Intrusive thoughts can take a toll on your quality of life. They lead to negative emotions which affect everything you do in your life. And they are unpleasant, in and of themselves. 

Many people who have trauma experience intrusive thoughts. Their minds replay unpleasant events from their pasts over and over again in an attempt to process them. But something goes wrong, and the thoughts continue popping up, even though the conscious mind knows they are unhelpful.

In this post, we take a look at some of the ways that you can fight back if you are a person with intrusive thoughts. With this advice, you can take back control of your mind and dramatically improve your quality of life. Here’s what to do:

Figure Out Why Intrusive Thoughts Disturb You

Intrusive thoughts usually orbit things in our lives that mean a lot to us. For instance, you might have continuous ruminations about your family, your job, or your prestige. 

Understanding where these thoughts are coming from helps you get to the root of the problem. If the issue is your family, you have an opportunity to think about why that is so important to you, offering a way to think about it differently. Eventually, you can let go of certain thoughts by reminding yourself to either let go or move on. 

Don’t Fear Your Thoughts

People will often try to run away from intrusive thoughts by either distracting themselves or finding some sort of avoidance strategy. Unfortunately, these tactics rarely work and can lead to destructive behavior. 

That’s why psychotherapy and other talking therapies get patients to face their thoughts and evaluate them. Once people delve into them more deeply, they often discover that there isn’t actually anything to fear. A thought is just a thought: it has no bearing on the external world. 

You can start this process by simply accepting that an obsessive thought is there. Once you practice this, you’ll reduce the temptation to avoid the thought, and be able to proceed more confidently with your life. However, we understand that sometimes this can be extremely difficult to do on your own. As such, you might need to look at getting some help to deal with this. If you can’t afford the help necessary, it might be the case that your business has partnerships in things like marketplace care, or you might be able to find some companies who offer cheaper options for the help that you need. In the meantime, try to remember that a thought cannot hurt you if you do not let it.

Take It Less Personally

When people have intrusive thoughts, they tend to take it personally. They think that there is something wrong with their soul or spirit. 

But it doesn’t go that deep. In fact, once you create a little separation between your true self and the thoughts that keep popping up, you stop feeling so bad about yourself. Sure, your mind is generating nasty thoughts, but that doesn’t say anything about you or your character. 

Don’t Change Your Behaviors

Lastly, try to avoid the temptation to change your behaviors in response to your thoughts. Again, just because your mind is generating a thought, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are changing as a person. It’s just a loud noise, that’s all. 

Keep your behaviors the same and don’t react to the thoughts as if they matter. Compulsive behaviors try to create security and certainty, but they always fail. Instead, let go of the need to control or respond to thoughts, and they will lose their power over you.