How intrusive thoughts really work? When you get a "bad thought" you usually try to cancel it with a positive word, sentence, because you feel anxious about it and try to make the anxiety go away, but that is just temporary and bad in the long run. They will return stronger and stronger everytime they rise back up, don't let your guard down! The most effective way to deal with is to acknowledge that they are here and ignore them, embrace the feeling of anxiety. It will go away and won't get any worse than this, it gets lowered by the process called habituation. Don't let it scare you! It might be frightening but it is for your own good and you can do this, you will be better. While ignoring the bad thoughts that arise, you can practice mindfulness or do what you enjoy the most!

I struggle so bad with intrusive thoughts. They can be so bad that I'll cry because I KNOW that's not how I feel or want to do. (Too embarrassed to say what they're about) I'll constantly try to figure out why I have them, and constantly figure out what they mean, causing me to constantly circle around and around. I had to get on anxeity meds, which helped a little but the thoughts still happen. How do you help yourself with this? How do you know that you're just not some physcopath? 😅

OK, this might sound really dumb, but when you guys get intrusive thoughts, do they just come once and then go away? I’ve heard that repeatedly thinking about an intrusive thought is considered ‘checking,’ but it doesn’t feel like I have any control over how many times it comes up in my head. It’s not like I’m trying to check anything—it just keeps showing up, almost like it’s terrorizing me every time. I can’t seem to stop it from looping, stop remembering it, or prevent it from coming up. Every time it does, I feel horrified, and I already know it’s going to horrify me. I don’t think I’m actively trying to see if my feelings have changed, so is this still considered checking? How do other people get an intrusive thought and just move on? Doesn’t it pop up a million times for them too? I always thought that was normal, but now I’m hearing this could be a compulsion, and I feel really confused, scared, and lost. Is this why my OCD feels so extreme? Because I really don’t feel like I can control how many times the thought pops up.

Does confessing an intrusive thought just make it come back stronger?