<p><span>In this article you will learn the following</span><br></p><p>-<b data-redactor-tag="b">9 Basics of Unwanted thoughts - and why it acquires power</b></p><p>-<b data-redactor-tag="b">30+ Do-it-yourself - Self-Help - Tips to Manage Your Intrusive Thoughts </b></p><p>-<b data-redactor-tag="b">45+ Techniques to Reduce Unwanted Thoughts - How to Stop Anxiety And Unwanted Thoughts</b></p><p>-<b data-redactor-tag="b"> Examples of Intrusive thoughts that someone with depression may includes</b></p><p>-<b data-redactor-tag="b"> How to help someone with OCD</b></p><p>-<b data-redactor-tag="b"> Obsessive and compulsive symptoms</b></p><p>How to stop unwanted thoughts overpowering yourself - how to control your mind to stop unwanted thoughts</p><p><b data-redactor-tag="b">How many of you have experienced getting caught in a whirlpool of negativities, hopelessness and depressive thoughts</b>.</p><p>When <b data-redactor-tag="b">this happens we may lose our emotional, mental and physical balance and might feel like giving-up OR act impulsively and our will-power might become just powerless</b>.</p><p>All human-beings get stuck into <b data-redactor-tag="b">the trap of swirling-spiral of unwanted, disturbing, upsetting thoughts - time to time.</b></p><p><b data-redactor-tag="b">With time, support and help AND on their own - most people [the emotionally healthy ones] - manage to bounce back from these temporary depressive and anxiety phases.</b></p><p>BUT when <b data-redactor-tag="b">these thoughts not only become intrusive but also acquire the form of obsession - they have to be addressed as a serious problem.</b></p><p>People <b data-redactor-tag="b">who experience unwanted, unwarranted - intrusive thoughts relentlessly with powerful intensity - and when it seriously affects their well-being and day to day functioning - would need medical help</b>- as it keeps feeding and strengthening itself to make it into more and more terrifying proportions<b data-redactor-tag="b">.</b></p><p><b data-redactor-tag="b">These can be the symptom of obsessive compulsive disorder or OCD.</b></p><p>W<b data-redactor-tag="b">hether someone have obsessive thoughts which causes anxiety - or have anxieties which creates unwanted intrusive thoughts</b> - the fact remains that - Most people have <b data-redactor-tag="b">strange-weird-crazy-irrational thoughts or fears.</b></p><p>The difference is - <b data-redactor-tag="b">people with very low levels of anxieties are able to laugh-off their crazy thoughts - whereas people with high levels of anxiety make themselves</b> suffer terrible agonies, pain, distress and worries.</p><p><b data-redactor-tag="b">Unwanted thoughts are usually part of anxiety disorders</b> - which causes negative thinking and restricts your ability to <b data-redactor-tag="b">control the self-harming intrusive-thoughts.</b></p><p>Unwanted <b data-redactor-tag="b">thoughts in person having OCD are called obsessive thoughts - as the person with</b> OCD finds it almost impossible to stop these thoughts once they are triggered.</p><p>All anxiety disorders can have unwanted thoughts without any rational base - <b data-redactor-tag="b">like those with social phobia often imagine disasters before and during social events OR people who are suffering from PTSD often relive in the flashback to their distressing event OR those with panic-disorder are worrying themselves with things that might happe</b>n.</p><p>One most important fact or truth about unwanted thoughts is - <b data-redactor-tag="b">that the more you try to fight, suppress, ignore, avoid, get rid of and run-away from these intrusive thoughts -</b> the more powerful demon they become.</p><p><b data-redactor-tag="b">Examples of Intrusive thoughts that someone with depression may includes</b></p> <ul><li>1.Evaluating yourself in extremes </li> <li>2.Always expecting the worst to happen</li> <li>3.Generalizing one bad experiencing to all similar experiences in the future</li> <li>4.Over-Thinking and overanalyzing</li> <li>5.Assuming that you know what others are thinking and guessing their motives</li> <li>6.Magnifying any innocent and unrelated comments and perceiving it as big insult</li> <li>7.Assuming what you think - to be the truth true - without any verification or reason</li> <li>8.Feeling responsible for things that are not in you control </li> <li>9.Another obsession long considered to be part of 'OCD' is the inability to discard useless or worn out possessions, commonly referred to as 'hoarding'</li></ul> <p><b data-redactor-tag="b">Obsessive and compulsive symptoms</b></p> <ul><li>1.<b data-redactor-tag="b">Obsession symptoms</b> - repeated, persistent, and unwanted thoughts, urges, or images - like fear of contamination or dirt; needing things orderly and symmetrical, thoughts about harming yourself or others</li> <li>2.<b data-redactor-tag="b">Compulsion symptoms</b> - actions that you feel driven to perform repeatedly - like washing and cleaning; checking (e.g., the stove, the lock on the door); counting; orderliness; following a strict routine; demanding reassurances.