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

16 Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts
Intrusive Thoughts Versus Impulses
You might be afraid that you are going to act on your intrusive
thoughts and actually do the things that run through your mind.
Because unwanted intrusive thoughts tend to get stuck and repeat
when you struggle with them, they increase in intensity. Every time
you fight them, they fight back, so there is a very intense feeling that
goes with them— a whoosh of fear— and sometimes shame, disgust,
or anger. This can make them feel like impulses— as if somehow
you were being pushed, impelled, or provoked to do something out
of control, ridiculous, or dangerous. This feeling can be very disturbing,
but you need not worry: it is an illusion, a paper tiger, a false
alarm. Your brain is issuing warnings where none are needed.
Suffering about unwanted intrusive thoughts is a disorder of
overcontrol, not undercontrol. (Undercontrol disorders are sometimes
known as impulsivity.) Disorders of overcontrol are usually
accompanied by a problem with doubt or uncertainty. Put the two
together— trying to control those things that you cannot control
(in this case, your thoughts) and wanting to be absolutely, 100
percent sure that nothing bad will happen— and you have the
formula for unwanted intrusive thoughts.
People who are impulsive act first and think later. People with
unwanted intrusive thoughts are over- thinkers. The problem is that
unwanted intrusive thoughts may well be experienced as if they
were impulses, and you might even feel that you have to work hard
to control yourself. We will address this issue later on, when we
discuss anxious thinking and the altered state of consciousness it
brings about. For now, however, you can rest assured that impulses
and intrusive thoughts are opposite sides of a continuum: they just
can’t be any more different, despite how they might feel.
Helpful Fact: Despite how they might feel, impulses and intrusive
thoughts couldn’t be more different.