Intrusive thoughts creating anxiety

[Paul87]

Hey guys

I have been battling anxiety recently and have been getting better of it the last few days maybe nearly a week

Anyway this maybe a long post

I keep getting intrusive OCD thoughts about if do don't do this I will either

Die
Aliens will get me
I will go to hell
The ground will swallow me up
Certain foods will cause allergic reaction
I would combust


I noticed I had keep shaking doors and doing certain volume levels on the tv I also noticed I had look at certain objects a certain number of times walking past them as I been battling anxiety I didn't bother to challenge or battle OCD until well yesterday the night before I realised it is a issue and needs to be sorted

For example I been avoiding foods Incase they cause a allergy when I have had them before!!!

I also would be half asleep lying in bed and turn over and my thoughts would say aliens will do this if u move to the other side of the bed etc

So yesterday I started to ignore my thoughts and do everything against my OCD and I have stuck to it so far

And now I feel like I'm paying for it I'm concerned it isn't just OCD and intrusive thoughts but I'm going mad or have something else

I have no idea why but lately my feet touching the ground hasn't felt right so my brain has came up with weird intrusive thoughts about it when I think back I realise I also had that weird feet feeling 3-4 years ago whenever I was out and stuck in middle of a place with no safe zone causing anxiety and agoraphobia

And it came with a thought that I'm going to float

Anyway the alien one has been one that started gain lot of power recently and last night I even giggled at myself for even having such a thought my rational mind knows it's silly

But my irrational mind wants to create anxiety and panic and intrusive thoughts

So now my mind don't mention most of the ones I listed at the moment it's constantly the same one of the ground will swallow me up

Not only that but I keep picturing it happen which is annoying and causing stress and anxiety to be honest I'm not sure if picturing your intrusive thoughts is part of it or not?

I feel like I'm going mad or that they will drive me mad

How do I overcome such silly thoughts that do not reflect my personality or my intelligence

At the moment the same thought keeps popping up every few minutes with image

I'm kinda scared I be honest I just want the intrusive thoughts and the picturing the thoughts to go away so I can focus on battling the rest of this anxiety

Any sort of help and advice would be amazing

Thank you

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi Paul,

I tend to re-write a lot of the same stuff so I'll post this in as I've put in quite a bit of detail about intrusive thoughts and the various reactions we can have, and how changing reactions can even trigger us into new fears about them:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=184847

You seem to be experiencing Magical Thinking, one I've also had a lot of. The whole touching things to mitigate something totally impossible that you cannot affect in the physical world in that manner, for instance.

Intrusive thoughts can come with imagery and urges. It's common for those with harm based thoughts, like I had, to picture themselves hurting people. And urges feel like something is literally pushing or pulling you towards it.

It sounds like the issue with your feet may be DP?

It's good that you laughed at them. That's actually progress. They are trying to trigger fear so the more you just don't react (neutral) or react with something that challenges them (positive) then the more you are working to reduce them. Reacting with fear will keep them going as it's a reinforcing action, it ticks that final box in the cycle.

Something a lot of OCD sufferers know is that their overall anxiety levels impact on their intrusive thoughts in terms of intensity and frequency. So, do things to keep yourself calmer as it will help.

I found Mindfulness excellent for my intrusive thoughts. I've beaten them twice now. The second time was a new theme connected to my adrenaline spikes from this med but I sorted that out using the same methods and it was less of an issue.

[Paul87]

Hi Paul,

I tend to re-write a lot of the same stuff so I'll post this in as I've put in quite a bit of detail about intrusive thoughts and the various reactions we can have, and how changing reactions can even trigger us into new fears about them:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=184847

You seem to be experiencing Magical Thinking, one I've also had a lot of. The whole touching things to mitigate something totally impossible that you cannot affect in the physical world in that manner, for instance.

Intrusive thoughts can come with imagery and urges. It's common for those with harm based thoughts, like I had, to picture themselves hurting people. And urges feel like something is literally pushing or pulling you towards it.

It sounds like the issue with your feet may be DP?

It's good that you laughed at them. That's actually progress. They are trying to trigger fear so the more you just don't react (neutral) or react with something that challenges them (positive) then the more you are working to reduce them. Reacting with fear will keep them going as it's a reinforcing action, it ticks that final box in the cycle.

Something a lot of OCD sufferers know is that their overall anxiety levels impact on their intrusive thoughts in terms of intensity and frequency. So, do things to keep yourself calmer as it will help.

I found Mindfulness excellent for my intrusive thoughts. I've beaten them twice now. The second time was a new theme connected to my adrenaline spikes from this med but I sorted that out using the same methods and it was less of an issue.

Thanks for the message at least I guess my weird thoughts isn't just me, I'm unsure if my feet is actually anything or my mind trying to convince me it is because if my feet ain't on the ground and I sit crossed legged my bum gets the same feeling

I think maybe it is my mind trying convince me it don't feel right when it does

Btw what is dp

[MyNameIsTerry]

It's Depersonalisation. Where you feel disconnected from your body in some way. It is often seen after panic attacks as it's a method to escape from the panic.