A sudden thought, unwelcome, nasty and involuntary, hits you when you least expect it.

You might be instantly horrified when such thoughts hit your mind, but don’t worry. These are called intrusive thoughts, and we all have them.

These can often take us by surprise, taking the form of a taboo subject, or an inappropriate action. Generally the result of an anxious mind, intrusive thoughts can wreak havoc on normalcy. All too often, they lead you to question your own sanity.

What are these thoughts? Can they be avoided?

We take a look.

What Intrusive Thoughts Are

Whether you’re prone to anxiety or not, you’ve probably had an intrusive thought or two. We all do.

Say you’re looking out the window on a relaxed bus journey. Out of nowhere, you imagine a head-on collision, and picture all the gory details. Then you snap out of it. By the time your bus reaches your destination, you’ve put the whole thing behind you. You maybe don’t even remember it.

That’s an intrusive thought.

Other subject matters include religious taboos, imagining harm to your own children, and other such unwanted, unsavoury stuff. Intrusive thoughts often rob you of  your peace. You get anxious, and start imagining these horrors coming to life.

Where Do They Come From?

These thoughts often crop up when your mind is ‘left unattended’, or when you’re bored.

Intrusive thoughts are often attributed to the following:

• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: OCD
• General Anxiety Disorder
• Social Phobia
• Panic Disorder
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Don’t worry, intrusive thoughts by themselves don’t mean you have any of these disorders.

Putting An End To Intrusive Thoughts

How do you put an end to these ‘what if’ scenarios that you seemingly can’t get rid of?

A number of psychologists recommend Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) strategies.

These help you figure out ways of accepting that such thoughts are a part of you. That is the key: acceptance. If you keep obsessing about why these thoughts occurred, you put yourself into a vicious cycle of bad thoughts, and bad thoughts about the original bad thoughts.

As with all other thought-related disorders, you should definitely see a qualified expert about the matter. You can’t work around intrusive thoughts, you need to work through them. Getting expert help is often the best way to do this.

References:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/anxiety-files/200906/those-damn-unwanted-thoughts

http://moodsmith.com/intrusive-thoughts/