Intrusive Anxious Thoughts: Remember This
Intrusive anxious thoughts can be incredibly overwhelming to live with. Here’s how a therapist encourages you to think about them.
You’re having a good day and then suddenly you think of something anxiety provoking. All of the sudden, you are in the throes of anxiety and it consumes the rest of your day. Intrusive anxious thoughts do not have to control your life. Keep reading for how I recommend my clients to think about their anxious thinking.
We have many intrusive thoughts each day
Our brain sends us endless thoughts everyday. And, this includes weird, intrusive thoughts. I’m not just talking about intrusive anxious thoughts either. I’m talking about the random, intrusive thoughts our brain throws at us.
We ignore a lot of these intrusive thoughts. We don’t register them as upsetting or assign them any meaning. Sometimes, we even find them humorous. This is one of my favorite videos depicting daily intrusive thoughts. It has a mix of anxious thoughts and simply random thoughts.
When we get intrusive thoughts about something more upsetting, it’s natural that we pay more attention to that thought. It might be a specific anxiety of ours. Or, we may have a horrible thought that upsets us or reminds us of a fear of ours. We then get sucked down that rabbit hole with the thought.
First, remind yourself that thoughts are just thoughts. They do not have to mean anything. If you can have a completely random, intrusive thought such as “what if I tossed this entire pan of lasagna in the garbage instead of putting it on the counter?” and that thought doesn’t have to mean anything about your ability to pull a lasagna out of the oven. Then, an intrusive anxious thought can be just that as well. A thought.
Your brain is trying to help
I’ll say this a million times, our brain is designed to protect us. It’s designed to identify potential threats and remind us of them. It’s designed to encourage us to think through potential threats so we can address them. The thing is, a lot of our thoughts and worries are not things we can necessarily control. They can also be irrational or blown out of proportion.
So if you have a random thought about something happening to a loved one, messing up a presentation at work, or simply being socially awkward at an upcoming party, your brain might be like “hey, that sounds unpleasant, let’s ponder this more.” Or even, “OMG sound off the alarms! This could happen to us!”
Therefore, it can be helpful to literally say to yourself when you have an intrusive anxious thought, “thank you brain, but no thank you.” You acknowledge the thought exists, that your brain is attempting to be helpful, but that ultimately this line of thinking is not needed right now.
About the author:
I am a psychotherapist and I like to think of myself as your anxiety coach. I specialize in helping millennial and Gen Z women overcome their anxious thoughts and behaviors. Anxiety is one of my favorite topics to discuss and learn about. If you are having intrusive anxious thoughts, I can help!
If you are in Illinois or Wisconsin, connect with me to see if we may be a good fit to meet your needs and goals. You can also check out my services page to learn more.
