Intrusive thoughts

[sulmare]

does anyone else here suffer with these??

I find that if feels to me as if they are coming from outside of me and are insulting. The best way I can deal with them is by listening to my Ipod or concentrating on other things, but at night when I am tired and wanting to sleep, the anxiety they cause me disturbs me greatly

can anyone share with me how they are affected and how they cope???

when I get exhausted after 2 or 3 nights I take a sleeping pill, but I need to move on and past this part of anxiety, I just want to get better...:weep:

[Lilith1980]

Hey Tina

I can really relate to intrusive thoughts.

They range from being insulting to myself - like me being worthless and not good enough, ugly, a bad person - to worrying about my Mum dying, my brother being murdered, me being attacked or something like that.

Its strange because, more so with the thoughts about family etc, I find that I dont even notice they are running through my head until I am almost on the verge of tears and my breathing quickens.

I dont really know why these thoughts come into my head. The thoughts about myself I can understand because I have this core belief that I am a worthless, inheritantly, bad person. I think the thoughts of bad things happening to my family are down to my fears of being abandoned and people that I love leaving me.

You are certainly not alone hun ;)

Jo xxxxx

[matt1981]

Overriding obsession

Thought control
All of us can think of an occasion when an idea or mental image has popped into our head without warning. These might be completely senseless, or they might be things we know we shouldn't do. But most of us are never bothered by these thoughts and we can easily forget them.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/images/mind/ocd/morescience_ocd/more_anxiouswoman.jpgObsessive-compulsives are tortured by distressing mental images

Torment
Intrusive thoughts, or obsessions as psychologists call them, affect everyone. But some people can't get rid of them as easily as the rest of us. People who suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are plagued by intrusive thoughts that they can't banish from their mind, no matter how hard they try.
Obsessive-compulsives are tortured by these thoughts, which they find profoundly disgusting and distressing. The obsessions experienced by OCD sufferers can be grouped along several common themes.
Common obsessions

Fears of contamination by germs, dirt or chemicals
Fears of flooding the house, causing a fire, or being burgled
Aggressive thoughts about physically harming a loved one
Concerns about exactness or symmetry
Intrusive sexual thoughts or urges
Excessively doubting own morals or religious convictions
A need to tell, ask or confesshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/images/mind/ocd/morescience_ocd/more_running_water_ocd.jpgWashing your hands again and again is one of the many symptoms of OCD

Daily rituals
Many of us carry out daily rituals consisting of a series of tasks that we might otherwise forget. For example, checking that all the doors and windows are locked before we go to bed at night is a routine that guards against burglary. But in OCD, these rituals spiral out of control.
OCD sufferers are driven to carry out complex rituals known as compulsions, which are triggered by obsessions. An obsessive-compulsive might check their doors and windows 50 to 100 times when an obsession about security gets stuck in their head. Obsessive-compulsives are completely powerless to control their compulsions.
Most OCD compulsions are logically related to their obsession. For instance, sufferers carry out cleaning rituals in order to rid themselves of contaminants.
Common compulsions

Cleaning - repeatedly washing hands or wiping household surfaces for hours on end
Checking - repeatedly questioning whether lights switches are turned off, or appliances are unplugged
Counting strings of numbers for hours on end
Arranging - needing cutlery or furniture ordered in a certain way
Repeating words or sentences
Completing - performing a task in exact order again and again, until it is done perfectly (if they are interrupted, they often need to start all over again)
Hoarding - collecting useless objectshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/images/mind/ocd/morescience_ocd/more_people_ocd.jpgOCD could be much more common than we currently think

More common than we thought
Until the 1980s, about 2 in every 1,000 people were thought to be affected by OCD. Recent studies have revised this figure to 2 out of every 100 people. But it could be even more common, because sufferers often conceal the disorder from other people.
Some OCD sufferers are so afraid of being misunderstood by others that they become very skilful at hiding their symptoms, and can appear entirely normal. In other cases, symptoms can be so severe that sufferers receive disability compensation.
Obsessive personality
Researchers have found that people with OCD often score very highly for particular personality traits. These include:

Neuroticism - anxious and keen to avoid dangerous situations
Impulsivity - a tendency to engage in activities that bring instant gratification
Responsibility - an exaggerated sense of responsibility for their actions
Indecisiveness - a tendency to take time in making decisions
Perfectionism - a need to get everything to feel rightPerfectionism (http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/articles/personalityandindividuality/perfectionism.shtml) is one of the most common personality traits in OCD. Indeed, some researchers have described obsessive-compulsives as the ultimate perfectionists.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/articles/disorders/ocd.shtml

thought this might help :)

I struggle with intrusive thoughts especially recently as i have been under a huge amount of stress. My way is to tell myself "although I am thinking these thoughts it doesn't mean they are true or I believe them" :)

[sulmare]

thank you, that is really helpful...

after I posted the message I saw some links to intrusive thoughts disorder and I never knew that OCD could be the answer... interestingly, my brother has OCD, so I will talk it over the the Psych in a couple of weeks... :D it would be great to get a diagnosis

[bet]

Your post is really good Matt1981.It really explains things.

bet:)

[matt1981]

My brother has OCD aswell and he had some bad intrusive thoughts about 4 years ago. He had thoughts about harming his family. He didnt want to harm us they were just thoughts. I wish I knew then what I know now. :)