I feel when I get a thought I can’t talk myself out of it unless I have proof like a voice memo, a video or a dash cam recording. How do you guys talk yourselves through your thoughts. Whatever they may be?
the first thing i do is take two short breaths through my nose and out through the mouth, as a reminder to breathe (plus it helps regulate your nervous system) and then i ask myself to explain what i’m thinking as if i’m teaching a child a new lesson…it helps you understand what you’re feeling and how to counter it…(i hope this helps a little) :)
@victor_m Thank you! I used to be able to walk myself through what happened but it doesn’t seem to help anymore. My anxiety gets through the roof
I think that a big part of this question can be “what would I do differently if the thought was true?” For me at least, that’s the part that feels scary and overwhelming, especially if it’s a really challenging thought. Here’s what I do: 1. I write down on paper the thought or worry that I’m having, and how I would respond in the absolute worst case scenario if it was true. Then I write down what I would do if the thought was not true. 2. next, I pretend that I am in a meeting with a coworker that just gave a very bad suggestion, and I say to myself (the worst case scenario thought): “ thank you so much for your input, but that does not align with the goals of our project” 3. Then, even though it’s really really hard I do what I would do without that thought/worry. This can be really challenging, and I find listening to a podcast, an audiobook or music helps me drown out my worried thoughts. Sometimes it also helps me to chew gum or a mint, just so I have other sensory input other than pure worry
I struggle so bad with intrusive thoughts. They can be so bad that I'll cry because I KNOW that's not how I feel or want to do. (Too embarrassed to say what they're about) I'll constantly try to figure out why I have them, and constantly figure out what they mean, causing me to constantly circle around and around. I had to get on anxeity meds, which helped a little but the thoughts still happen. How do you help yourself with this? How do you know that you're just not some physcopath? 😅
Anyone ever have a conversation and think you said a intrusive thoughts out loud. Then you panic and go over and over the convo , reviewing it and remembering people's reactions,to see if they noticed your thoughts or read your lips? Sometimes it feels like I have to look away when talking as the thoughts could be shouted out if we make eye contact .such a powerful erge to say thoughts out load . . It's like the more you fight off the thoughts the louder they want to be . You can feel your self bubbling up inside . Then you get one and boom ,you think you've said it out load.
Does anyone else experience a moment of clarity where you feel strong relief that the intrusive thought isn’t true, only to then immediately start questioning if you’ve only convinced yourself that because you don’t want the thought to be true? I’m pretty confident it would take some crazy mental gymnastics to actually successfully convince myself I didn’t do something that I deep down knew I did, but every time I resist the compulsions and try to sit with the uncertainty or tell myself to think about what is logical, I usually briefly know that this probably didn’t happen but am unable to move on out of fear I’m just in denial and have convinced myself of that.
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