What to do when?

jbug · Dec 27, 2008, 12:46 AM

What do you do when the obsession could turn dangerous?

The new thought that keeps popping in my head could turn into a trigger for me so I am trying not to think about but it but it keeps popping back into my head. It's like telling myself not to think of a pink elephant ya know.

I have emailed my T and told her what is going on but she has family here this weekend and I'm not sure if she will be checking her email. I am not in danger or anything it just annoying and was wondering what do you do if the thought is bad?

Jan

girlcharm18 · Dec 27, 2008, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbug

What do you do when the obsession could turn dangerous?

The new thought that keeps popping in my head could turn into a trigger for me so I am trying not to think about but it but it keeps popping back into my head. It's like telling myself not to think of a pink elephant ya know.

I have emailed my T and told her what is going on but she has family here this weekend and I'm not sure if she will be checking her email. I am not in danger or anything it just annoying and was wondering what do you do if the thought is bad?

Jan

I had been suffering from bad thoughts popping in my head for almost a year now that won't seem to go away! but I have found ways to control them this christmas was a bad time for my obsessional thought but I realize that if u don't give attention to them they seem to fade away and are less frequent I noticed this past week my ot's were bad and was findin my self checking and forcing my self to stop so I just redirected my attention else where it seems to help

Berries · Dec 28, 2008, 03:24 PM

My T says that you can't MAKE a thought go away. Our brains aren't designed that way. They more you try to MAKE them go away the more you think about them.
He says to just acknowledge it, without judgement. Then think of an alternative thought. And if a compulsion goes with it, to think of your values and decide if the compulsion is in line with your values and then make the decision to do it or not to do it.
By values, I don't mean "moral values". I mean what you personally value in life. Like, I value my physical health. So, if the thought or compulsion to do something is dangerous or harmful to myself, I remind myself of my value of physical health.
He says it takes away some of the power of the intrusive thought and gives some distance from it.
It works about half the time. It's just that it is so hard to do.

jbug · Dec 28, 2008, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lbien6

My T says that you can't MAKE a thought go away. Our brains aren't designed that way. They more you try to MAKE them go away the more you think about them.
He says to just acknowledge it, without judgement. Then think of an alternative thought. And if a compulsion goes with it, to think of your values and decide if the compulsion is in line with your values and then make the decision to do it or not to do it.
By values, I don't mean "moral values". I mean what you personally value in life. Like, I value my physical health. So, if the thought or compulsion to do something is dangerous or harmful to myself, I remind myself of my value of physical health.
He says it takes away some of the power of the intrusive thought and gives some distance from it.
It works about half the time. It's just that it is so hard to do.

I hadn't thought about it like that. I do value my physical health and the thought I am having goes against my physical health. So I need to remember I value my physical health more than the thought I am having.

Thanks for the idea.

Jan

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