Are these “intrusive thoughts”?

[Tillow4ever]

I’m sorry if this is a stupid question, but I’ve never really understood what exactly intrusive thoughts are, and I’ve had thoughts like I’m about to describe for years, but yesterday it felt really different and really panicked me to the point I didn’t know how to make it stop.

So I’ve always imagined scenarios happening. Things like if the kids are on a school trip, I start visualising an accident/bus crash/them getting hurt or killed. It always upsets me and I’ve often cried in private whilst I talk myself down. I’ve never told anyone about this. I’ve visualised myself in a situation where I’m in severe danger or death etc too, and find that really quite hard.

I was driving home from work yesterday and was thinking about an upcoming work trip where the whole business is travelling abroad. Some are flying, some are taking Eurostar. I went for flying as the thought of being under the water in a train fills me with dread in case something went wrong. Except yesterday I started imagining myself in the tunnel and the tunnel collapsing and filling with water. I don’t know how to describe the panic I began to feel at the idea of holding my breath desperately hoping to find somewhere I could breathe. The thought of how drowning might feel, how painful would it be, how I’d know it was going to happen and they’d be nothing I could do, etc. But I couldn’t stop - normally I can shake these kind of thoughts, but I couldn’t get rid of them. Even writing this post I was hesitant as I didn’t want it to start again.

So I was wondering if this is what is meant by intrusive thoughts? If it isn’t, how would you describe it/what is it?

And how do people overcome these? I would appreciate any tips for how to push them away or replace them with something nicer. I’m sorry if my description is triggering for anyone. Yesterday was just so intense I feels like I need to ask for help now.

Intrusive thoughts are just thoughts like any other, except that they have a particular emphasis on disturbing themes; often about hurting others.

Yours are more akin to the thoughts we almost invariably get when we stand at the top of a tall building or sheer cliff..."what would happen if..."

Thoughts are not facts They are just random ideas that flit in and out of your mind; the great majority are repetitive and they tend towards the negative (which protects us in that we take precautions against danger as a result. If prehistoric caveman wandered out of his cave and didn't bother taking a spear with him, you and I wouldn't exist now).

This is why, when our imagination takes us into the future we are far more likely to picture something going wrong, rather than jumping to the idea that you could meet the partner of your dreams or picking up a winning lottery ticket on a whim.

Have any of your imaginary daymares come true? Of course not. That alone should prove that your mind is rubbish at fortune telling. Try flipping the thoughts and deliberately imaging the most amazing outcome you can picture. (It won't come true either but its a lot more pleasant!).

If it continues to be a problem then a couple of session of hypnotherapy or remedial hypnosis will quickly sort it out.

Yes these are intrusive thoughts. I do this and it got much worse with each of my pregnancies. Running through scenarios exactly as you describe and making myself physically sick/anxious with worry. You can speak to your gp for support.

I would say those are intrusive thoughts

Grounding techniques can be helpful... whatever helps you snap out of the cycle of doom and back into reality.

Some people use certain words or phrases
others a physical trigger (wear an elastic band around your wrist and snap it to stop the thoughts)
meditation techniques where you recognise the thoughts exist and let them go without getting carried away with them
Using your senses (identify 5 things you can see, 4 things you hear, 3 things you feel, 2 things you smell, 1 you can taste); identify things of a certain colour around you
Simple breathing techniques where tou can focus on your breathing until the thought has run its course

Overall exercise and mediation help in the long term

Thank you! I appreciate the tips for how to snap out of it. In the past I could work through it in my mind, have my moment of upset, then the rational part of my brain would remind me of why I could ignore these thoughts. Yesterday was a level of anxiety (I don’t even know if that’s the right word) about it. I was literally holding by breath as if breathing was going to fill my lungs with water. I’ve always been afraid of drowning - but I don’t put myself in situations where that would be a legitimate risk, so it makes no sense why this came out of the blue.

I will definitely try the tips offered.

These are intrusive thoughts and understandably distressing. I had bad postnatal OCD that took the form of intrusive thoughts about awful things happening to my children. They were frequent and I didn’t know how to stop them. I saw my GP and was prescribed anti-anxiety meds and a course of CBT, which have me some great techniques to use. My life today is very different. Don’t be afraid to seek help for this, it is readily available.

The average adult has between 50,000 & 70,000 thoughts per day. If you make them real then they become your reality. Thoughts are not real, so in effect are illusory. Learning to discern between thoughts and just be an observer of them is a meditative practice that can help and keep you in the present moment.

Read "The Power of Now" by Eckarte Tolle

This is particularly interesting to me. I suspected I might have OCD. A few years ago I did some online tests and one of the things that came back was a high likelihood of OCD. However it’s not been at a level where it’s causing a major impact on my life or anything, although it does annoy me when I have to get out of bed to check the door is definitely locked for what feels like the millionth time because I can’t quite remember if I definitely checked it that night…. Despite having to check it at least 5 times before I go upstairs).

I wonder now if maybe the two things are linked for me and perhaps I do have it.

This is most certainly OCD. Mainly what they call "pure O". Long time sufferer here and it's ruined my life.

Thank you and I’m sorry to hear that. I will look into pure O.

Thank you for this thread. I have noticed for a few years now that I have had what I call intrusive thoughts, usually about harm coming to my children. I'm normally a mentally well and resilient person, so I am lucky in that they don't really bother me, and I'm mostly able to think "Oh, there's another intrusive thought. That was unpleasant." and move on. Having said that, quite a lot of the time they're shortly after I've left the house or am leaving the house, and I'll think "Did I unplug the hair straightener? Phone charger? What if it starts a fire while I'm out and DD and DH don't realise and get out in time?!" and I'll double back to check. That's mildly inconvenient, and more inconvenient when I am half an hour on the road home after work late at night and I decide I need to go back and check my workplace because there will definitely be a fire if I don't! One of my coping mechanisms has been to take photos of everything unplugged before I go anywhere. Somehow that's enough for my brain, and I never usually need to check the photos.

It hasn't occurred to me to talk to anybody about mine. Up until recently I didn't really even consciously realise they were a mental health issue. I think it was a friend saying something to me about theirs, and wondering out loud did everybody have them, that made me realise that I have them too. I've since had two other friends mention theirs (and I've told them about mine) so I'm not even sure if it is that unusual!

I'm sorry that yours are bothering you. I hope that some of the mindfulness and grounding things that have been mentioned to you are helpful. It definitely helps me to recognise that a thought is just a thought, even if it's a very unpleasant one. I don't have to buy into it.

If I notice I'm having more of them than usual or that I'm more bothered by them than usual, I try to ramp up my self care - the boring but basic stuff, like eating healthy foods and getting enough sleep and water. I see mine as an indicator that my mind is probably a bit more stressed than usual.

For those struggling with the "did I lock the door" thing, one tip I've heard is to try and engage more when you do these autopilot tasks. I think for me my brain is juggling so many things at the same time that when i'm doing those tasks i'm not thinking about them, but about 4 other different things. My poor brain literally didn't notice whether I did it or not.

Taking a bit of time to do things more consciously helps me. An example is saying "door locked" out loud when you lock the door. When you unplug the straighteners, you can point at them and say "unplugged" out loud.

Movement, gestures and word focus the attention and engage different parts of the brain, hopefully leading to fewer episodes of "did i turn off the gas"