2024-03-02 11:03:44
Have you ever felt that suddenly “breaks in” a thought that doesn’t leave you alone? These are so-called intrusive thoughts, these ideas that seem to insert themselves into our heads.
However, unlike other more positive thoughts, these ideas or beliefs feel threatening and become located as repetitive and debilitating anxiety.
That is, intrusive thoughts can become a cycle that is difficult to interrupt, leading to clinical obsessions.
How to identify an intrusive thought?
Intrusive thoughts are unwanted, often disturbing thoughts that appear in the mind suddenly and are usually difficult to eliminate, explains to BBCL, the psychologist and academic at the University of Santiago, Rodrigo Rojas Andrade.
Likewise, the cause of these ideas may vary, as “It is usually multifactorial, because it includes biological, psychological and environmental aspects”says the teacher. What’s more, the cause of intrusive thoughts is due to a set of “stress, anxiety, previous traumatic experiences or mood disorders that may predispose the person”lists Rojas.
We must also highlight alterations in certain neurotransmitters or in the activity of brain areas and stressful life situations.
For this reason, intrusive thoughts can lead to serious behaviors that interfere with daily life, the researchers report. United States National Institutes of Health.
In simple words, the development of symptoms can interfere with “the person’s ability to concentrate, make decisions, or interact socially”points out the psychologist.
However, Rodrigo Rojas states that to identify an intrusive thought, it can be considered that the person recognizes these thoughts as their own but not wantedy not aligned with your values or conscious desires. In addition to generating a lot of emotional discomfort.
The risk of suffering from intrusive thoughts
But what happens if intrusive thoughts become more frequent? For the psychologist Shénhui Lín of the Instituto Kintsugiwhen the person cannot get out of the thought loop, they can be the symptom or prelude to a depressive, anxious, obsessive disorder, among others.
In this sense, the specialist maintains that anxiety is not expected in healthy functioning. “Anxiety is a mood disorder that involves a real or imagined fear regarding something that has not yet occurred and even whose probability of occurrence is not clear, generating an excessive level of worry based on fear, which usually “it does not mediate resolutions”indica a BBCL.
Likewise, the psychologist emphasizes how different it is to worry regarding an issue. “This leads us to think regarding a situation with different degrees of complexity, which I consider I must analyze to resolve and predict. That is, I identify the problem, I include the emotional factor as a guide, I establish possible solutions, I resolve and leave the worry behind.”clarifies.
On the other hand, intrusive thoughts are involuntary and often lack a realistic basis or proportional to the current situation. These thoughts can be excessively negative, irrational, or even grotesque, and generate an intense emotional response, such as anxiety or fear, that is not easily relieved.
Likewise, another problem that might arise is the tendency
to think obsessively or compulsively regarding negative situations, thoughts or feelings, what is known as “rumination.”
How to identify rumination
– Prolonged negative focus: Thinking repetitively regarding past or future problems, worries or negative situations.
– Difficulty diverting thought: Inability to stop thinking regarding the problem, even when trying to concentrate on other tasks.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and how to relieve it
Like rumination and intrusive thoughts, OCD is an anxiety disorder characterized by obsessions (recurrent, persistent thoughts, images, or impulses that are intrusive and cause distress) and compulsions (repetitive behaviors or mental acts that the person feels compelled to do). to perform in response to an obsession).
It is highly probable that the person is not aware of what the discomfort they are trying to protect from really is, this is because at the time of experiencing adverse situations, their mind dissociated the traumatic material from what is functional in their psyche in order to advance in the development of his life.
For example, there are very anxious people, which is the way they defend themselves in life to feel safe in different contexts. When these defenses fail, that is, they no longer achieve the original or necessary relief, the person is left without defense, and the compulsive obsession is activated.. In the experience of the person with OCD, when executing the compulsion, a feeling of relief is experienced that reduces the discomfort.
To relieve OCD, treatments such as:
– Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT): Especially exposure and response prevention therapy, which helps the person gradually face their fears and reduce compulsions.
– Medication: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are commonly prescribed to help manage symptoms.
– Psychoeducational support: Understanding the disorder can help the person and their loved ones better manage the symptoms.
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