Learn more about psychology with this collection
How to overcome unwanted thoughts
How to manage intrusive thoughts
How to change your attitude towards intrusive thoughts
Identifying intrusive thoughts
There are some signs to look for:
- The thought is unusual for you. An intrusive thought is usually very different from your typical thoughts.
- The thought is bothersome, something you want to push out of your mind.
- The thought feels hard to control. Intrusive thoughts are often repetitive and won’t go away.
When these thoughts emerge, try taking the following steps:
- Identify the thought as intrusive.
- Don’t fight with it. When you have an intrusive thought, just accept it.
- Don’t judge yourself. Know that having a strange or disturbing thought doesn’t indicate that something is wrong with you.
201
3.01K reads
MORE IDEAS ON THIS
When to seek help
See a mental health professional if unwanted thoughts are starting to disrupt your daily life, particularly if they’re impairing your ability to work or to do things you enjoy. However, even if intrusive thoughts aren’t affecting your life in a significant way, you can still see ...
131
2.56K reads
Intrusive thoughts
- It seems to come out of nowhere — a strange, disturbing thought or a troubling image that pops into your mind. It might be violent or sexual, or a recurring fear that you’ll do something inappropriate or embarrassing. Whatever the content, it’s often unsettling and may bring on feelings of w...
169
3.5K reads
What intrusive thoughts mean
While intrusive thoughts may be disturbing, they aren’t harmful or a sign that you have a secret desire to do the things that popped into your mind.
People are often too embarrassed or ashamed to talk about it.
144
3.54K reads
CURATED FROM
IDEAS CURATED BY
How to identify and manage intrusive thoughts.
“
Related collections
Other curated ideas on this topic:
3.Reframe Negative Thoughts
Most people think negative thoughts from time to time, but these thoughts can prevent us from achieving our goals. The Roman philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius knew the power of our minds and wrote in Meditations, “Our life is what our thoughts make it.”
Thankfully, you can train your brai...
Identifying Unhelpful Thoughts
- Black and White Thinking: There are heaping piles of nuance to most things.
- Unrealistic Expectations: Cynicism is bad, but a little skepticism is essential.
- Selective Attention: If your brain is always looking for the neg...
Treating Thoughts Like TV Channels
- Though thoughts are about real things, they themselves are just thoughts, sensations and hallucinations with no substance.
- We don’t need to engage with every thought and get carried away to the next associative thought, drowning in the thought spiral.
- It is a good idea to tr...
Read & Learn
20x Faster
without
deepstash
with
deepstash
with
deepstash
Personalized microlearning
—
100+ Learning Journeys
—
Access to 200,000+ ideas
—
Access to the mobile app
—
Unlimited idea saving
—
—
Unlimited history
—
—
Unlimited listening to ideas
—
—
Downloading & offline access
—
—
Supercharge your mind with one idea per day
Enter your email and spend 1 minute every day to learn something new.
I agree to receive email updates