an observation about random intrusive thoughts

Yes! That is what I was exactly talking about. When a strong doubt arises and we start assigning meaning to it, because how our brain works, that doubt becomes stronger and gains leverage over us since it concerns us directly, regarding who we are, which is extremely important to us. And because we assigned importance and meaning to that doubt, and because we were bothered by that thought, our brain undergoes in a broken self-defense system and everytime we answer and dive in to those meaningless doubts this self-defense mechanism becomes reinforced to the point that it becomes automatic. You'll start having intrusive thoughts out of nowhere, even skipping the part of "I don't want to think x", it just happens automatically because it has become an habit, because we want to be on the look out for every little "threat" we can find to our identity. The same goes for when we go out outside, always in the alert of potential triggers to avoid or check to resolve uncertainty. What you said about the world shrinking down to purely one theme is so true; a lot of times we are so down in the rabbit hole that we literally forget about who we are and that problematic theme takes over our identity and it becomes all we think about.

@Nameless000 Makes sense to me. Just wish my brain would agree/accept it. I guess that’s the problem and if it could just accept it, we wouldn’t be here hah! My brain automatically focuses on anything that is slightly related to my theme. Like, automatic, bam, then goes “there’s your evidence”. Horrible disorder.

@gp Yeah it really sucks, but in reality they don't mean anything. If you just "swallow" the distress without aknowledging it or addressing it and move forward the feeling will eventually go away without you even noticing it. It's like a form of erp, because you stop yourself from ruminating or addressing the threats, which can be sneaky compulsions