Intrusive thoughts are unwanted thoughts, images or urges that pop into your mind out of nowhere. These thoughts can take on any number of unwanted ideas, including fears of contamination or illness, fear of hurting others, or fears of hurting the self. These thoughts can be directed toward loved ones, people who are close by, or the self.
Some common intrusive thoughts include:
1. The sudden image of harming your child, other children, or other loved ones, despite having no intention or desire to do so.
2. The thought of performing a sexual act with someone, despite it being inappropriate and/or lacking attraction toward that person.
3 A fleeting, unexpected urge to jump when standing on a bridge.
The unwanted, upsetting, and unexpected nature of intrusive thoughts separates them from other types of thoughts, such as wishes or worries. In fact, intrusive thoughts are often so contrary to one’s character and wishes that they cause significant distress or disgust.
Intermittent intrusive thoughts are common and expected, found in up to 50 percent of people with no history of diagnosed mental illness. However, people who are more sensitive to anxiety are more likely to experience intrusive thoughts and they also are more common in certain disorders, including anxiety, major depression and bi-polar disorders.
So why does a normal brain produce seemingly abnormal, persistent, and unwanted thoughts? Some researchers, including Stephen Porges, hypothesize that these thoughts are a sort of misinterpreted warning signal. For example, when a mother checks her car’s emergency break repeatedly due to intrusive fears that her car will roll and hurt a child, her brain is likely over-attending to and misinterpreting danger cues, and excluding evidence of safe and social cues. Reassuringly, intrusive thoughts do not seem to predict actual behavior; fears of hurting others do not actually result in an individuals causing another harm.
When intrusive thoughts become severe, recurrent, and anxiety-provoking, we call them obsessions. Obsessions are perhaps best known in the context of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). People with OCD often suffer from compulsions as well—behaviors or mental rituals that aim to decrease the anxiety associated with the intrusive thoughts or obsessions, successful in the short term at best. This results in a person repeating the compulsions to try, over and over again, to relieve the discomfort caused by the intrusive thoughts.
It is important to realize that over-pathologizing intrusive thoughts can create unnecessary anxiety, and there is no room for that in our work together. Instead, think of these thoughts as brain hiccups. As frightening as they may initially seem, intrusive thoughts may dissipate if you accept them and allow them to pass without giving them too much attention or analysis, or by trying to ignore them or push them away.
If intrusive thoughts reach the level of obsessions, and cause you significant distress and interruption of your family, personal or professional life, know there is meaningful assistance. As many psychologists do, I integrate cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and have found it very helpful, especially when it includes exposure and response prevention (ERP) and anxiety management strategies. However, as a holistic psychologist, I feel the need to discuss one additional component….Brainspotting (BSP). AS its creator David Grand has said,”Where you look affects how you feel.”
In working with people as they heal so many challenges, I am repeatedly struck by the fact that there is always a significant piece of an experience or trauma that language fails. In fact, almost 80 percent of a challenging experience is housed in our brains and body through non verbal means. This is where Brainspotting (BSP) is critical. In working with people distressed by intrusive thoughts, BSP assists them in accessing their inner, physiological resources (area of calm, peace and strength) in ways that CBT and ERP cannot alone. I have found it to be a wonderful combination allowing people to quiet these thoughts, access other means of feeling calm and peaceful, and move forward in their lives. The combination is transformational; my clients report a prolonged quieting of intrusive thoughts, a related ending of behaviors or rituals, and an inner, physical sense of quiet, calm and well-being that had, for many, eluded them for a long time. Does it sound wonderful? I must say, as one who has both provided and received BSP, it is!