- Date posted
- 1y
Help!
How are y’all dealing with commanding intrusive thoughts?
How are y’all dealing with commanding intrusive thoughts?
The same way as any other. Let it be there. Carry on what you’re doing. And the “maybe I will go crazy, maybe I won’t” “maybe I will harm someone I love, maybe I won’t” those phrases never mean that you are accepting the content of the thought. It’s never saying you agree with it. It’s training your brain to not see the thoughts as a threat. Remember intrusive thoughts can be anything. Commands, feelings, urges, what ifs, questions, etc. treat them all the same. Sit with the anxiety and go on about your day. I have commands all the time. It’s a part of my every day but I allow them to be there. I say maybe maybe not and carry on with what I was doing when the command happened. I used to be playing with my son and I’d have a command “kill him” or “snap his neck” and those thoughts would of course terrify me to my core and I would fight them. I would try to “neutralize” the thought by saying to myself you’d never do that, you love him more than anything, you’ll kill yourself before you’d let yourself hurt him etc. these are all compulsions and only make the thoughts stronger in the long run. Or id come on here and see if any other mom had the same thoughts and I would obsessively try to find others going through the same thing. The truth is, you don’t have to know. There’s nothing to figure out. Sit with the anxiety and give yourself response prevention sayings like maybe I will maybe I won’t. I struggled a lot with this in the beginning and sometimes I still do bc it feels like you’re agreeing with the thought or command. But that is not true.
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@Elliss Absolutely. ERP is the answer for all themes and all thoughts. No matter what the content is. Not to give you reassurance but you won’t jump on him lol. Make a joke out of it. Don’t take your thoughts too seriously all the time
How do I stop letting my intrusive thoughts control me? Ive been having them for almost a year, once I graduated, become more isolated and lost more friends they've become worse. I feel like when I had friends and was still going to school they weren't as bad probably because I was living more so I didn't take them as seriously. But now that Im home all day and alone they've gotten worse and it feels like they're starting to control my life. Theres times where Im on social media and eventually I forget about them but then when I realize I forgot about them they come back. Sometimes the thought just lingers it doesn't even just pop in my head and go away. I can't tell anyone in my family because they'd judge me for the thoughts and they don't really believe in mental illnesses. I also sometimes think of what other people may think of me if they knew the thoughts I had and it makes it worse. How do I stop letting these thoughts control/trigger me and stop reacting or feeling some type of way about them.
I’m a bit curious, I’ve come up with many ways to handle them, I don’t have therapy, but how do ya’ll deal with them? Is it normal to come up with other compulsions to kinda just tame them? Or to convince yourself they’re not real? I’ve had different ways of handling them, but most times I get obsessed with the way of handling it or the thought that helps me beat the bad/concerning/thoughts to the point it just stops working and I need to find a more effective thought, compulsion or thing.
I need advice for intrusive thoughts. I used to feel like I could handle them. They weren’t nearly as bad as the things that related to my actual life. But now, I’m suffering. I haven’t had a sexual experience in over a year that didn’t involve constant intrusive thoughts. Most are somehow related to kids and I keep chasing off the thoughts but it’s so bad. I know you’re supposed to ignore them but I don’t know how I can just ignore that and continue what I’m doing. But they’re coming on stronger. I had one earlier I could not get rid of just as things finished so the thought came on strongly just before my orgasm hit and now I feel absolutely disgusting. I hated the thought and I know it’s not me and it was not enjoyable but it still feels like I was getting off to it. I feel sick. I’m so fucking tired of these thoughts. They’re in my every day life too and it’s all the time. I just want it to stop but ignoring it feels so wrong. What should I do?
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