[THREAD] Let's talk about repetitive (obsessive) thoughts a little bit. It is a bit of a misconception that they happen only with OCD. Almost all mental health conditions have some form of obsessive or repetitive thinking. How do they happen and what we can do to alleviate them?
Given that we get around 80k thoughts a day, it is impossible to remember all of them. Usually, the ones that our brain deems important happen because we attach emotions to them. Those emotions act like a filter that trap the most important thoughts.
When we are depressed or anxious, our brain will mostly attach emotions to the thoughts that are consistent with the theme of our general mental health. Because they are deemed important, our mind will keep bringing them back.
When those thoughts are brought back, they still trigger a strong emotional response in us, therefore making them more likely to come back more. Let's pause here and do a small exercise. For the next 30 seconds, I forbid you to think about pink elephants. No matter what!!
It is impossible. That is because we can't voluntarily not think about something. The more we try, the more likely it is to come back. Therefore, the solution is not trying to get rid of them. So what can we do? One of the main things to do is adopt a non judgmental approach.
We allow these thoughts to stay in our brain as much as they want to, we are not going to try to kick them out or get scared of them. They can stay or go, they can do whatever they want. What this does is remove that emotional connection between the thoughts and the mind.
Therefore, our minds will think, well there is less and less emotion connected to this thought, that means that we don't need to remind them anymore. It loses its power and is therefore more likely to leave. This exercise takes time and a lot of practice, it doesn't just happen.
But the more we practice it with thoughts that tend to come back and give us anxiety or depression symptoms, the more likely we are to make them go away by using some patience and not judge them. This exercise is mainly for repetitive thoughts linked to anxiety and depression.
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