5 Myths You Need To Know About Intrusive Thoughts and How to Handle It

Intrusive thoughts can lead to violence or anxiety. People sometimes think of things that can get stuck in their minds. The mind is very powerful in a sense that it can turn thoughts into action, that’s how intrusive thought becomes dangerous. It is said that we have to control our thoughts to be able to have a positive action. However, in times when people are in distress, they can’t seem to control what they are thinking. Here are some myths you need to know about intrusive thoughts:

Myth 1: We Can Control our Thoughts 

People have conscious and unconscious thoughts, so the sad reality is we don’t have control on most of our unconscious thoughts. Just like with intrusive thoughts’ anxiety, people can not take control of their thoughts when they are distressed and result in anxiety. They try their best to control their thoughts, but they can’t. That’s why most people ask for professional help, so they can be guided on how to manage the way they think. 

Myth 2:Our Thoughts Can Indicate Our Character

Characters are  built by the choices we made and oftentimes we don’t actually follow what’s on our thoughts and not all our thoughts can be put to action. Therefore, our character and thoughts will not always be  connected. Thoughts can contribute to our character but will not depend fully on it, there are other factors that affect our character building. 

Myth 3: Thinking of Things Can Result to Making it Happen 

Most people say that things happen  because they think about it often, wrong, that’s a myth. The probability of the mind to predict things is not common, there may be some events where there are coincidences wherein things that are on your thoughts happen and that’s it. Thought doesn’t have the ability to let things happen or stop things from happening. If ever things go that way they are merely coincidence and no special ability is involved. 

Myth 4: People with Weird Thoughts are Sick

This is not entirely true, everyone can have an intrusive thought no matter how mentally healthy a person is. Even people with a positive attitude can get to a point where their thoughts wander, and they get distress too, so no need to worry too much when we experience such moments. The only differences among people are how they respond and how they handle it. 

Myth 5: People Should Handle All Things Running in their Thoughts 

The mind is compared to a television with too many channels, where it contains a lot of shows. The mind contains a lot of thoughts but you don’t have to go over them one by one. Just like when watching television, you don’t have to watch all the shows in it. Some thoughts are not worth thinking about and some thoughts need to be focused on. Therefore, it is normal to focus on thoughts that you have at the moment whether it’s positive or negative but you are not mandated to scan all of your thoughts and think about them in detail. Violent Intrusive Thoughts may not be good but the moment you think about it says it is relevant to think about then your mind will think about it. 

To help battle intrusive thoughts we have to be aware of intrusive thoughts examples that commonly happen to people and what are intrusive thoughts a sign of such as anxiety and depressions. Everyone gets stressed and it’s normal but when it leads them to involuntary thoughts then it is something to get worried about since this can lead to distress. Some people even take intrusive thoughts tests to know if there is something wrong with their thoughts, since thoughts can not be controlled all the time. NYC cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety can help people handle  intrusive thoughts and here are some ways to do it:

• Avoiding the thoughts will not help , it just makes it come back. 
• Figuring out the meaning will just make you more distressed.
• Thinking about the thought too much will not make it better. 

Having knowledge on the myths you need to know about intrusive thoughts can help people determine why intrusive thoughts occur with or without reason. Overthinking about how those thoughts get stuck in their minds can now be answered, and they will be able to know what step to take to help them handle it.