Thinking visually

[charlotte83]

I'm wondering if I'm a bit odd, I think I might have posted about this before but not sure so I'm doing another post. I tend to think alot in pictures, not that I never think in words but I think visually a lot. For example, if I get panicy, instead of all the "what if this what if that" thoughts, I just have an image in my head of me having a panic attack attack somewhere, or an image of some future thing I'm scared of happening. I looked it up once on google and it mentioned people who think like that can have Autism but I doubt I have that as I don't have any signs of it. Maybe I'm just reading into it too much but I don't think anybody else does the same?
Its hard to help myself with cognitive therapy techniques because I can think positive thoughts all I like but the anxious images are still there!
Does anybody else think like that?

[Maj]

Hi,

I think anxiety symptoms affect everyone differently - to you it is images. I don't think this is any more to worry about than the what if's, etc. Just try and accept the fact that you are anxious at the moment, these are your symptoms, don't be afraid of them and with acceptance they will pass.
Myra:)

[phil06]

I'm wondering if I'm a bit odd, I think I might have posted about this before but not sure so I'm doing another post. I tend to think alot in pictures, not that I never think in words but I think visually a lot. For example, if I get panicy, instead of all the "what if this what if that" thoughts, I just have an image in my head of me having a panic attack attack somewhere, or an image of some future thing I'm scared of happening. I looked it up once on google and it mentioned people who think like that can have Autism but I doubt I have that as I don't have any signs of it. Maybe I'm just reading into it too much but I don't think anybody else does the same?
Its hard to help myself with cognitive therapy techniques because I can think positive thoughts all I like but the anxious images are still there!
Does anybody else think like that?

I've been there myself. Avoid Google as when I searched I had everything too. Don't fight the images just don't give them the attention. I started with just images but it soon became obsessive but at the end of the day thoughts can't change you or make you be or so something that's not you. :)

[Bill]

I think that if you think of our minds like computers, they store every image and every word we hear and see. When we become anxious, our "computer" then processes what is frightening us and then produces a "thought" based on things we've heard or seen. Sometimes it will produce an intrusive thought as a "word" and sometimes as an "image" but it's something we have no control over except to keep reminding ourselves that whatever the thought is, it is just a thought being created by our fear so each time it happens, to ignore it and move on.:hugs:

[melody]

I think in pictures. I am making up new pictures.

I used to keep picturing terrible things like car crashes etc. Now I have learned to picture different colours & animals. Like if I'm angry I picture a stallion jumping & galloping away. If I feel trapped I picture myself rising above it up into the clouds, leaping from cloud to cloud. If I feel afraid I picture myself growing bigger, sometime I picture myself as the wolf that can handle anything. I picture dipping in water & cleansing away all the negativity & fear. If I feel sad I picture myself dancing freely in a crowd, or in an empty room.

If you think in pictures you can use them to your advantage. You can draw the bad images in an art book to get them out of your head. You can draw your desires & it helps to get where you want to go.

I use meditation to deal with these things. I had to face a bad one with huge scary spiders, I went with it even though it was scary. I faced up to the fear (which was something completely unrelated to spiders, they were only a representation of the fear). Then I reached a new level with my meditation & found all these vibrant colours & pretty happier images in the meditations that followed it. I am hooked on meditation now, it makes me feel better.

If you can picture something distressing, you can just as easliy picture something pleasing at times of your choosing. It helps the creativity flow & encourages happier states of minds. Of course, it's one of those one step at a time things where it takes heaps of practice :)

[charlotte83]

Thanks for the replies :), I feel a bit better that I am not the only one who thinks like this. Its not just with my anxiety and OCD that I get pictures in my mind but I think like that anyway a lot, never really realised it until recently. Think it is because I am a really creative and imaginative person and so images have stronger emotions attached to them for me, whether good or bad.
As far as the anxious images are concerned, I try to just accept them as that, just "anxious images", it doesn't mean these things will happen just because I think them. I could picture myself walking down town a million times today but it won't happen because I'm skint! The same must apply to all thoughts, even anxious ones.