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Can intrusive thoughts feel so real?
For most of us, these thoughts seem “messed up” or funny, because they’re so out of place. But for someone with OCD, these disturbing thoughts might feel like real possibilities — even if that person knows their thoughts are probably irrational. OCD obsessions are repeated, persistent and unwanted thoughts, urges or images that are intrusive and cause distress or anxiety. You might try to ignore them or get rid of them by performing a compulsive behavior or ritual. These obsessions typically intrude when you’re trying to think of or do other things. People with False Memory OCD experience frequent doubts about things that have happened to them and may be convinced they’ve done something wrong despite no evidence of these memories being true (e.g., “Did I accidentally steal and don’t remember?”). They can also be a symptom of depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Bipolar Disorder, or Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). If you feel you have more intrusive thoughts than normal or that you often dwell on these thoughts, you may be suffering from one of these disorders. The Relationship Between Thoughts and Urges Jon Hershfield’s text, Harm OCD, indicates, “people with harm OCD often describe their intrusive thoughts as ‘urges’ because it’s difficult to find another word for the marriage of an intrusive thought and a sensation in the body that seems to indicated an imminent action. So remember, if you have a thought that feels bad and repeats in a stuck manner, that is all you need to know to determine that it is an Unwanted Intrusive Thought. Forget about the content. Pay attention to how it acts, and how it feels. Anxiety is a real disorder.
Why are intrusive thoughts so real?
Your mind is sending you signals that you need to do something, even though there is no real risk. It is yelling at you that you need to take action. This is why OCD feels so real. There is a very real process taking place in your brain. People with OCD may experience intrusive thoughts more often and may become more worried by them than people without OCD. The thoughts latch onto your mind, and you often fear they won’t cease until you can find a way to relieve yourself of the anxiety. Intrusive thoughts are often what we call ‘ego dystonic’: they are the opposite of what we actually want and intend to do. They can be shocking and appalling, but most of us know they mean nothing, and we’re able to brush them off. Intrusive thoughts or believing things that aren’t actually true can happen if you have anxiety. For example, you may be so fearful or worried about something happening, you start believing it absolutely will happen. Nearly everyone experiences intrusive thoughts — thoughts that seem completely random. While intrusive thoughts can be about anything, the negative ones tend to cause the most distress. For some people, intrusive thoughts can be related to a mental health condition. False memories can be a form of obsessive thinking. Someone experiencing false memory OCD may suffer from doubts about their ability to accurately recall events. They may wonder if they did something wrong, even when there’s no evidence of that being the case.
Can intrusive thoughts convince you?
Most people get the odd bizarre and intrusive thought but if you have OCD you just can’t let them go. They trick you, mess with you and are seriously convincing. Compulsions are anything that challenges the thoughts, rituals, things you must do in order to feel safe. No, they don’t ever completely go away. The thoughts fade into the background as you heal and grow stronger. What stays, and what is difficult for those of us who have OCD to differentiate, are typical parental fears – the nagging fear something might happen to your child when you’re not watching. When you have OCD, you may experience false memories that feel like real experiences. This may lead you to doubt your recollection of important events or your memory performance in general. This lack of confidence, in turn, may lead you to more false memories. An example of real event OCD is that someone who drank a glass of wine while pregnant might have persistent thoughts that their child will have health issues as a consequence. As a result, they might seek reassurance from multiple doctors. However, this reassurance alone is unlikely to soothe those obsessive thoughts.
Are intrusive thoughts just fears?
They’re usually harmless. But if you obsess about them so much that it interrupts your day-to-day life, this can be a sign of an underlying mental health problem. Intrusive thoughts can be a symptom of anxiety, depression, or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Yes! The short answer is “yes.” Intrusive thoughts are just that – thoughts. Even if you are of sound mind and free of any serious mental health issues, it’s possible to be struck by intrusive thoughts out of nowhere – and this is not something you should feel too concerned about. Intrusive thoughts are often triggered by stress or anxiety. They may also be a short-term problem brought on by biological factors, such as hormone shifts. For example, a woman might experience an uptick in intrusive thoughts after the birth of a child. Intrusive thoughts that occur with OCD are ego-dystonic, meaning that they go against a person’s nature. The thoughts involve something important to them, so their brain falsely sends a message that the thoughts have meaning and are dangerous—they feel like they pose a threat that they have to address.