</li></ul> <p><b data-redactor-tag="b">9 Basics of Unwanted thoughts - and why it acquires power</b></p> <ul><li>1.Those obsessive thoughts which crate urgency of extreme anxious nature - which in turn makes you feel that you need to immediately act and respond to these in specific ways - but many people while in this state they may or may not do anything only feel highly troubled, agitated or upset</li> <li>2.Next stage is where your obsessive thoughts turns into compulsions to making you actually act AND this then develops into Behavioral Compulsions</li> <li>3.Behavioral Compulsions are like deep-rooted superstitions and rituals - that you perform - to alleviate the distress the thought causes</li> <li>4.Often - many people do realize that what they are doing [their behaviors and rituals] are not rational BUT - the fear of what they believe will happen if they do not perform these -is so compelling.</li> <li>5.Completing a ritual temporarily relieves the anxiety, but keeps a person stuck in the cycle because it reinforces the obsessive thinking.</li> <li>6.Mental Compulsions - where people feel compelled to analyze and think-through an intrusive thought - to either neutralize it or to prevent it from happening - but -Repeatedly giving attention and mental energy to an intrusive thought can initially feel like productive problem-solving - but these ultimately increases the distress to unimaginable levels People who experience unwanted intrusive thoughts are afraid that they might commit the acts they are imagining - which become cyclic ever-increasing spiral of fear and un-resourceful mental-emotional states.</li> <li>7.The most effective way to make them lose their power and control over you is - through deliberate structured exposure on progressively increasing scale - to desensitize yourself to these thoughts and feelings.</li> <li>8.Unwanted intrusive thoughts gain power and control over you by becoming reinforced when you get entangled with them and start worrying about them and start fighting and struggling with them.</li> <li>9.When we manage to treat these thoughts as mere-thoughts and make ourselves think, feel and experience proactively the distressing thoughts - slowly they stop bothering us and fade into the background.</li></ul> <p><b data-redactor-tag="b">45+ Techniques to Reduce Unwanted Thoughts - How to Stop Anxiety and Unwanted Thoughts</b></p> <ul><li>1.First you need to understand and accept the most fundamental psychology - that Fighting the unwanted Thoughts Brings Them Back Harder, stronger and more often</li> <li><b data-redactor-tag="b">2.</b><b data-redactor-tag="b">Instead plan for periods - when you will actually proactively think about those thoughts which causes you distress, anxiety, fear, helplessness, hopelessness </b></li> <li>I.View them and feel them - because forcing the Thoughts purposefully will make your subconscious and conscious grow tired of them and become boring and less frightening - initially your whole-being will try to make you avoid doing this activity as it makes you very agitated and scared </li> <li>II.After you have exposed yourself to these intrusive unwanted thoughts - The thoughts will still occur - but they won't bother you as before</li> <li>III.Accept that your intrusive thoughts are real and although these are unpleasant, upsetting and maybe scary - they are not a signs that your brain is broken or defective </li> <li>IV.Validate your emotional responses to your unwanted thoughts - understanding that they are not dangerous- but is perfectly and completely normal to feel frightened or disturbed </li> <li>V.Challenge - the irrationality of thoughts and your response - try to see why they don't have any power unless you magnify them</li> <li>VI.Focus your attention to things of real importance </li> <li>VII.Redirecting your attention will be an ongoing process - because your attention will keep returning to the unwanted thoughts from time to time -This is normal. Each time you notice your attention drifting to the intrusive thoughts, gently acknowledge that it's not helpful and redirect back to the task at hand.</li> <li>VIII.Learn to find a Meditation technique that works with you - all will not and for some people mediation will not work at all - they need to find other techniques to relax and calm them</li> <li>IX.Planned exposer to unwanted intrusive thought - create a time-slot each day or once a week - when you would sit with the focus of deliberately recalling, thinking about unwanted thoughts and take yourself through all the above steps</li> <li><b data-redactor-tag="b">3.</b><b data-redactor-tag="b">If want to deal with recurring unwanted intrusive thoughts - you need to avoid the following</b></li> <li>I.Distracting and avoiding forcefully - this one is the most harmful and unhealthyhabit of mind which not only reinforces that the false notion your intrusive thoughts are dangerous but also creates incorrect threat-assessment</li> <li>II.Reassurance-seeking - Rather than seeking calming words from someone else, briefly remind yourself that intrusive thoughts are neither dangerous nor a problem - validate them and your own experience, then confidently redirect your attention.