How to deal with intrusive thoughts?

[Ceejay]

I tend to get intrusive violent, or sexually inappropriate imagery/thoughts... or thoughts about saying something awkward to someone, or doing something harmful... these thoughts happen without my wanting it to happen..

 

during my intense period of addiction, I had even intrusive violent thoughts about own self.. now that i am sober and meditating daily.. it has reduced (and possibly is reducing i think)

 

I don't act on these thoughts of course.. but they happen sometimes.. I generally try to shun them using my mind.. or make it less sharp by framing it in different ways...

 

[Robed Mystic]

3 hours ago, Ceejay said:

I tend to get intrusive violent, or sexually inappropriate imagery/thoughts... or thoughts about saying something awkward to someone, or doing something harmful... these thoughts happen without my wanting it to happen..

 

during my intense period of addiction, I had even intrusive violent thoughts about own self.. now that i am sober and meditating daily.. it has reduced (and possibly is reducing i think)

 

I don't act on these thoughts of course.. but they happen sometimes.. I generally try to shun them using my mind.. or make it less sharp by framing it in different ways...

 

This is OCD.  And it's OK.  Just realize it is OCD and that these thoughts aren't "real" and then move on.

[Phil]

That’s great that you’ve adopted the practice of meditation & congrats again on the sobriety! That definitely reduces the frequency of occurrences and the severity in terms how the thoughts feel. To interrupt the cycle anytime, essentially do the same fundamental thing meditation is. A shifting of attention from thought to perception and or sensation.

 

That could be anything you like really. Feeling sensation / the body and or breath. Looking specifically at different objects & textures. Listening intricately to sounds (small and big, near and far). You could even simple say ‘stop’ out loud affirmatively to ‘snap’ attention to sound /perception.

 

Singing might be best, as it involves attention on feeling breathing, vibration in the body, and of course singing. It’s all about that shift of attention from the thoughts to sensation & perception. The less any particular thought(s) are fed attention, the more they just naturally fizzle out and are forgotten / don’t arise anymore. Just like there’s a momentum to getting going, there de-momentum of the fizzling out. It’s less & less until it’s gone. 

[Orb]

3 hours ago, Ceejay said:

I tend to get intrusive violent, or sexually inappropriate imagery/thoughts... or thoughts about saying something awkward to someone, or doing something harmful... these thoughts happen without my wanting it to happen..

 

during my intense period of addiction, I had even intrusive violent thoughts about own self.. now that i am sober and meditating daily.. it has reduced (and possibly is reducing i think)

 

I don't act on these thoughts of course.. but they happen sometimes.. I generally try to shun them using my mind.. or make it less sharp by framing it in different ways...

 

You're not alone, I experience the same thing, intrusive thoughts. 

 

The thoughts trigger a fight or flight response and I experience irritation. Feels like a ptsd attack sometimes. 

 

We are healing!! 🙂

 

Thank you for bringing this up, it's very helpful 🙏.

 

7 minutes ago, Phil said:

That’s great that you’ve adopted the practice of meditation & congrats again on the sobriety! That definitely reduces the frequency of occurrences and the severity in terms how the thoughts feel. To interrupt the cycle anytime, essentially do the same fundamental thing meditation is. A shifting of attention from thought to perception and or sensation.

 

That could be anything you like really. Feeling sensation / the body and or breath. Looking specifically at different objects & textures. Listening intricately to sounds (small and big, near and far). You could even simple say ‘stop’ out loud affirmatively to ‘snap’ attention to sound /perception.

 

Singing might be best, as it involves attention on feeling breathing, vibration in the body, and of course singing. It’s all about that shift of attention from the thoughts to sensation & perception. The less any particular thought(s) are fed attention, the more they just naturally fizzle out and are forgotten / don’t arise anymore. Just like there’s a momentum to getting going, there de-momentum of the fizzling out. It’s less & less until it’s gone. 

I hope so! I guess that's how OCD works. Like the thoughts are so disturbing and there's the possibility of it happening forrealz. 

