Please don't think that I sound trite or uncaring but as someone who meditates, I was taught that we are not responsible for our thoughts. If the thoughts are intrusive, acknowledge them ( "so there you are !") and then firmly say "get lost. you're not helpful." Then go about your business. The more frightened you become and the more you focus on them, only adds to their strength. Thoughts are like feelings, they can come and go as we wish. Having said that, however, I would be in touch with a professional if they become overwhelming. ((HUGS))

Yes I can remember when I'd get thots of absolutely no use -- ones making me feel uneasy. Which I felt like I couldn't get rid of. . . :(
(Of course i *did* get rid of 'em before very long. . :)

Would we call thots we want to get rid of but can't : obsesssive thots? Dunno

"Dumb ideas, go away!". (As said in the 'Dear Anxiety' topic/thread.) lol. . . . . / Get better real soon, Lilyflower . (((( L ))))

I have very bad anxiety in this point in my life it had never reached this level before but bcus it is this bad for the past 6mo i have started having intrusive thoughts and dreamlike visions and images that get burnt into my mind that are very tramatizing for some reason there just visions of grim depressing places once that started happening that depressing feeling stayed n never left now everything i look at feels depressing n sad and the days this happens i feel out of it like theres a bad dream goin on in my mind while im awake all docs n therapists say its from anxiety and lack of sleep it will go away in time but it hasnt in 3mo so im starting to think ive lost my mind can anxiety really do things like that to your mind?????

yes its anxiety. I use to have random Self injury thoughts or at its worst suicidal thought randomly popup. Ive had them go but when Im really stressed they sometimes come. Just best to ignore or talk to a doc. Journaling helped me. I rarely journal now which is not good but when i did it helped.

Hey Lily first off I wanna say you are not alone at all in these thoughts. Everyone has these "scary thoughts" but the problem with people that are anxious is that we hold onto our thoughts and try to find a deeper meaning, "am I suicidal" "will I actually hurt myself" "would I harm another person" the fact is though WE WOULD NEVER!!! This is why it is so scary to us the thing though that I found throughout my anxiety is that these thoughts are a distraction of the real problem in your life Bills, money, children, husband, wife, house, cars, etc all these things cause anxiety and these thoughts are a way to defer the underlying anxiety weird right? this is how complex anxiety is.

The way to conquer any anxiety though is through knowledge and ACCEPTING the anxiety for what it is This isn't easy for I myself am in a process of this there are steps though but you have to be religious towards them

THE most important is journaling
this is what you do
You write down your scary thought EXAMPLE
What if I cut of finger off with this scissors?

then you counter it with a positive

Negative--- What if I cut my finger off?
Positive--- What if I conquer my fear and use these scissors for its objective, allowing myself to realize that this is only anxiety?

You can do this all day What if I miss an assignment for work?
What if I plan ahead and allow myself to have time for this assignment, in which I'll succeed?

You see this sounds silly, but over time your mind begins to clump these positive ideas into the outlook on the way you perceive things This is called brain plasticity

Another thing is exercise this is important 30 minutes a day will help the anxiety go away This is scientifically backed up working out leads to the release of hormones that make you feel happy and better also your self image will go up as well

Get involved do book clubs join a community sporting team allow yourself to have fun. Being social is a very important key to overcoming anxiety it will allow yourself to have support and live.

Make people smile say hello to strangers making others happy is a universal thing that allows one's self to feel good about their character buy a coffee for a stranger, etc.

With myself I got involved with religion This was a major piece to my journey This was my meditation when I first went to church it was the weirdest thing you can believe me or not, but I promise my word on it

When I returned to church after a week or two this sermon came up it was all about anxiety and allowing yourself to open up to god for he will help no matter how bad things seem to be So at the end of the priest's sermon he said 2 girls names and 2 guys names at random and wouldn't you know it he said mine "Jared. come to me" I was dumbfounded by this and to say the least I was beyond happy for this was a time that I was unsure and scared.

Am I saying this will happen to you no, but god is always watching out for you remember that

If you ever do have a panic attack take deep breathes this will trigger your parasympathetic system "rest and digest" and allow your sympathetic system "fight or flight" system to slowly turn off Also you can image a place that only you know, a place that makes you happy mine is the ocean for I am from rhode island and we have nothing, but water I remember this day when the sunset was just right and nothing felt more peaceful than that moment when or if I have a panic attack i think back to that to allow myself to become more at ease.

The last thing I wanna say Anxiety is like a rope bridge One side is peace and happiness and the other side is misery each day you can go one way or another, but each day you can allow yourself to learn and become closer to happiness to have set backs, you must have made progress so don't ever get discouraged

I wish you the best and we are all here for you
Jared

I like Jared's post.

