Intrusive thoughts can often feel like our minds are against us. They can cause significant distress and anxiety, preventing us from living our lives how we want to. Studies have shown that more than 94 percent of adults have experienced intrusive thoughts at least once in the last three months—which means you’re not alone if you’re struggling with this issue.
Intrusive thoughts are challenging to ignore, but understanding what they are and how to cope can help you regain control of your life. In this article, we’ll look at what intrusive thoughts are, what causes them, and how they negatively affect our mental health. We’ll also discuss techniques for managing negative thoughts and creating a plan to stop them.
What Are Intrusive Thoughts?
Intrusive thoughts are unwanted, recurrent, and often disturbing mental images or ideas that pop into your head. It can be a single thought, like imagining yourself jumping off of a bridge or an overly obsessive fear about something like germs. These thoughts may also include violent imagery, such as hurting someone you love.
Having an intrusive thought may lead to guilt or shame, as many people believe they must be a bad person when they experience them. It is important to remember that these thoughts are not voluntary and do not reflect your true character or values.
This type of thought pattern may also lead to obsessive-compulsive disorder, as some people try to cope with their intrusive thoughts by engaging in repetitive behaviors.
The Different Types of Intrusive Thoughts?
All intrusive thoughts are not the same. Depending on which type you experience significantly impacts how affected you are by them.
Intrusive thoughts can be divided into three distinct categories:
- Neutral: These thoughts don’t have any particular emotion attached to them and can be related to anything from everyday occurrences, such as what you’ll have for dinner, to more complex ideas.
- Negative: This type has an emotional component and may include fear, guilt, shame, and anxiety. Negative intrusive thoughts can be related to self-criticism or the feeling that something terrible will happen. They can be disturbing thoughts about harming yourself or others or worst-case scenarios.
- Positive: This type has an overall positive emotion attached to them and may involve fantasies or daydreams about success, winning a lottery, or having someone special in your life.
Often, you can experience more than one type of intrusive thought. However, it can be common to have a dominant type of thought pattern over the other invasive thought types.
What Causes These Types of Thoughts?
There is no single cause of intrusive thoughts, as everyone experiences them differently and for different reasons. However, there are common triggers that can lead to an increase in this negative thought pattern.
Common triggers of intrusive thoughts include:
- Stressful life events such as a death or divorce
- Trauma or abuse
- Anxiety disorders such as OCD or Generalized Anxiety Disorder
- Depression
- Substance abuse
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Schizophrenia
A lack of sleep, a poor diet, or medications can also cause this thought pattern. It is essential to talk to your doctor about any contributing factors to your negative, invasive thoughts.
How These Thoughts Negatively Affect Your Life?
Intrusive thoughts can be highly distressing. Depending on how often and the types of intrusive thoughts you experience, they can affect your life in different ways and severities.
Some ways intrusive thoughts negatively affect your life include:
- Feeling overwhelmed and trapped
- Having difficulty concentrating on tasks
- Difficulty sleeping
- Low self-esteem or feelings of guilt and shame
- Avoidance of activities that could trigger intrusive thoughts
- Unhealthy behaviors, such as obsessive checking or compulsive rituals
How to Deal With Intrusive Thoughts?
Although it can be challenging to stop negative and invasive thoughts, it is essential to understand what to do and not to do when experiencing distressing thought patterns to reduce the severity of their effect on you.
What to do when you experience an intrusive thought:
- Acknowledge the thought without judgment
- Remind yourself that intrusive thoughts are common and do not reflect your true character or values
- Allow the thought to exist and then float through and out of your mind
- Refocus your attention on something else, such as a hobby or physical activity
- Practice relaxation techniques such as meditation and deep breathing
What NOT to do when you experience an intrusive thought:
- Do not try to suppress or ignore the thought
- Do not give the thought power by dwelling on it
- Do not obsess over the meaning of your intrusive thoughts
- Do not engage in unhealthy behaviors as a way to cope with the intrusive thought
- Avoid substance abuse as a way to cope with intrusive thoughts
To reduce the occurrence of these thoughts, it can also help to limit your exposure to stressful situations or triggers that may lead to more intrusive thoughts. Creating a self-care routine could ease overall stress and anxiety if you are overwhelmed by stress often. Participating in relaxing activities and prioritizing your mental health can lessen the frequency and intensity of your intrusive thoughts.
Seeking Help and Finding Relief
If your intrusive thoughts are causing distress and interfering with your life, it is crucial to seek help. Talking to a mental health professional can give you the support you need to learn strategies for managing your negative thought patterns so they have less of an effect on your daily life.
Connecting with a licensed counselor can also help you understand why they occur and how to best cope with them in a healthy way. Counselors can also work through treatment options that work best for you.
Treatment options for intrusive thoughts:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): CBT focuses on helping individuals identify and challenge negative thought patterns, such as those associated with intrusive thoughts, to modify their responses and behaviors. Additionally, this type of therapy encourages individuals to engage in positive activities and use coping skills when negative thoughts pop up throughout the day.
- Exposure Therapy (ET): This approach can help individuals learn how to cope with intrusive thoughts by gradually exposing them to the source of their anxiety. This therapy works by slowly desensitizing an individual to the thought or stimulus triggering the intrusive thoughts, allowing them to confront and eventually overcome their fear or discomfort. Through exposure therapy, individuals can develop healthy coping strategies for dealing with intrusive thoughts and gain control over their reactions to them.
- Medication: Certain medications, such as SSRIs or benzodiazepines, may be prescribed by your doctor to help reduce feelings of anxiety and depression accompanying intrusive thoughts.
Depending on the severity of your intrusive thoughts, one or more treatment options may be used together to help relieve your symptoms.
In addition to seeking out a counselor, support groups for those who experience intrusive thoughts can be a helpful way to connect with others who understand what you are going through.
When you experience a negative mental health symptom, you may feel isolated and want to hide it from others. Talking to others who also experience your symptoms can make you feel less alone and less anxious about them.
It is important to remember that recovery from negative thought patterns takes time, so it is patient and kind to yourself as you work through the process.
Conclusion
Experiencing intrusive thoughts does not make you bad or weak; they are simply an unwanted part of the human experience. The important part is to be proactive where you can ease the effects of your intrusive thoughts over time.
Learning self-compassion and coping techniques for dealing with intrusive thoughts can be pivotal in easing their effects on your daily life. Reducing your overall stress level consistently through mindfulness or a self-care routine may be the key to overcoming this type of thought pattern.
Depending on the person, a mental health diagnosis can be the reason behind your negative thought patterns. With this information, your counselor can personalize a plan to reduce the effects of these thoughts so you can live a more peaceful life over time.
If you or someone you know is struggling with intrusive thoughts, please ask for help. You are not alone, and many resources are available to assist you in managing your intrusive thoughts. If you need help overcoming intrusive thoughts, call us or start here to schedule an appointment with a counselor specializing in these types of thought patterns.
