The nature of intrusive thoughts can make them feel real It's when these thoughts are coupled with a feeling of anxiety, that we feel compelled to take notice.
But many people who experience these thoughts don't have a mental health disorder, says Dr. Kerry-Ann Williams, a lecturer in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Intrusive thoughts are often triggered by stress or anxiety. They may also be a short-term problem brought on by biological factors, such as hormone shifts.
Anxious thinking is an altered state of consciousness. Anxious Thinking makes the scary thoughts feel like they can really happen. Anxious Thinking changes the rules. In normal thinking, we understand that nothing in life is risk free, and we accept reasonable risks.
Unwanted intrusive thoughts are stuck thoughts that cause great distress. They seem to come from out of nowhere, arrive with a whoosh, and cause a great deal of anxiety. The content of unwanted intrusive thoughts often focuses on sexual or violent or socially unacceptable images.
False attraction is a common symptom in several subtypes of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) where a person experiences unwanted and intrusive thoughts, images, or doubts about their attraction to someone or something entirely unusual for them.
Those with OCD become so overwhelmed with the fear they might act, they describe this feeling as an "urge," and that it "feels real.
Anxiety can be so overwhelming to the brain it alters a person's sense of reality. People experience distorted reality in several ways. Distorted reality is most common during panic attacks, though may occur with other types of anxiety. It is also often referred to as “derealization.”
Doubts are one of the most common types of intrusive thoughts. The doubts can be about big or small aspects of your life. For example, intrusive thoughts might cause you to question your relationship or sexual orientation.
While anxiety disorders are typically characterized by excessive worry, OCD is marked by unwanted thoughts that lead to compulsive mental or physical reactions. A person with an anxiety disorder will experience excessive worry, but not engage in compulsive behavior to reduce their anxiety.
Although irrational thinking can be associated with many mental health diagnoses, it shows up most often with anxiety.
Anxiety can cause us to direct our attention in a way that is biased toward negatively-interpreted stimuli. It is possible that a lot of what our threat detection system perceives to be threatening is actually not threatening, and that our incorrect perceptions are a result of hypersensitivity.
The good news is many intrusive thoughts can be considered normal and pass through a person's mind without leaving an imprint. However, Dr. Edwards says some intrusive thoughts may begin to stick in people's minds and bother them. They may ruminate on the idea and start to feel anxious.
The possibility that most patients with intrusive thoughts will ever act on those thoughts is low. Patients who are experiencing intense guilt, anxiety, shame, and are upset over these thoughts are very different from those who actually act on them.
Though there are similarities such as repetitive behaviors and obsessions, there are some critical differences like body-only focuses or positive feelings from the repetitive behavior, which aren't present in OCD. Anxiety disorders such as separation anxiety disorder and agoraphobia can also be confused with OCD.
SUMMARY: Obsessive thoughts – defined as persistent thoughts that are difficult to remove – are common in many anxiety disorders. The irony is that the anxiety caused by the thoughts themselves often lead to more of these same thoughts.
The Relationship Between Thoughts and Urges
Jon Hershfield's text, Harm OCD, indicates, “people with harm OCD often describe their intrusive thoughts as 'urges' because it's difficult to find another word for the marriage of an intrusive thought and a sensation in the body that seems to indicated an imminent action.
Intrusive thoughts are not unique to people who are struggling with a mental health concern(s). They are also experienced by individuals who do not routinely struggle with anxiety. In fact, research has found that over 90% of the population experiences intrusive thoughts (Abramowitz, Deacon, & Whiteside, 2011).
They're thoughts we all have at some point, but for some people, these thoughts get “stuck” and cause significant distress. Some common (and morbid) intrusive thoughts include pushing someone in front of a train, yelling in church, or even jumping out of a moving car.
A key distinction in determining whether or not a thought is intrusive is whether or not the thought aligns with a person's beliefs or intentions. Do they try to get rid of or push those thoughts out of their mind? Do they feel upset by the thoughts?
One thing everyone who is having problems with anxiety has in common is that their brain is tricking them. It's telling them that they're in danger, when actually they're not. And it's tricking them into doing things that make it worse.
Physical sensations in OCD are sometimes called “quasi-hallucinations,” which are a feature of psychosis. Hallucinations are when people see, hear, smell, or feel something that's not actually there. They're a common symptom of psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. But OCD isn't considered a psychotic disorder.
They can stem from OCD and thinking you've done something you haven't. It's common for false memory OCD to cause anxiety over fear of wrongdoing, which can make symptoms extremely upsetting. Studies suggest that people with OCD are more likely to experience rich false memories.
Study after study after study has shown that almost everyone has intrusive thoughts from time to time. Random, unwanted, disturbing thoughts are actually the norm, and almost everybody has intrusive thoughts at some time. Healthy people, average people, anxious people, calm people, people with OCD — they all have them.
When an intrusive thought occupies your brain, it can sometimes feel like it will never go away. But thoughts are always temporary, and there is no such thing as a permanent state of mind.