</li> <li>III.Rumination, worry by trying to fix or eliminate the thoughts</li> <li>IV.Ask yourself - does your reactions to your intrusive thoughts communicate fear or confidence - If you find yourself wanting to do anything that looks like running away from or fighting with your thoughts, chances are you're communicating fear, which will perpetuate the thoughts and your anxiety. </li> <li>V.On the other hand, if you can calmly approach those unwanted thoughts, observe them neutrally, then carry on with your day with the willingness to let them be a part of your experience, then you're communicating confidence, which is the key to decreasing their frequency and intensity.</li> <li>VI.Start Monitoring Your Own Reaction - whenever you get into the spiral of unwanted thoughts - you may find that many of these unwanted thoughts are the result of the way you respond to them - like When you feel shame or get upset at yourself for having them, you give them much more power and they're more likely to affect your happiness and your mind.</li> <li>VII.Write the Thoughts Out - also write what makes you so upset</li> <li>VIII.Creating a mechanism to control all the Compulsions - the Compulsive rituals may make you feel less stressed but it creates bad habits of mind reinforces the fear in your psych </li> <li>IX.If you find Avoiding compulsions on your own very difficult - please seek help of trained mental health care professional</li> <li>X.Understand that neither you can control what happens to you nor you can have any power over what thoughts comes to you - your control is only on -how you react to what happens to you. </li> <li>XI.By seeking challenges and taking responsibility for your actions - you will start Developing belief in your abilities to face negative situations in future more effectively</li> <li>XII.You also need to work on understanding, accepting and loving yourself by finding happiness within and slowly breaking your dependence on external factors and other people</li> <li><b data-redactor-tag="b">4.</b><b data-redactor-tag="b">How to expose yourself to unwanted intrusive thoughts - to make them powerless through scheduling time and place - Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)- which involves being exposed to whatever it is that makes a person feel anxious, without checking or carrying out other rituals. </b></li> <li>I.Pick a specific time each day that you can consistently do the exercise</li> <li>II.Choose a place where you are unlikely to get distracted through external noises etc.</li> <li>III.List your most stressful thoughts. These are the thoughts that distract you from your daily activities and make you worry more. </li> <li>IV.Imagine the thought. Sit or lie down - Close your eyes and visualize all that you wrote happening - even though feeling uncomfortable keep visualizing till you complete the scene and bring it to the end</li> <li>V.Keep doing this again and again - till you start finding it too boring</li> <li>VI.Do it with all your thoughts</li> <li><b data-redactor-tag="b">5.</b><b data-redactor-tag="b">Try the techniques of Thought Stopping - if you have repetitive negative thoughts swirling in your psyche - like that of irrational jealousy or anger without reasons</b></li> <li>I.Say "Stop!" when you experience a recurring thought, either aloud or to yourself.</li> <li>II.Negate the bad thought in a positive way, by exchanging the negative thought for a positive one. Replace "I cannot..." or "I will not..." with "I can..." or "I will..."</li> <li>III.Take a deep breath, or learn a breathing relaxation technique, to help you relax instead of feeling anxiety, and say the peaceful thought out loud or in your mind repeatedly until the bad thought disappears.</li> <li>IV.Complete these steps every time you notice the recurring thought.</li> <li>V.Become aware of an intrusive thought without trying to stop it. You can start by trying to recognize that the thought is trying to control you (for example, by making you feel the need to perform a compulsion) and consciously challenging it.</li> <li>VI.The first step you take might be to simply pause when the thought comes up rather than immediately responding to its urgent demand.</li> <li>VII.It might be uncomfortable to consider the thought from a distance and resist the urge to perform a ritual. Over time, defusing your obsessive thoughts this way can actually help you feel more in control.</li> <li>VIII.Once you are able to put some space between you and your thoughts, you can start to look at them more objectively. Then, you can figure out what triggers the thoughts and take a closer (but non-judgmental) look at how you react.