3 Tips To Stop Intrusive Thoughts From Ruining Your Day.
Have you experienced intrusive thoughts? Those really intense, seemingly out of nowhere, sharp thoughts that literally can stop you in your tracks? For some, the intrusion comes when they try to relax and for others, they come at the absolutely worst moment of the day when they are trying to carry-out a task. Regardless of how they show up, intrusive thoughts can really create chaos.
For a moment, think about the last time you had an intrusive thought. Think about where you were, what you were going through, what the thought was. Now think about how your body felt during the intrusion. Did you notice any changes? Some common ones include: fast heartbeat, sweat increase, tight jaw, restless leg, making fists, breathing faster, headache, tight/tense chest.
As if the intrusive thought wasn’t bad enough, the body responses can make you feel on the edge of panic at times. This is because when an intrusive thought enters your mind, it can trigger a stress response in your body. As part of this response, your body will release hormones that help your body cope with the stress. The problem is that this body response was initially supposed to trigger fight or flight when we are in a dangerous situation – like a car wreck or facing a tiger without a cage. The surge of stress hormones into our body when we don’t need to brace for impact or run from a tiger can be overwhelming.
If you experience intrusive thoughts regularly, the best way to help is to work with a therapist that can uncover the source of the thoughts. Usually, high stress is a cause of intrusive thoughts but there are mental health diagnoses that can be present that will require more treatment like generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and panic disorder to name a few.
If you experience the “once in a while” intrusive thought, these tips may be helpful in helping alleviate your symptoms quickly.
1. Externalize the thought. Say it out loud. Write it down. Type it into your device. This is an effective way to get the thought off the “hamster wheel”. If the intrusive thought comes up, we want to prevent it from spiraling out of control. It is very helpful to externalize the thought. It may seem really simple, but by doing this you are activating other areas of the brain to help neutralize the problem. For instance, if I am simply just thinking about the intrusive thought – I have one area of the brain working. If I externalize the thought, I have multiple areas of the brain working. Personally, when I have an intrusive thought, it’s really helpful for me to say it out loud. Once I hear what I said, I can often listen to the words and reframe the thought. Meaning, this process can help me go from “I just screwed up and I know I’m going to be fired and I will get evicted from my house because I won’t be able to pay my bills” to “I’m experiencing stress because I made an error. I am working to find a solution”.
2. Ground yourself. As soon as possible after the intrusive thought – put your feet flat on the floor. You can be standing on sitting up straight in a chair. Put your hands, palm side down on your thighs. You can close your eyes or keep them open and find a spot to focus on in the room. Now take a slow deep breath in for the count of 5 and then a slow deep breath out for a count of 5. Do this several times in a row – for about 2-3 minutes. This is a way to provide a bunch of good oxygen throughout your body to help calm your body and brain. Most of the time, we breath in slow shallow breaths. When we experience an intrusive thought, and our body begins its stress response, we need to focus on our slow, deep breathing to assist with neutralizing the threat to our system.
3. Engage in a healthy distraction. This could be physical exercise, a walk, baking, writing a journal entry, watching your favorite show, listening to your favorite song, calling a friend, pet an animal, stretch, color/paint, take a shower, clean and organize your space, etc. This is a way of giving your brain a redirection to take. If the first thing you try doesn’t work, try something else. Create a list and keep it in your phone of ALL the things you can do as a healthy distraction. Aim for 10 items on that list and then re-evaluate it and add to it after a month.
I know intrusive thoughts can be overwhelming and uncomfortable. These tips can be a helpful way to recover quickly from them. Try them out and let me know what you think!