Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts _ a CBT-Based Guide to Getting Over Frightening, Obsessive, or Disturbing Thoughts. ( PDFDrive )

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How to Handle Thoughts When They Happen 133immediately make a commotion, interrupt the enjoyment of others,and brand your party the “one when the police came.” Or you canallow him to take some shrimp, just ignore him, and go about enjoyingthe party. Interestingly, no one else seems to mind this intruderas much as you.This illustrates how labeling and allowing (the opposite of fighting)changes perspective. Pay attention to what really matters. Stepsone and two of the six steps to reduce distress over a thought requirethat you get the situation labeled correctly. When you label andunderstand that this scruffy guy is “just taking shrimp,” it allows youto realize that you have the option of not doing anything. There isno danger— although perhaps some irritation— and that optionmight be preferable to making a huge fuss and spoiling your party.In a similar manner, when you label a thought— no matter howrepugnant— as “just a thought,” you give yourself the option of safelychoosing to leave it alone. You are bigger than a thought, anythought, and it requires no control. You can then move toward theattitude of acceptance embodied in step 3.Whack-a-MoleImagine that you are at an amusement park and spot the Whacka-Mole game. There is a huge stuffed panda bear you would like towin. You put down your money and stand alert for the start bell. Youpick up your mallet and discover, just as the clanging starts, that themallet is tied down by a six- inch cord, and there is no way to reachany of the moles as they pop up and down. Your score is clearlygoing to be zero. You have a choice now. You can get angry, feelcheated, be embarrassed, fight to tear your mallet off the cord— oryou can laugh at the absurdity of the whole situation.Initial reactions here might be frustration, anger, embarrassment,or even anxiety. But by letting go and accepting, you canmake something that seemed important (getting the panda bear)feel trivial and even funny. This is an illustration of step 3, acceptingand allowing.
134 Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive ThoughtsDon’t Dignify the QuestionThe president is having a press conference. Suddenly someonejumps up and shouts, “Is it true that you are having an affair withyour personal secretary?” He has a few options now. He can protestloudly, “Do not be ridiculous!” and the papers will read, “Presidentdenies affair with secretary.” Or he can have the reporter thrownout: “President ejects reporter who asks about his affair with secretary.”Or he can look straight at the reporter, make it clear he heardthe question, and then pivot to “Next question please.” He canrefuse to dignify the question with a response (Papantonio 2013).This illustrates that there are some no- win situations in whichany engagement will result in additional entanglement. Anunwanted intrusive thought is one of those situations. No matterhow obviously it seems to call for argument, rejection, or reaction,getting involved is not advised. Unwanted intrusive thoughts do notdeserve the dignity of a response. This is another way to understandthe meaning of acceptance in step 3.The WaterfallYou are sitting comfortably and peacefully on a lawn chair on aledge behind a waterfall. You can feel a little light spray, but you areperfectly safe. As you watch the water cascading in front of you, youcan see some debris from upstream, and something goes by thatlooks like it might be valuable. But you know if you reach for it, youwill have to forgo the pleasure of this experience, strain yourself tocatch it, and it might not be of any worth at all. You might even loseyour footing. So you just watch it go by.This illustrates that the natural flow of the mind has debris thatmay sometimes feel important, but is not worth examining. In thesecases, letting it go by is the best strategy. Not every thought wethink is important or worth retrieving. Floating behind the waterfalland just observing is a way of understanding step 4, float andfeel.
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OvercomingUnwantedIntrusiveThoughts
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To Mort, Carla, Maggie, and Molly
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IntroductionHave you ever stood on
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Introduction 3This is typical of th
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Introduction 5with our belief that
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CHAPTER 4Unwanted IntrusiveThoughts
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Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts Q and A
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Page 166 and 167: CHAPTER 9What Does Recovery Mean?In
Page 168 and 169: What Does Recovery Mean? 157We say
Page 170 and 171: What Does Recovery Mean? 159Stickin
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Page 190 and 191: BibliographyBaer, L. 2001. Imp of t
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SELF-HELPIt’s not what you think!
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Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts _ a CBT-Based Guide to Getting Over Frightening, Obsessive, or Disturbing Thoughts. ( PDFDrive )

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