Can intrusive thoughts make you doubt yourself?
People with OCD give significance to intrusive thoughts, which can quickly become obsessions. These obsessions foster doubts; doubts about whether their thoughts are significant; doubts about who they really are. The Relationship Between Thoughts and Urges Jon Hershfield’s text, Harm OCD, indicates, “people with harm OCD often describe their intrusive thoughts as ‘urges’ because it’s difficult to find another word for the marriage of an intrusive thought and a sensation in the body that seems to indicated an imminent action. False Memory OCD refers to a cluster of OCD presentations wherein the sufferer becomes concerned about a thought that appears to relate to a past event. The event can be something that actually happened (but over which there is some confusion) or it can be something completely fabricated by the mind. Anxiety can both cause weird thoughts and be caused by weird thoughts. Some types of anxiety, including obsessive compulsive disorder, are based on these strange and unexpected thoughts. Chronic anxiety can also alter thinking patterns, as can sleep loss from anxiety related insomnia. The main findings were that two facets of impulsivity, lack of perseverance and especially negative urgency, were associated with a wide range of measures of intrusive thoughts, whereas lack of premeditation and sensation seeking were not.
Can intrusive thoughts be images?
Intrusive mental imagery is a transdiagnostic process (1) present in many psychological disorders including trauma-related disorders; anxiety, mood, and eating disorders; as well as severe mental health problems, such as bipolar disorder and psychosis. Although intrusive thoughts are usually nothing to worry about, sometimes they can start to interfere with your daily life. People who feel fear or guilt about their intrusive thoughts, or feel like they need to take action to control the thoughts, may be experiencing something more serious. Everyone has thoughts that are upsetting or strange, and that do not make a lot of sense, from time to time. This is normal. In fact several well-conducted studies have discovered that close to 100% of the general population has intrusive and disturbing thoughts, images or ideas. What do intrusive thoughts sound like? Intrusive thoughts don’t always start with “What if?” They can also include commands, urges, images, sensations, voices, and premonitions. Such as, “Swerve off the road!” or “Something bad is about to happen.”
Can intrusive thoughts last for years?
Negative thoughts can make their way in and cause anxiety in nearly every situation. It may feel strange to even have these thoughts, and they may recede within moments. For some people, though, the intrusive thoughts don’t fade away and may even grow more intense and more disturbing. Individuals may have overwhelming intrusive thoughts related to psychosis, hallucinations, or acting outside of their control. These intrusive and unwanted thoughts are called “obsessions.” They can involve intrusive thoughts, images, or urges, and can be extremely unpleasant, provoking anxiety or other distress. The Problem With Your Thoughts Blame your biology. Your brain’s primary concern is to keep you alive, not make you happy. So it’s easier to believe something bad will happen to you than something good. Your brain always looks for the negative and reacts to it. For example, if you have the thought that God does not exist, you might interpret that fact that you had that thought as evidence that you are a bad person. This would not be true because intrusive thoughts are spontaneous and automatic and therefore completely out of your control. Intrusive Thoughts of Harming Others Thoughts like you might hurt the baby or drop the baby are actually super common. Nearly half of new parents experience fearful thoughts about hurting a baby. Now, again, you don’t want to hurt someone. You get no pleasure from these thoughts. It’s natural to often have sexual thoughts, no matter your gender. When you feel uncomfortable with or shocked by such thoughts, you may fixate on them and try hard to push them away. Experts say it’s best to remind yourself that these are just passing, automatic thoughts. They don’t define you in any way.
Can I have intrusive thoughts without OCD?
Less commonly, intrusive thoughts are related to an underlying mental health condition, like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These thoughts could also be a symptom of another health issue, such as: brain injury. dementia. The only way to effectively deal with intrusive obsessive thoughts is by reducing one’s sensitivity to them. Not by being reassured that it won’t happen or is not true. Unwanted intrusive thoughts are reinforced by getting entangled with them, worrying about them, struggling against them, trying to reason them away. There is no set age at which intrusive thoughts start. However, they may be more common or noticeable in tweens and teens. Intrusive thoughts are sometimes a symptom of OCD, which can show up as early as age 7 or 8 and as late as the teens or early twenties. Intrusive thoughts tend to show up as distinct thoughts, so you “hear” them in your own mental voice just as you would any other thought. With auditory hallucinations, you hear the voice of someone else or a distinct sound.