*This post is intended for those living with General Anxiety Disorder and Panic Disorder. It is not intended for those living with Bi-Polar Disorder, Schizophrenia, Depression, PTSD, or any other mental health diagnosis.
The mind is a 24 hour shop that never closes and sometimes we have thoughts that just “are”. They have no logic or meaning behind them whatsoever.
These thoughts can range from silly and nonsensical, to bizarre – and even disturbing. There is no “boundary” to the types of thoughts that can pop in and out of our heads at any given time. It is important to trust your judgement, listen to your logic, and accept these thoughts for what they are: just little bits of “brain junk”.
Do not give these thoughts more attention than they deserve. Do not waste your time engaging these thoughts, or trying to make sense of them. It is pointless and serves no purpose other than turning you into the equivalent of a dog chasing its tail. You see, the more you analyze these kinds of thoughts the more you WANT to analyze them. The human brain loves repetition and patterns, and once you create a certain “thought groove” in your head, your brain is going to want to get some rails and nails and start laying tracks to keep you there. Do not fall into this trap.
Remind yourself to only give attention to thoughts that make sense and are rooted in some sort of reality or facts.
Deep down, you DO know the difference between FEARS and BELIEFS. You understand that thoughts are not the same as “voices” and that simply thinking about something does not make it true. THAT is what you need to remind yourself of when those bizarre or unusual thoughts are pumping out of your tired mind.
AnnaLisa Scott
TheWorryGames.com
Hello Lisa, we haven’t ‘chatted’ in a while. I love and admire what you are doing through this blog. Keep up the fabulous work, my dear (of course you will!). Love, Sonali
Thank you! After the busiest of summers I am slowly getting back into my old blogging routine! Thanks for the support Sonali!
My blog lies fallow all summer. The garden is the priority and all the entertaining that goes with ot.
Its a beautiful garden you have!
Intrisive thoughts are in my experience of high anxiety and ocd sufferer, the worst part. My latest example: since yesterday when I picked up coffee at Starbucks I keep on thinking that the barista spit in my coffee. I have 0 reason to believe this, but I cannot. Stop the damned thought. I now think I should go and test for some stuff. It is so hard and tiring, not to be able to get rid of the thought
Great reminder! You can go on a journey around the world, witnessing terrible atrocities and suffering mortifying humiliations, all while sitting at the kitchen table eating your cornflakes. No matter what the thought, it’s only a thought.
‘Watching’ your thoughts is a sign that you’re on alert and in my experience, no good can come from this introspection. It’s my signal to go and do something more interesting instead.
My personal worst is ‘earworms’. I’ll get a song in my head and it will sit there all day. The more I pay attention to it, the more it bothers me. Then worries me. Then bothers me again. I’m living inside my head again and off we go again.
Thoughts can be so powerful and so arresting because of our fantastic imaginations. We just need to remember the ‘dismiss’ button is also available.
Keep up the good work, AnnaLisa!
Andy from England.
This is really good advice. I notice the more I Google some sensation, thought, or symptom, the more I want to Google it. This is very destructive for someone like me. It’s so hard not to focus on something that is bothering me (especially if my mind sees it as a threat to my sanity, my health, or my well-being), but if I can do it, I tend to feel better in a day or so.
Those urges to focus on worries…those “cravings” to analyze…. can be trained to stay away just like the craving for sugar or cigarettes. You just keep trying to distract yourself with something else until a new thought pattern is created. It is NOT easy to do. But with consistency, it WILL happen.
PS… have you done any Research into this thinking habit, and the obtrusive thoughts that come into play? I wonder if they’re just part of the historical animal brain? I realize that’s a bit of analytical thinking in itself, but it is a curiosity that these thoughts even pop into our heads at all… What do you think?
I think these thoughts pop into everybody’s head from time to time. From the time we were born we have all had some thoughts that are “out there” or a little bizarre. We just become more aware of them when we are hyped up on adrenaline and other stress hormones due to being overly sensitized from stress or mental fatigue.
Hi Anna Lisa… Very little mention of OCD as a foundational component of this thinking habit… Do you consider OCD and anxiety and related issues in the same category? By the way, your site is great! I’ve tried to locate the subcategory of ear myoclonus that I had recently commented on… Not sure how to search for it on your site.
I think this ability to overthink that so many of us with anxiety disorders, including OCD, seem to have is the root cause of our disorders rather than the other way around. I am not a professional. That is just my personal opinion.