Intrusive thoughts

[LoveIsLovely]

How can you stop intrusive thoughts? They're really bothering me at the moment to the point that I am in tears every day.

They're always about people harming children or animals - usually based on headlines I've accidentally read. I try really hard to avoid that kind of stuff. There was one I read yesterday that has absolutely messed me up and I can't stop thinking about it.

I can't go to therapy and not currently on medication and really don't want to be again.

Has anyone found ways of dealing with them and stopping them coming up constantly?

“Complete fuck up” - Think that’s definitely my diagnosis too!! I keep hoping one day I’ll be “normal”

I’m lucky enough to be seeing a therapist and she told me that tip above.

These weird times will be making it all worse too. But it’s not just you as you can see from the thread. 😊

@mascotte maybe we need to create a new condition, cfu or complete fuck up. Symptoms include: experiencing every single diagnosable condition, and trying to get better and failing.

Bah.

We could write a learned paper on it? 😃

We’ll get there...

Try the naming things

Oh, last thing,I find I’m worse if tired or panicky. I have propanol prescribed so I can take one if I feel panic starting and the removal of the physical symptoms from it really helps my head.

Hi OP. I suffer with these and have done for a while. What I have found is when I panic and have a strong emotional response to an intrusive thought it comes back more often. I have found my own ways of trying to accept that the thought is in my head but tone down my emotions towards it or say to myself, ‘I’m choosing not to let this ruin my day’ then visualise something that’s happened previously that really made me laugh etc. The less attention you give them the less they will appear! They are not a nice thing to experience you have my sympathy.

I know exercise is prob the absolute last thing you feel like doing! But it does help, after a few weeks you'll see the thoughts slow down a bit as you burn off all the excess adrenaline.
Spoiler alert...these thoughts are caused by OCD. At some point you'll look back and see that, but it's hard to visualise when this first happens to you, but you will come through the other side and understand so much more about how your OCD works.
Try not to focus on "stopping" these thoughts. I remember getting so upset that a bad thought had popped up and "ruined" my perfect 10 seconds/10 minutes of not having a bad thought. But this is again the OCD looking for perfection that doesn't exist. I did have CBT which includes having to talk about the thoughts and write them down etc. But ultimately what helped was me just accepting that they didn't mean anything. The same thoughts can pop in to my head now and they get zero emotional reaction. You'll get there!

The only thing I find that helps my intrusive thoughts is to set some time in the day to have them. Usually whilst I'm doing an activity which has a fixed time point like walking home from work, doing the washing up or showering. 10-15 minutes worked for me, I found the more I was telling myself not to think about them the more I did whereas I could now say no. You will have your time later. My brain needed me to hear the thoughts but the dismiss them and get on with my day. After a while they need less time. For me it is a bit of a stepping stone between being overwhelmed by them and shutting them out completely.

@Mascotte I actually don't get any physical symptoms of anxiety so propranolol doesn't do much for me.

@Jupiter202020201 Yes, I think thinking of something funny could work. I will try that.

@Caneloalvarez The whole OCD/perfectionism thing is so weird. I am definitely a perfectionist but more like "it will never be perfect so why bother?" I can't imagine never having an emotional response to these thoughts. I hope I can get there. But even as a child, I would cry at every little thing, I've always been far too sensitive.

@superscientist I think having a time slot could work. I know I have tried it with anxiety in the past and has some success.

It's so hard these days. I have a baby (which I think is what has triggered a lot of these thoughts, though they did start before I was pregnant) and whenever he cries, it triggers waves of thoughts (I can't describe them, I'm sorry). Luckily he doesn't cry much or I'd be in tears all day. My husband is working from home right now and I think he feels like I'm going a bit mad, every time he sees me I'm sitting there crying.

Ugh I have been doing so well for four or five years and now I feel like my mh is right back to how it was when I was a teenager and couldn't even function.

When I consider therapy, I know they would try to make me talk about what the thoughts are and I just can't. It's so expensive here too (not UK), like over 100 pounds a session.

Thanks again for all the suggestions and just for being there.

Intrusive thoughts can definitely make the person feel like they are ‘going mad’ and abnormal. They often start to trap the person in that way of thinking and take over - but if anyone was having those thoughts for hours at a time it would make you feel strange. But you aren’t a fuck up just an ordinary person who isn’t well at the moment.

For all mental health things make sure the basics are there - promote good sleep, eat as well as you can, lay off the booze, make sure you relax each day - music, book, bath, Netflix, get outside everyday (which we are allowed to do). Basics always need to be in place and can be things you can ‘control’ then think about any specialist help you need. Sometimes, though you need some medication for even the therapies to work.

Anti psychotics have worked for me.
I take them for other symptoms but the bonus is that the intrusive thoughts have mostly stopped.

@Gwynfluff sadly it's not really a "at the moment" thing, this (not intrusive thoughts per se but mh stuff) has been on going since childhood. Hard not to think of oneself as mad.

I'm not in the UK and it's hard to get out here.

@Terralee That's interesting about anti psychotics. I've always just been given anti depressants but they usually make things worse.

@LoveIsLovely I did actually describe my thoughts (which were telling me to harm people) to my nhs psychiatrist; he asked 'is there a risk you will act on them' & I said no definitely not (which is true).
He was very kind and I was relieved to finally tell someone, I too had the thoughts since my teens, i was 40 by the time I confided in him.
I'd been so scared I might get locked up for having 'bad thoughts' that weren't even mine although I suppose they do come from somewhere in your subconscious... your brain plays tricks on you by telling you to do the last thing in the world you would want to do. I have no idea why.

I've been fine for the last 3 years since an increase in my anti psychotic (for the psychotic symptoms of schizoaffective disorder- not saying that you may have that problem obviously). But yesterday the thoughts suddenly returned briefly then vanished again. I wonder if it's because I'm really stressed at the moment.
I should tell one of my mental health team but it's difficult to.

@LoveIsLovely what I'm trying to say is that if you tell someone the thoughts seem less of a problem straight away.

You’ve got a chronic fluctuating condition. It’s fine, you need treatment and you aren’t a fuck. It’s only mental health conditions that we’d ever say this

I completely u derstand why you don't like medication. My experience, via NHS is of side effects ranging from spaced out to seizures. Really its one of those things Xanax was intended for

Intrusive thoughts are a part of anxiety and stress. I used to get them mainly when u wasn’t keeping myself busy. When you can go I’d recommend having a chat with your GP about medication, a small dose does make a hell of a difference even if it’s for a short period of time. Medication used to scare me until I found one that actually worked. Try distracting your mind, such as hoovering, gardening, going for a walk around the block or getting one of those adult colouring books could be helpful? Take care.