In my experience they don't go away because we ourselves are aware of them. The office my T and I used (some other therapist's) had 3 elephant statues in it, on a shelf, that I suddenly saw one day and my eye gravitated to them ever after.



The only way to have them take up less space in one's head is to bring them out of there and discuss them with another, find out what really happens and how the other person really feels instead of how we think they will feel, etc. Dealing with what is actually happens as it comes up makes it so the elephants can't take up too much space for us.