What are obsessive thoughts and how to stop them
What are obsessive thoughts and how to stop them. Intrusive thoughts are one of the most unpleasant sensations we can experience. Our minds move at a thousand miles an hour. We constantly repeat an idea or image, unable to get it out of our minds. This situation is associated with a negative emotional state (e.g., feelings of helplessness, hostility, or sadness), which ultimately affects our physical and mental well-being, as well as our ability to solve our problems.
And what’s even worse. As a rule, we don’t know how to get out of these thoughts.
If you know the unpleasant feeling of being unable to control the uncontrollable whirlwind of your head, this article will show you how to do it.
We’ll look at what repetitive ideas or obsessions are, why they appear, and how they can be eliminated in a simple way.
What are obsessive thoughts?
An intrusive, repetitive or obsessive thought is a vivid idea or image that appears in our minds automatically, usually with negative and unpleasant content.
Some idea comes to mind again and again, and no matter how hard we try to push it aside and follow another line of thought, we are unable to do so.
– But how does this affect us?
I’ll tell you about it.
At this point, we may avoid certain situations or people, somatise the problem or block ourselves, and not be able to cope with everyday activities.
Some people refer to these uncontrollable thoughts as strange, bizarre, and even terrifying. In most cases, however, the content is merely parasitic or rumination.
-Chewing like cows?
Almost.
These are reflections because we reflect on them, that is, we turn them into a thousand and one.
Rumination thoughts are ideas or images that appear in our minds without us wanting them to, and on which a network of related thoughts revolve, causing our minds to exhaust themselves and can be blocked.
And this blockage occurs because the mind focuses on the problem, perceiving additional details and adding complexity, instead of looking for a solution to deal with it in a straightforward way.
Why are repetitive thoughts so unpleasant?
The most common explanation for why this idea comes to mind is due to two factors:
Biological factors
Cognitive factors
From a biological point of view, our brains are constantly generating automatic thoughts (many of them strange and absurd) and it is impossible to direct them where we want them to go.
There are no problems here.
Under normal circumstances, the brain is perfectly capable of withstanding the bombardment of ideas that our own minds send us, and we are able to “filter” the most appropriate ones for the particular situation we are experiencing.
And, on the other hand, the cognitive explanation.
Our minds ruminate. That is, to repeat thoughts as a control strategy and thus be able to reduce uncertainty and lack of control in situations that can be perceived as stressful.
What do we mean by stress? It depends on our personality.
In other words, depending on our personality, we may not always be able to think what we want to think. Parasitic thoughts enter the mind like an elephant in a china shop, and they can disrupt our train of thought, forcing us to return to an obsessive idea over and over again.
What are the effects of these repetitive thoughts on the mind and body?
Suffering from this type of disorder has both physical and mental consequences that affect our bodies in different ways.
Mismatch of reality and importance: it coexists with negative emotions that are not adapted to the importance or severity of the situation. “Making a mountain out of a molehill”. Physical and emotional exhaustion: causes fatigue, headaches, sleep problems or low mood. Inattention to the present: we focus on obsessions and stop paying attention to our immediate surroundings. This can be dangerous, for example, when cooking, driving, or when our performance is affected. Negative associations: we associate certain situations with the rumination process and automatically and unconsciously generate negative feelings when the situation is repeated (sleep anxiety). Immersion in the past: these difficult events are constantly relived and do not allow us to develop guidelines and coping mechanisms to be able to move forward.
The magical filter of our mind that heals everything (or not)
-But tell me.
If automatic ideas come naturally to our brains, are they negative as such?
No, these automatic ideas are not always negative.
A healthy and creative mind tends to generate more of these ideas. In normal situations, we are able to perceive these ideas in our minds and reject them or replace them with others.
…that in most cases we are able to filter our thoughts.
When do we cross the red line of negativity?
In times of stress or times when we have “low mental defences”, our mental filter gets blocked and repetitive ideas rage through our brains, causing intense discomfort. This is where each person’s personality comes into play: the human need for control and their tolerance for uncertainty.
The good news is that we can act on it.
How negative thoughts and anxiety are connected
Intrusive thoughts usually arise with anxiety, precisely when we are suffering from an overwhelming situation and, above all, during times of great accumulated stress.
We’ve talked a lot about what anxiety is and how to tell if you have anxiety.
In short, it is a disorder that completely disorganises the way we feel, perceive and live. We are completely at the mercy of our minds, which do not know how to deal with certain situations and thoughts.
What does this have to do with negative thoughts?
Negative thoughts are the result of living with this type of problem. Some situation takes us out of our comfort zone, and the mind becomes unbalanced, overriding the filter we all have to get destructive images and ideas out of our heads.
However, there are techniques that can help you strengthen your filter and reduce the perception of overload and stress in your daily life.
How to eliminate negative intrusive thoughts?
Accept that you can’t control everything
Even if the filter works, you can’t keep bombarding it with attempts to take control. This can also help boost your self-esteem.
Engage in physical and mental exercise
It releases the excess energy your body generates by processing so much information. In addition, exercise takes your mind elsewhere, taking your attention away from a repetitive idea.
This will make it easier for you to deal with and manage these intrusive thoughts.
The exercises are performed by mentally repeating (5-6 times) the relevant self-hypnosis formulas. Each exercise ends with a goal formula: “I am completely calm”.
This training was founded by Johannes Schultz, a German psychiatrist and psychotherapist. Johannes Schulz said that people can achieve relaxation through the power of their imagination. Today, this training is used in therapy as a treatment for negative obsessive thoughts, anxiety and psychosomatic disorders.
The goal is to increase calmness by relaxing muscles until the effects of anxiety are eliminated.
Autogenic training method – Schultz training
Do you want to learn about a technique that can induce physical and mental relaxation?…
Follow the link to find out:
It’s that simple, effective, safe and free. And most importantly, you can get rid of unpleasant obsessive thoughts, anxiety and psychosomatic disorders forever. – Dushevnyjlekar.com🧡