</li> <li>IX.Learn the techniques of dealing you're your Guilt and Shame</li> <li>6.Getting Help - If your OCD thoughts are making it hard for you to function at home, school, or work, and you feel that you cannot cope with them, talk to your doctor or mental health professional. </li> <li>7.You doctor would Medication like antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, or any other prescribed drugs depending on your mental health conditions</li> <li>8.Few CBT Therapies - Acceptance and Commitment Therapy & Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)</li></ul> <p><a name="self-intrusive-thoughts"></a><b data-redactor-tag="b">30+ Do-it-yourself - Self-Help - Tips to Manage Your Intrusive Thoughts </b></p> <ul><li>1.Label your distressing thoughts as - intrusive thoughts</li> <li>2.Remind yourself that these thoughts are automatic and not up to you to control them</li> <li>3.Accept and allow the thoughts into your mind</li> <li>4.Expect the thoughts to come back again;</li> <li>5.Continue whatever you were doing prior to the intrusive thought while allowing the anxiety to be present.</li> <li>6.Understand that the OCD is a Scare Tactic of your mind</li> <li>7.Start expecting the unexpected</li> <li>8.Start taking risk</li> <li>9.Stop seeking reassurance and validations from yourself or others</li> <li>10. Remember that dealing with your symptoms is your responsibility alone. </li> <li>11. Stop comparing yourself to anybody</li> <li>12. When you have a choice - choose to do what causes you anxiety and not that one which is comfortable</li> <li>13. When faced with two possible choices of what to confront, choose the more difficult of the two whenever possible.</li> <li>14. Don't wait for the "perfect moment" - start all the exercises given here right now</li> <li>15. Don't get fooled by perfectionism - do all that is listed here</li> <li>16. List all those achievements which make you proud of your own efforts and recognizes your successes</li> <li>17. Identify your triggers</li> <li>18. <b data-redactor-tag="b">Progressively going up your fear-ladder</b> - Make a list of situations from the least scary to the most-scary. The first step should make you slightly anxious, but not so frightened that you're too intimidated to try it.</li> <li>I.Using your fear ladder - Work your way up the ladder</li> <li>II.Challenge your obsessive thoughts. Use your worry period to challenge negative or intrusive thoughts by asking yourself- list all the evidence that your thought is true - if you don't have ditch that thought</li> <li>19. Stay connected to family and friends</li> <li>20. Learn to Manage your stress better - Make lifestyle changes, Exercise regularly, Get enough sleep, Avoid alcohol and nicotine</li> <li>21. Understand that OCD is chronic - This means it is like having asthma or diabetes. You can get it under control and become recovered but, at the present time, there is no cure. </li> <li>22. Although you can resist performing a compulsion, you cannot refuse to think an obsessive thought</li> <li>23. Understand that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is the best form of treatment for OCD -While medication is a help, it is not a complete treatment in itself</li> <li>24. You cannot and should not depend upon the help of others to manage your anxiety or to get well</li> <li>25. The goal of any good treatment is to teach you to become your own therapist</li> <li>26. Understand that the recovery takes time and relapse is a potential risk you must ensure to protect yourself from</li> <li>27. <b data-redactor-tag="b">Use these natural supplements</b> - if you can get them easily and they are affordable to you - Zinc, Oysters , Pumpkin seeds, nuts, Cashews, Mushrooms, Spinach , Caffeine, Magnesium, Probiotics, Iron, Protein like eggs, beans, and meat, Complex carbs like fruits, veggies, and whole grains </li></ul> <p><b data-redactor-tag="b">Most popular Myths</b><b data-redactor-tag="b"> about unwanted thoughts and OCD</b></p> <ul><li>1.Myth - A person wants to act on these thoughts - Fact - People do not want to act on their intrusive thoughts</li> <li>2.Myth All thoughts are worth examining - Fact - Thoughts do not always have a significant meaning</li></ul> <p><b data-redactor-tag="b">How to help someone with OCD</b></p> <ul><li>1.Understand that your loved one's OCD makes them a victim and they need your support and understanding not criticism</li> <li>2.Instead of telling them to stop performing their behavioral compulsions and rituals - if possible seek their help in something meaningful to make them focus on something else</li> <li>3.Be as kind and patient with them</li> <li>4.Understand that each person can only overcome problems at their own pace</li> <li>5.Use praise for any successful attempt they made to focus attention on their positives </li> <li>6.Do not ridicule your loved one's rituals</li> <li>7.Laughing together over the funny side and absurdity of some OCD symptoms can help your loved one become more detached from the disorder - by making them see the funny side</li> <li>8.Ensure that your loved one feels respected and enjoys the joke.</li></ul><div>#whywegetunwantedthoughts, #howtomanageyourintrusivethoughts, #howtostopanxietyandunwantedthoughts, #techniquestoreduceunwantedthoughts, #howtodealwithothersOCD, #<b data-redactor-tag="b">Obsessiveandcompulsivesymptoms, #howtoreducepowerofintrusivethoughts, #howtostopunwantedthoughtskillingyou</b><span class="redactor-invisible-space"></span><br></div>