[Ceejay]

5 hours ago, Robed Mystic said:

This is OCD.  And it's OK.  Just realize it is OCD and that these thoughts aren't "real" and then move on.

Yes, it's not real and knowing that is a relief. Like those shizo images happening to Josh Nash in A Beautiful Mind. But that's an extreme example of course. I don't have that much of a problem. And I think this will cure more as I heal more.

[Ceejay]

5 hours ago, Phil said:

A shifting of attention from thought to perception and or sensation.

Yes.

 

5 hours ago, Phil said:

Looking specifically at different objects & textures. Listening intricately to sounds (small and big, near and far). You could even simple say ‘stop’ out loud affirmatively to ‘snap’ attention to sound /perception.

 

Singing might be best, as it involves attention on feeling breathing, vibration in the body

Thanks for these approaches.

 

5 hours ago, Phil said:

Just like there’s a momentum to getting going, there de-momentum of the fizzling out. It’s less & less until it’s gone. 

Yes.

[Ceejay]

5 hours ago, Orb said:

The thoughts trigger a fight or flight response and I experience irritation. Feels like a ptsd attack sometimes

Oh that's what might be happening.

 

5 hours ago, Orb said:

Thank you for bringing this up, it's very helpful

And thank you.

 

5 hours ago, Orb said:

 

🙏guess that's how OCD works. Like the thoughts are so disturbing and there's the possibility of it happening forrealz. 

I guess... and for people who does not have the sufficient understanding and awareness to recognize it as what it is, they might be the ones' acting it out (as in committing some crime) and getting busted.

[Reborn2]

I experience something similiar, not regurarly but during certain periods of time. You just have to ignore them. I don't know of anything else that could help

 

20 hours ago, Robed Mystic said:

This is OCD.  And it's OK.  Just realize it is OCD and that these thoughts aren't "real" and then move on.

No, it could be something else as well

 

Better not play psychologist

Edited February 26 by Reborn2

[Robed Mystic]

30 minutes ago, Reborn2 said:

I experience something similiar, not regurarly but during certain periods of time. You just have to ignore them. I don't know of anything else that could help

 

No, it could be something else as well

 

Better not play psychologist

Intrusive, unwanted thoughts are definitely OCD.   I don't need to be a psychologist I have OCD.

[Phil]

1 hour ago, Robed Mystic said:

Intrusive, unwanted thoughts are definitely OCD.   I don't need to be a psychologist I have OCD.

Where do you have it?

[Robed Mystic]

12 minutes ago, Phil said:

Where do you have it?

Where do you have cancer?

[Phil]

@Robed Mystic
I don’t. 
 

I’m just saying maybe you don’t have ocd. Maybe the good news is that good.  

[Robed Mystic]

7 minutes ago, Phil said:

@Robed Mystic
I don’t. 
 

I’m just saying maybe you don’t have ocd. Maybe the good news is that 

Maybe.  But you will never know.

[Joseph Maynor]

Meditation is the remedy for any kind of monkey mind problems.  I did 3 hours today.  I just do do nothing meditation.  

Edited February 26 by Joseph Maynor

[Phil]

1 hour ago, Robed Mystic said:

Maybe.  But you will never know.

I’m not sure how that’s relevant. Maybe knowing is related. 

[Mandy]

It indicates a lack of focus on what you do want, write down and think about what you want. Then thoughts out of the blue will assist in leading you to that instead of thoughts about what you can't allow yourself to identify as. 

[Robed Mystic]

7 minutes ago, Phil said:

I’m not sure how that’s relevant. Maybe knowing is related. 

I'm not sure how telling me what I do or do not have is relevant. 

[Phil]

31 minutes ago, Robed Mystic said:

I'm not sure how telling me what I do or do not have is relevant. 

It isn’t. No one is telling you what you do or don’t have. You said you have ocd. I asked where you have it. 

[Serenity]

OCD stems from an unconscious unaddressed shame issue, which generates intrusives self-referential thoughts in the conscious mind.

 

Source: I've had OCD crisis (Pure O).

 

As of now, they are gone.  🙌