I used to work for a railway company and would sometimes have to wait for trains to come into the station, I’d often want to jump onto the track just to see what would happen!

I used to spend a lot of time dwelling on them and wondering if they meant I was going mad etc. I think that over thinking to it and anxiety afterwards are part of my anxiety issues, but I think everyone gets them to a degree. It depends how much they rule your life. I have some intrusive thoughts which I have to 'act' on which is a lot like OCD. I can spend an hour repeatedly checking that the gas is off and every time thinking I turned it on instead, once I get that intrusive thought I have to act on it. Even if it's time 100 and even though I know I have never intentionally turned the gas on when meaning to check it's off. I had an intrusive thought about running someone over on purpose once during a driving lesson, and still have not been able to get my license as the thought disturbed me so much, even though after years of therapy I know that the intrusive thoughts are my worst nightmares, not my plans. I also don't own an iron as I'm so scared of what they can do after seeing someone with a bad iron burn as a child. I have to challenge it constantly, because the thoughts keep my trapped, anxious, checking and re checking or avoidance behaviours

@Getoutofbed25

Trains are one of my worst ones.

[quote SunshineSunshineSunshine]@FitbitMum oh my god, that is the most random instrusive thought i've heard and it actually gave me the giggles😂

Some of you appear to say you have these intrusive thoughts when you feel anxious oe PND - is there a link to these and mental health? I always thought everyone just got these urges

@backseatcookers will definitely look into that![/quote]
They (mental health services) used to say to me if it was if you attach any importance to them that it becomes linked to mental health .

So for example I have a horrible repetitive thought just now about my own health (ten years it’s been there now) , I can’t block it out, I restrict my life to avoid triggering it, I think it’s a premonition, I look for signs to confirm it and I have ways of trying to ‘neutralise it’ . I’m diagnosed with OCD .

I can do same with all manner of things - ‘there’s a knife there, you could do xyz with that’ - rest of the day, I’m panicking that I’ve already harmed someone or at imminent risk of doing so ...

Whereas if someone else had the same thought they probably wouldn’t panic all day ... then see an advert on the TV for life insurance or a documentary about knife crime and think oh my goodness, that’s a warning sign that I’m ill/bad/mustn’t go out now . They’d just be able to accept it as a thought and carry on .

At least - I think that’s right anyway !

@becauseigothigh

That's what I've been told. That intrusive thoughts are like spam emails. We all get them, but most people do not think about them. There have been thoughts in my life where my intrusive thoughts ruled every area of my life. After years of therapy there are still some things that they effect. I have got better at managing them, generally, but in times of stress/sleep deprivation etc. Then they can become overwhelming again.

In most days (probably every day) I do at least some behaviours I would not do if I did not have intrusive thoughts. It's part of my every day life. It's so normal now I don't question it. When I feel the feeling I make my checks. Sometimes I avoid entire rooms of my house for hours because I am scared of the associated thought, eg. Smashing the bathroom mirror with my fist. If I need a wee I will run in and out as quick as I can and wash my hands in the kitchen instead of spending extra Time in there. I have never punched a mirror. Never even tried. Probably something I saw in a film and got processed weirdly and just pops into my head intermittently