The person starts to doubt themselves, their intentions, or they negatively judge themselves for having such thoughts. The person has no intention, but the the person has thoughts about those thoughts.The person has intent or curiosity on following through with those thoughts.It’s self-fulfilling.Īs a clinician, I would only consider the thoughts to be a problem if one of two things are present In short, by labeling them intrusive, they become intrusive. As I’ll explain later on, this creates a feedback loop. By labeling them intrusive, we engage with them and judge them as a problem. We do ourselves a disservice if we quickly label these incontrollable thoughts intrusive. These incontrollable thoughts are 100% normal. If anyone knew we had them, we probably wouldn’t have any friends. And whether we admit it to anyone or not, sometimes (or often), these thoughts get really dark and scary.

They aren’t a reflection of who we are or our values. Most of the thoughts we have are the latter. There are two types of thoughts: thoughts we put in our heads on purpose and thoughts that pop into our head randomly, 100% out of our control.

Having a thought of ramming your car into another carīut, are these thoughts actually a problem? I would argue that they, alone aren’t a problem.

If that’s the case, then all of the thoughts below would be considered intrusive: Why is getting clear on the definition important? Why is defining “Intrusive thought” important?īy not getting clear on what “intrusive thoughts,” are, in therapy or within our own self-talk, we create problems and perpetuate those problems.įor example, imagine that we define an “intrusive thought” as any thought that is inconsistent with society’s standards and laws.

The same thought, but completely different results and impacts on the household. Even though she has no intention of hurting her son, she lies in bed that night debating with herself if she is the type of person who could do such a thing. She becomes anxious, she puts the kitchen knife away and immediately exits the kitchen with her son. Even though she’s never harmed anyone before, she starts to wonder if this thought means she’s a murderer. Her self-talk is racing and begins to question her intentions and her values. Let’s take a different mother who has the same exact thought. A minute later, she forgets she even had the thought. As a result, the thought exits just as quickly as it pops into her head. A thought pops into her head of stabbing him.

Take for example a mother in the kitchen with her 5 year old son. The term implies that the thought itself is what determines whether it’s intrusive or not.īut what really makes a thought intrusive? Is it just the thought or is it our reaction, perception, and meaning we link to the thought? The term “intrusive thoughts” is a little misleading. And our reactions to the thoughts are what make them intrusive or not. However, our reaction to these thoughts are important. So, it’s very normal to have thoughts that are not in line with our values or our intentions. Having thoughts that are not in line with our values can cause us concern.Īre intrusive thoughts normal? We have no control over the thoughts that come into our minds.

Define ruminating thoughts