How to Counter Bizarre/Obsessive Thinking

[dominick]

I've overcome some anxiety and depressive states in my past and learned a lot of lessons that have caused me to be a stronger human being. However, lately I've dealing with some stuff that I haven't quite been able to figure out. The challenge mostly stems from bizarre or obsessive thinking that I have. The thoughts will often be of a sexual or violent nature. They aren't things that I would ever act on and I don't have any desire to do so but when I have the thoughts I get scared for my mental stability and start worrying about whether these thoughts will end up harming my future.

Knowing the importance of our thought life I want to rid myself of these thought patterns. However, I'm not quite sure of the best way. On one hand, if I try to resist the thoughts (by doing an affirmation, etc) then I feel like the obsessive nature of them actually make them worse. Simply moving to something that demands my full attention helps but doesn't seem to solve the underlying problems. Meditation is definitely helpful in terms of calming the mind but doesn't seem to be a cure-all either.

I've read a few things that suggest that bizarre or obsessive thinking is just a way of dealing with anxiety and I feel that might be the case. While I don't have extreme anxiety I do feel that I probably have some sort of low-grade anxiety that is largely there most of the time. Does anyone have any ideas here that might help?

[magi13]

Amazon.com: On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society: Dave Grossman: Books

That book is a good reference for your current condition, it states that man, needs violence or sex in order to be able to function normally.

[Big C]

I used to have a very low self esteem and this in itself brought about anxiety. Through this anxiety developed ocd. With me i used to think if i didnt perform certain rituals a certain number of times my luck would run out or something bad would befall a loved one. This got pretty bad in my teens to the point of controling my life to an extent. The other thing was then i didnt understand why i felt i had to do these rituals, these being touching something a certain number of times, picking something up and putting it down a certain number of times etc. This went on for years. I used to tell myself next time i felt i had to do a certain act i would just ignore the urge, but this heightened the anxiety so it was a circle that needed to be broken. I actually read somewhere that no matter what you do you cant influence the future for good or bad and then realised the root of my problem was actually my own lack of self esteem. So i read up on becoming more positive and concentrated on positives instead of negatives, then when i felt the urge to carry out these rituals i decided i wouldnt do it, i would resist the urge, this was difficult as the anxiety rose. But i forced myself to ignore the anxiety and guess what? Each time i ignored the need to perform one of these rituals well nothing actually happened. The more i ignored the urge to carry them out the more the anxiety decreased. I realised i had created my own cycle by fuelling my own anxieties. Now i dont have this condition at all when i used to get negative thoughts that would increase the ocd i did a thought stopping technique, telling myself these thoughts were irrational and replacing them with rational thoughts. Looking back i cant believe how this condition used to control me, it actually makes living your life difficult, by facing up to the anxieties i had and confronting them they started to lessen. The bottom line is you cant influence the future at all, by believing you can as i did you become open to conditions like ocd which are based on irrational fears and anxieties. Its like overcoming a phobia beating it. I faced my anxiousness and beat it improving my self esteem, becoming more positive, and was chuffed i managed to do it alone.

[ProjectX]

I suffer from mild OCD and am a perfectionist. if something isn't right, like if my bedroom or desk is not the way I want it I get a mild anxiety attack.
Other times I can't stop thinking about my dog and even when its not there I like to pretend its there and call out its name and stroke it. I know....really really weird but the whole thought process keeps me calm.

I am thinking of taking some medication like Zoloft

[The Cloud]

Originally Posted by dominick

Knowing the importance of our thought life I want to rid myself of these thought patterns.

Why do you think it's important?

[dominick]

Thanks all. This is all really helpful. Yeah, I think it's probably a form of OCD in that the more that I try to not think of the thoughts the more they persist. Part of me does want to resist them (because they aren't aligned with who I feel I truly am) and part of me feels that simply allowing them to "pass through me" without my conscious resistance will bring about the best results.

I remember listening to an audio program a while back and a lady was talking about her anxiety and saying that when she was anxious she would have thoughts of harming her children when that was the last thing in the world she would ever do. Of course, those thoughts then in turn produce more anxiety and it's a bit of a vicious cycle.

So perhaps part of it is about reducing levels of anxiety. But I think there's more there as well. In fact, I often wonder if the thoughts aren't related to some deep-seated emotional issues that haven't been dealt with. In my circumstance I can connect up some of the thoughts that I think to issues of guilt or shame in my past. Reducing my anxiety levels may help the thoughts to lessen but I'm not sure that addresses this emotional baggage.

I'm continuously curious as to what other people have discovered that helps here and in particular, any books, audio programs, etc. that might specifically address this issue.

[QuestForBalance]

I managed to completely overcome my OCD thinking patterns through a combination of keeping journals and using the book: Beyond Reasonable Doubt. I didn't just READ the book, I did all the exercises, I underlined, scribbled in the margins, and even blurred a few pages with tears.

Bottom Line: we can't usually control what thoughts we have, but we CAN control how we act on them. If you just acknowledge them and move on, there's no problem. If you notice them and get stuck in an endless loop of over-analyzing, you'll make your life miserable. If you have the thoughts and carry them out, you can get in all sorts of trouble.

Just having "awful" thoughts does NOT make you an "awful" person. Don't torture yourself about them.

=-)