Intrusive thoughts are unwanted thoughts that intrude into the thoughts process of those who deal with them. They are commonly associated with OCD, PTSD, eating disorders, addiction and self-harm.

Intrusive thoughts are not just thoughts that seem random or unskilled (that called thinking), and they aren’t always accompanied by the urge do something (compulsions). They can extremely distressing thoughts, violent, sexual or panic-inducing ideas and images are really common manifestations.

Practice Acceptence

We dealing with intrusive thoughts an important first step is to understand while these thoughts are in your brain they don’t represent desires for the thoughts to happen or that it’s your real secret morality. It’s a function of what you are struggling with (mental illness, trauma and stress) not you being a bad person. Reminding yourself of that combats shame and paralyzation of feeling helpless to act.

Next is letting them be. Intrusive thoughts happen, rumination, berating yourself for having them, or aggressively trying to push them away are all not helpful. Learning to just let them come into your brain and leave without a huge shift in behaviour and mood is important. Doing this robs them of their emotional power and lessens the pain. It’s okay to have them, It’s okay that they hurt you, letting these thoughts go is fine and healthy.

You don’t owe it all of your energy to trying to work them out,  make thoughts stop happening, or repressing the emotions till it hurts more.

This is all hard of course but you can start with the very direct skill of when they come into your head saying to yourself. “It’s okay this happens.” Or a similar mantra can put a stop in the pattern of the emotion arousal and upset the intrusive thought ques up.

You can use some CBT skills here like these

Seif and Winston suggest taking these 7 steps to change your attitude and overcome intrusive thoughts:

• Label these thoughts as “intrusive thoughts;”
• Remind yourself that these thoughts are automatic and not up to you;
• Accept and allow the thoughts into your mind. Do not try to push them away;
• Float, and practice allowing time to pass;
• Remember that less is more. Pause. Give yourself time. There is no urgency;
• Expect the thoughts to come back again;
• Continue whatever you were doing prior to the intrusive thought while allowing the anxiety to be present.

Further, the researchers warn that you should do your best not to:

• Engage with the thoughts in any way;
• Push the thoughts out of your mind;
• Try to figure out what your thoughts “mean;”
• Check to see if this is “working” to get rid of the thoughts (Ackerman, 2020)

 Find ways to moderate your physicical arousal

Notice the physological responses you have to the intrusive thoughts and work to bring yourself back to equalibruim. More here

Breathing Skills

This is the baseline to all coping skills and more effective then we often understand. Controlled breathing is powerful as it activates both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems by doing this it promotes relaxation and connection to our bodies. Being able to bring ourselves back within a regulated state is useful in life generally and key during crisis moments of flashbacks & panic. Dissociative episodes are helped via the body-mind connection.

Calm Breathing:

Calm breathing involves taking smooth, slow, and regular breaths. It’s a good basic skill that is easy to remember and allows us to easily bring our breathing in our control.

Avoid clenching your muscles and make sure you are using diaphragmatic breaths. This means your stomach should be expanding and not your lungs. These breaths bring in more oxygen and it’s harder to hyperventilate a common effect of anxiety and flashbacks.

Sitting up straight is the best for because it allows for the most room for our lungs to expand, laying flat is the second best. Please avoid slouching or turning in ourselves. If possible remove the stress off your shoulders by supporting your arms on the side-arms of a chair, or on your lap, grounding your feet is also important.

Steps:

1. Take a slow breath in through the nose, breathing into your lower
2. belly (for about 4 seconds)
3. Hold your breath for 1 or 2 seconds
4. Exhale slowly through the mouth (for about 4 seconds)
5. Wait a few seconds before taking another breath
6. About 6-8 breathing cycles per minute is often helpful to decrease anxiety but find your comfortable breathing rhythm.
7. Take a slow breath in through the nose, breathing into your lower
8. belly (for about 4 seconds)
9. Hold your breath for 1 or 2 seconds
10. Exhale slowly through the mouth (for about 4 seconds)
11. Wait a few seconds before taking another breath
12. About 6-8 breathing cycles per minute is often helpful to decrease anxiety but find the breathing rhythm best suited for you.

2-to-1 Breathing:

This is a practice that helps give us a path to regularity and best engaging the parasympathetic system. It also requires a powerful redirect of focous to our breathing and the way that it feels. Knowing how proper breathing feels is good to know when we have started to become dysregulated. This is generally hard to do during flashbacks or mid panic attack, most effective before or after the most extreme point.

Remember diaphragmatic breaths, and try to either sit or stand as straight as possible!

Steps:

Count the duration of both exhalation and inhalation as you breathe normally and adjust it gently so you are exhaling and inhaling for the same amount of time. Most people are comfortable with a count of 3 or 4 counts for each exhalation and inhalation. So one full breath lasts for a count of either 6 or 8. So you are breathing in 4 and exhaling 4 counts.

Now, without altering the duration of the total breath cycle, adjust your breathing by slowing the exhalation and gently quickening the inhalation to achieve a 2-to-1 ratio. For a breath lasting 6 counts, this means exhaling for 4 and inhaling for 2. For 8 you can adjust slightly exhaling for 6 and inhaling for 3.

More advice for this: Coping Skills Masterposts: Panic Attacks, Flashbacks & Dissociation

Mindfulness & Meditation

Pratcing mindfulness and meditation can be good to develop your ability to self reflect and to see the thoughts are both part of your thought process but not a defining atribute of you. There are many ways to practice meditation and it can take a lot to find the kind that is useful to you. But look up meditation and mindfulness that is directed to start with. There are free resources that get you started.

Other

Distraction isn’t always bad in the moment you can just try and breath through it and then move your brain to somethign differnt. This is very helpful to work towards not stressing to the extent you end up making yourself ill, having panic attacks or getting tot he point of slef-harm.

Also: If your intrusive thoughts connect to self-harm this might also help

Citations:

Ackerman, C. E. (2020, October 15). What are intrusive thoughts in OCD & how to get rid of them? PositivePsychology.com. Retrieved January 21, 2022, from https://positivepsychology.com/intrusive-thoughts

Butterfield, A. (2020, June 1). Intrusive thoughts. The OCD & Anxiety Center. Retrieved January 21, 2022, from https://theocdandanxietycenter.com/intrusive-thoughts/