How do u know if a thought is intrusive. I cant tell if a thought is intrusive anymore. It sort of feels like as if I brought the thought up myself, but it's also something I wouldnt want to think. Y'all know what I mean?

Winston and Seif (look up their column in psychology today) say that an intrusive thought is really just any thought that you keep having, and which makes you upset in some way. this has been really helpful for me in letting myself label things as intrusive thoughts or images and then work on disregarding them (although I still often fail!!)

Cool, I was thinking that maybe if it's a thought that obviously bothers me then it must be intrusive. My therapist said that I have to stop taking responsibility for these thoughts that aren't mine and assigned it as homework but I've been struggling because i couldn't tell the difference.

Especially wen feelings get involved like as if i felt that i wanted to think it but i really dont want to.

I feel like this a lot. “What if the thought wasn’t intrusive, what if I thought it?” Well, even if I did think it... thoughts are just thoughts, and if they bother me, they’re not the real me. It’s just OCD flipping out over them.

I totally get it. I find that I have intrusive thoughts rather than physical symptoms. Because of this, I didn't even realize that I had anxiety and ocd until someone close to me brought it up. I've tried to figure out how to differentiate intrusive thoughts from my own, and I've found that although it's easy to get them confused, it really is just asking if the thought is meant to bring me down, harm me, or make me panic in any way. If it is, and if that thought makes me relatively uncomfortable or scared, I can label it as intrusive. Also, if it's rather hard to push it out of your mind, and it kinda just stays stuck there not matter how hard you try to get rid of it, thats also another sign for and intrusive thought.

Those are actually compulsions, not intrusive thoughts. You just got caught in a loop and are thinking about what was once intrusive so much that there isn’t really much chance for intrusive thoughts to pop in.

I would say OCD thoughts are always anxiety driven. Like when u have a thought and it makes you worry, but there s no satisfying solution and it comes over and over again in your mind, causing anxiety.

Just thoughts here: Maybe intrusive thoughts are really our thoughts, but they are just a way of dealing with stress or tension? I’ve been told “Thoughts don’t have to mean something. Sometimes they just happen.” I always thought they definitely meant something and i was relieved to hear this isn’t true. I know im having an intrusive thought when i start to (out loud) whine/groan in discomfort from it 😂