help with thoughts

[dante]

does anyone have a thought that wont go away and the more you dont want it the more it comes, its a very scary thought and i just cant stop thinking it. is this normal for anxiety

[NoPoet]

Hi, I have been having a tough time with this lately. It is normal to have repetitive, distressing thoughts. I find talking about them helps - if you haven't got anyone to confide in I recommend you phone the Samaritans.

My negative thoughts are caused by specific problems. My counsellor has referred me on to an anxiety specialist who deals in cognitive behavioural therapy. Maybe that would help you too? I am also trying hypnotherapy next week as I often find myself thinking negatively and I want to find a way to permanently change that.

[kt79]

I get this to. It sounds like bad intrusive thoughts to me. There is a book called imp of the mind which is supossed to be really helpful. I have not read it as wonder if focusing on it will make things worse. If you read it tell me if its good????

[Wolfie]

Hey there Dante,

I used to get really bad thoughts which would haunt me every waking hour. So I know where you're coming from.

Over time I have realised that the trick is to not give the thought ANY significance. The thought comes, you acknowledge it, try you're best not to let it scare you as these thoughts feed on fear! Fear is an illusion and it can never harm you, it can never come true either, it is simply a fear of the thought actually occuring. Once you've done this, best thing to do is to distract yourself with something which will preoccupy your mind, for example, reading, sport, movies, etc.

It's really tough at the start, but the more you do this, I find it gets easier to cope with, I actually stopped getting any sort of intrusive thoughts for over a year. They are starting to appear again, but I know I can beat them. And so can you!

Also, I found that talking about what was happening in the thoughts, as traumatic as they may be, also helped take the significance away because it was out in the open, not bottled up inside.

Take care; lots of hugs,

Chrissy xxxx