Say It Out Loud - Deepstash
How to Cope With Intrusive Thoughts

Learn more about personaldevelopment with this collection

How to overcome unwanted thoughts

How to manage intrusive thoughts

How to change your attitude towards intrusive thoughts

How to Cope With Intrusive Thoughts

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Say It Out Loud

Say It Out Loud

Telling a trusted friend what you're thinking about can often lead to support or a good laugh when the negative self-talk is ridiculous. Even saying some negative self-talk phrases under your breath can remind you how unreasonable and unrealistic they sound, and remind you to give yourself a break.

238

611 reads

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Change Negativity To Neutrality

Change Negativity To Neutrality

It can be hard to force yourself to stop a train of thought. An easier alternative is to change the intensity of your language, thus muting its power.

"I can't stand this" becomes, "This is challenging. " "I hate... " becomes, "I don't like... " and even, "I don't prefer... "

269

563 reads

Notice And Stop That Thought

Notice And Stop That Thought

Simply stopping negative thoughts in their tracks can be helpful. This is known as "thought-stopping" and can take the form of snapping a rubber band on your wrist, visualizing a stop sign, or simply changing to another thought when a negative train of thought enters your mind.

308

770 reads

Shift Your Perspective

Shift Your Perspective

Sometimesย looking at things in the long term can help you to realize that you may be placing too great an emphasis on something. Shift your perspective by imagining that you are panning out and looking at your problems from a great distance.

233

625 reads

Think Like a Friend

Think Like a Friend

Decrease itโ€™s negativity by imagining you are saying your self-talk to a friend. If you know you wouldn't say it in a certain way, think of how you'd share it instead or what you'd like a good friend to say to you.ย 

252

675 reads

Cross-Examine Your Inner Critic

Cross-Examine Your Inner Critic

Catch your negative self-talk and ask yourself how true it is. The vast majority of negative self-talk is an exaggeration, and calling yourself on this can help to decrease its damaging influence.

253

560 reads

Contain Your Negativity

Contain Your Negativity

You can limit the negativity by setting up a maximum time for self-criticism or only allowing self-criticism to certain things in your life.

211

526 reads

Give Your Inner Critic a Nickname

Give Your Inner Critic a Nickname

When you think of your inner critic as a force outside of yourself and even give it a goofy nickname, it's easier to realize that you don't have to agree, and it becomes less threatening and more easy to see how ridiculous some of your critical thoughts can be.

247

446 reads

Replace The Bad With Some Good

Replace The Bad With Some Good

Take a negative thought and change it to something encouraging that's also accurate. Repeat until you find yourself needing to do it less and less often.ย 

274

994 reads

Thoughts And Feelings Aren't Reality

Thoughts And Feelings Aren't Reality

Your thoughts and feelings about yourself can't be considered accurate information. Your thoughts can be skewed like everyone else's, subject to biases and the influence of your moods.

248

637 reads

CURATED FROM

CURATED BY

jamesthecooper

Started studying chemistry at college, never finished.

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