[Brooklyniebee]

How do you stop thinking about something you never wanted to think about to begin with? I don't know why this happens, but I get disturbing, intrusive images of horrible things that actually cause me to feel physical pain on my body. And I can't make it stop! I know it isn't real, and I try to think about something else, and then it just pops up again. It's been so bad I've had to pull over because I couldn't concentrate on driving or keep a thought running in my head. I think it may have something to do with the fact that I'm so anxious lately.

Specifically, the intrusive thoughts are of torture. (Don't read on if you're squeamish about hands and feet). I have a constant image of a nail stabbing me in the toe, or my knuckles being crushed, or losing my fingernails. My toes are constantly curled up in a ball because it HURTS! I can feel physical pain in my feet every time the image pops up. And it's insistent and repetitive, over and over and over all the time. The more I try not to think about it, the worse it gets. It's like the immediate "ouch" empathetic reaction you get when you see something awful happen to someone in a movie or book...a wince and a flash of sympathetic pain and a shudder. Except then I get stuck there and it doesn't stop. Help me

I used to deal with severe intrusive thoughts. Firstly, don't ever try to push the thoughts away no matter how much you want to. When you push, the thoughts will just push back and come back stronger.

The best thing you can do is to allow these thoughts to happen, witness them like any other thought and practice deep breathing. I had to do this exposure exercise with the help of a very good psychologist at first, but I was also able to practice alone. Therapy with someone who understands intrusive thoughts could be very helpful, if you are able to get access to that.

Once you force yourself to witness these thoughts without fighting back for a while, they will cause less and less anxiety. Eventually it won't cause any anxiety at all. Some days will be better than others, and be kind to yourself on the bad days especially.

[Brooklyniebee]

Originally Posted by scaredandconfused

I used to deal with severe intrusive thoughts. Firstly, don't ever try to push the thoughts away no matter how much you want to. When you push, the thoughts will just push back and come back stronger.

The best thing you can do is to allow these thoughts to happen, witness them like any other thought and practice deep breathing. I had to do this exposure exercise with the help of a very good psychologist at first, but I was also able to practice alone. Therapy with someone who understands intrusive thoughts could be very helpful, if you are able to get access to that.

Once you force yourself to witness these thoughts without fighting back for a while, they will cause less and less anxiety. Eventually it won't cause any anxiety at all. Some days will be better than others, and be kind to yourself on the bad days especially.

This is really helpful, and I suspected that I might need to do something like it, but I'm scared to. I'm scared the pain will get worse. It's like when you vlose your eyes during a gory scene or something.. you hear it but don't have to see it. And then when you look right at it it's so much worse! I'm terrified. I haven't been able to go to a therapist, but once I find a job I will.

[Skeezyks]

There is a practice referred to as "compassionate abiding" that can be helpful in these sorts of situations. It's similar to what scaredandconfused talked about. Here's a link to a description of the practice:

https://mindsetdoc.wordpress.com/201...e-abiding-101/

Also, family therapist, Kati Morton, has a video on her YouTube channel on the subject of intrusive thoughts. Perhaps something Kati has to say may be of some help. Here's a link to that video:

[MTL1991]

You just have to ignore them, which is easier said than done sometimes. Sadly, many things can serve as a trigger, which makes it difficult to ignore them.

Originally Posted by MTL1991

You just have to ignore them, which is easier said than done sometimes. Sadly, many things can serve as a trigger, which makes it difficult to ignore them.

As someone who has struggled with this before, ignoring the thoughts or trying to push them away is possibly one of the WORST things you can do. Rather, exposing oneself to each and every thought will lead to a gradual decrease in anxiety. Trying to ignore/push the thoughts away gives added strength to the anxiety levels.