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

8 Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts
Helpful Fact: Almost everyone has passing intrusive thoughts.
Here is an intrusive thought that I had while writing this paragraph:
I hope we lose power in this storm so I don’t have to keep working.
The thought went winging by, and I made nothing of it. But here is
the thing: if I were worried about my mind or my motives or my
thoughts, I might be embarrassed to write this. I might worry about
what the thought could mean about me. Shouldn’t I be enjoying my
work? Does this mean I should retire? Am I getting burned- out?
Could I be depressed if I want an excuse not to write this book?
Why am I not concentrating? Do I really want to lose power? What
is wrong with me that I thought that? Or, I might wonder that
perhaps I have received a special message, and my thought means
that I really am going to lose power, in which case, I should probably
go get candles right now. Instead, I do nothing at all. The moment
passes. It was just a thought not worth even considering what it
means. I go back to writing.
There are times when anyone can be reminded of a previous
intrusive thought and shake his or her head, Oh I remember that this
is the elevator where I had that utterly weird experience of thinking that
I was going to suddenly shout out an obscenity. Sometimes— for a
while— elevators and thoughts about shouting out obscenities get
temporarily stuck to each other. One is associated with the other. It
means nothing. The human mind just makes associations like that
automatically. The experience, while strange, is unimportant and
goes away.
An unwanted intrusive thought starts as just an ordinary intrusive
thought, weird, funny, or repugnant as it may be. But not wanting
the thought, worrying about it, or fighting with it stops it from
passing quickly. Chances are, you don’t want it because you are
upset or turned off by the content. But that is just the beginning.
Because you worry about it, reject it, and try to push it out of your
mind, it pushes back and becomes a recurring thought or image.
After a while, it starts to redirect your attention: It starts arriving