odd thoughts (horrid i know) please give sme advice

[Ljthompson10]

Hi all, can someone tell me the technique to get rid of horrible, intrusive thoughts when they are bothering me?
Do i literally just let them be there??

Also what is still bothering me is the really recurring thoughts, you see i sometimes have thoughts who don't mean anything, and don't necessarily scare me, (thy may even just be a mental picture that i link to something such as intrusive thoughts), however because they don't mean anything, i can't reason with them, and they seem to like to stay in my mind ALL THE TIME, and the fact that they are always popping up constantly frustrates me!! They are not even scary, however i can't help always being frustrated when they are constantly popping up. These are also worse when I'm not distracted, for example when I'm not at school.

Could you give advice in how to deal with these "different" thoughts??


Thanks everyone, I know how helpful you all are and quite francly I feel day by day i am improving, and hopefully eventually i will be able to calm the odd thoughts quite like i did with excessive worry about my health which was 24-7

[Ljthompson10]

?????

[Dave1]

Sorry LJ, I don't really know, but this is how I personally think of it...

I think your subconscious mind is only trying to help you. It sends you thoughts it thinks you want. But it's not very good at it! When it sends you intrusive thoughts and you react by being frustrated, anxious, and unhappy it thinks... 'Hmm that thought I sent provoked a big emotional reaction - so it's obviously a very important thought for him - so I'll keep sending it. Yes, that should help!' I think that's why they say you shouldn't react to intrusive thoughts. Then your subconscious will think you don't need that particular thought and after sending it a couple more times just to check it'll then try sending you a different thought. Unfortunately, that's often another unpleasant thought! So you may need to stay calm and stay emotionally un-involved to several unpleasant thoughts in succession (much easier said than done) until eventually your subconscious will decide 'he doesn't want unpleasant thoughts today so I'll send him something nice!'

[MyNameIsTerry]

Sorry LJ, I don't really know, but this is how I personally think of it...

I think your subconscious mind is only trying to help you. It sends you thoughts it thinks you want. But it's not very good at it! When it sends you intrusive thoughts and you react by being frustrated, anxious, and unhappy it thinks... 'Hmm that thought I sent provoked a big emotional reaction - so it's obviously a very important thought for him - so I'll keep sending it. Yes, that should help!' I think that's why they say you shouldn't react to intrusive thoughts. Then your subconscious will think you don't need that particular thought and after sending it a couple more times just to check it'll then try sending you a different thought. Unfortunately, that's often another unpleasant thought! So you may need to stay calm and stay emotionally un-involved to several unpleasant thoughts in succession (much easier said than done) until eventually your subconscious will decide 'he doesn't want unpleasant thoughts today so I'll send him something nice!'

Spot on, Dave. That's an exact example I've seen on worksheets by professionals.

[Lucinda07]

Dave - that's a helpful piece of advice! If we are "sensitive" to a certain type of thought then our subconscious will send more because it thinks it will help us out. Bah!

[SLA]

Spot on, Dave. That's an exact example I've seen on worksheets by professionals.

I am not 100% convinced it works like that though.

If our subconsious was always trying to help us, we'd all be happy, and content, and the world would not be anything like it is today.

The problem is it gets programmed from a wide spectrum of external sources from a very young age. These are often fearful, and negative. "Don't talk to strangers!!" - "Your face will stay like that!!"

I don't think it has its own rationality built in. Whatever you put in comes back out.

For our subconsious to actively change and help us rather than hinder us, it needs to be reprogrammed at a deep level. Replacing negative thoughts and images with positive ones repeatedly, until it naturally responds to situations with the more constructive thought.

If you don't react to the thoughts, they do go away. But to have persistently constructive and positive thoughts, you really need to change the wiring.

The reason I say this is that for a long time, I actively repeated positive ideas and concepts, and they did change my mood and thoughts. When I stopped however, it slowly went back to "default mode."

It seems like in order to achieve lasting change, you have to have a drastic life altering occurance that shakes up everything you knows. A hard reset of sorts.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I am not 100% convinced it works like that though.

If our subconsious was always trying to help us, we'd all be happy, and content, and the world would not be anything like it is today.

The problem is it gets programmed from a wide spectrum of external sources from a very young age. These are often fearful, and negative. "Don't talk to strangers!!" - "Your face will stay like that!!"

I don't think it has its own rationality built in. Whatever you put in comes back out.

For our subconsious to actively change and help us rather than hinder us, it needs to be reprogrammed at a deep level. Replacing negative thoughts and images with positive ones repeatedly, until it naturally responds to situations with the more constructive thought.

If you don't react to the thoughts, they do go away. But to have persistently constructive and positive thoughts, you really need to change the wiring.

The reason I say this is that for a long time, I actively repeated positive ideas and concepts, and they did change my mood and thoughts. When I stopped however, it slowly went back to "default mode."

It seems like in order to achieve lasting change, you have to have a drastic life altering occurance that shakes up everything you knows. A hard reset of sorts.

Yes, I agree. I think you are just going to the deeper level whereas what Dave was illustrating was the process for intrusive thoughts. Intrusive thoughts are part of the fear cycle so they work specifically.

Going deeper means core beliefs and schemas. And at a neurophysical level we have the density of the areas of the brain associated with negatives or positives.

The more you work on reducing negatives and increasing positives, you will see reduction in one area and increases in others. Studies of meditation using fMRI scanners alone have proven that by showing a reduction in density in the amygdala (right side) and increase in density in the inula (might have spelt that wrong? )

This takes me back to why I've never liked the acceptance only route to anxiety recovery. It's passive. It relies on luck because you are only trying not to be affected yet you aren't actively trying to move forward too. So, acceptance is good but you need exposure too so you are achieving and pulling yourself forward.

The subconscious learns. I bet you love that old native American story about the two wolves. It's absolutely right.

[Ljthompson10]

But, will then negative thoughts go if i ignore them and let them be??

thats what I'm working well on and have been told that all along??

I'm confused now

do i need to constantly think off positive thoughts or ignore them???

its confusing but thanks to all of you for the help

daves comment was especially helpful!!

[SLA]

You're reassurance/attention seeking now, and that is a negative.

You've received great advice. Reread it, and stop looking for more responses.

[Ljthompson10]

You're reassurance/attention seeking now, and that is a negative.

You've received great advice. Reread it, and stop looking for more responses.

your confusing me now ahahha

do i just ignore them nd let them be to get rid of them...

thats what I've been told multiple times but i don't want to put my time and effort into doing that if its wrong,,,,,,