How to Deal With Common Intrusive Thoughts
If you experience intrusive thoughts regularly, you aren't alone. These thoughts can be disturbing and often violent. They're near-universal and can cause a pause in your daily activities. While you may not do anything wrong with these thoughts, they can become disruptive if they persist or are particularly frequent.
Uncontrollable
There are a variety of ways to cope with intrusive thoughts. Having the ability to recognize your thoughts is the first step in dealing with them. Then, talk to your doctor about your symptoms. Your doctor may use a physical examination and questionnaires to determine the cause of your intrusive thoughts.
Unhelpful
If you've experienced unwanted intrusive thoughts, you're not alone. Nearly 99 percent of people experience intrusive thoughts occasionally, and up to 13 percent experience intrusive thoughts regularly. These thoughts are disturbing, unhelpful, and often relate to safety, love, or sexuality issues.
Unnecessary
A cold shower and a simple mantra will help eliminate unnecessary, intrusive thoughts. These thoughts can be very distracting and interfere with other thoughts. These thoughts are entirely unnecessary, and you should learn how to deal with them.
Violent
Many people have trouble separating their fears from reality. One of the most common examples of violent intrusive thoughts is the fear of hurting a child or a loved one. These thoughts can be terrifying and even related to specific anxiety issues. Nearly 50% of new parents experience these types of thoughts.
Sexually explicit
Sexually explicit thoughts are everyday intrusive thinking experiences for both men and women. While both sexes may experience sexual intrusions at some point in their lives, men experience them more often than women. Men also report more aggressive themes and fewer thoughts about being sexually abused. Women, on the other hand, report less sexual arousal in response to intrusive thoughts. While the sexually explicit thought scale is unique, it significantly overlaps with other DOCS scales.
Illegal
Most people can attest to the horror of having unwanted intrusive thoughts. These thoughts may be very explicit, often leading people to suppress or ignore them. They may even act upon these intrusive thoughts.