When he first started mentioning journaling
1) I was reminded of Ira Progoff's book on it. Progoff the Jungian; and
2) had the thought that a lot my journal entries - when I *am* keeping a journal - are not that good. When I look back. But still it is a good practice and once in awhile I make a real discovery when writing.

"It helps one organize her thoughts, to write."
--C.

I know a lot of people will not like what I write about my experience with journal writing but here it goes. I began having what I would call close to a nervous breakdown starting in June 2014. I searched for crisis counselling because I was a centimeter close to ending my life. My counsellor suggested journaling. I discovered that my fears actually increased. Tears flowed and flowed and the depression was worse. It was like the journaling opened up a black hole and emphasized my fears and this is also when my flashbacks became almost unbearable. I was not on meds. I finally decided to give the journaling a rest. I have slowly stopped crying everyday. My social anxiety is still SUPER bad. I am taking one day at a time. Yes, I still get intrusive thoughts, mine are ones of me hitting me over the head with a baseball bat, another is me killing myself with a knife to my chest. I hope you find eventually peace of mind.Mine has not come yet.

outinspace, my therapist actually discouraged my talking about my issues. In some ways they were correct, in that it brought them up to surface and caused severe anxiety and depression. In another thought, I wondered, isn't this how I got so bad in the first place? by shoving all the past hurts deep down and trying to ignore? who knows really. I guess it's good for each to see what works best for themselves.

As far as intrusive thoughts, I've had them too and quite annoying and a little frightening. Some may be confused at the difference between "intrusive thoughts" and regular thoughts. "EVERYBODY" does NOT have intrusive thoughts. It is different than obsessing. It is different than negative thought. However the solution Jared states still may help, although that IS how I've handled mine in the past..they still kept coming....until they didn't. had more to do with anxiety level, and working on that.

Therapist and psychologic majors categorize thoughts into two sub groups... Negative and Positive thoughts....

We all have these, this is what makes us human beings... These thoughts and fears were the mere things that allowed humans to still be here on earth. The thing is we all do have negative thoughts this is human nature... the problem with anxiety though is yes this can turn into a problem for one's self by becoming infatuated with these thoughts that one doesn't want. This is anxiety. For intrusive thoughts... every human have had these in their life... It comes through watching movies, news, video games etc. but again with anxiety one's self can pick up on these thoughts an begin to become to Fear and Obsess the meaning of why you are having these (for most cases)... the thing you have to become aware of and accept... is you will never do it... don't go searching for a reason why you are having it... it will only cause more agony.

The examples of things I state to try to work on will help the majority, but every human is different others learn differently and others adapt differently... The thing though is it does take time, this isn't a one week process it is months, years, lifetime... but it will help.

Outinspace I can understand that completely, at times I do not wish to look back at my beginning of my journey for I don't like to look back at what I left... each day I wrote down and never looked back I would write down the negative thought and allow myself to visualize my positive and remember that... and every time my negative thought would come back I would again visualize the positive and say it to myself... This soon allowed my brain to use plasticity to use the positive. The biggest thing is don't go looking for the reason why you are having these intrusive thoughts... My best to you and I hope for you the best :)))

guskitty... I can understand why your therapist stated why not talk about your thoughts, for me the day I told my mother I had these thoughts I thought she was going to lock me into a psych ward lol... but the more I dug into research and blogs... The more and more I was less embarrassed to talk about it... This anxiety is one of the top cases of all anxieties... daily strength allowed me to talk to people that had commons with me and allowed myself to open up completely without judgement... I began to talk to my peers and friends that I've anxiety and this allowed me to have no barriers... everything was out there and when I did this I felt free from these thoughts that I thought for myself would destroy me... For your reoccurrence remember what I said To have set backs you must have made progress... keep going and believe in yourself :)

I believe everyone can do this, you just have to keep going and accept the thoughts for what they are BEST TO EVERYONE

Hey Lilyflower,
Its my first time writing here, but I too suffer from strange and intrusive thoughts, which can be quite annoying, I feel they come on a lot more when I am stressed or worried, just this weekend I had shit time with them:)

my idea would be to stand back from them and say, "why am I thinking this way?" "what does this mean to me?" "am I avoiding something?" "am I trying to distract myself?" my annoying intrusive thoughts involve counting things..and I am very aware that I have used it as a coping system to avoid feeling things I don't want to feel....for instance-you suffer from painful medical issues--is this a distraction from physical pain? like a person in emotional pain who physically cuts herself to deaden the emotional pain-?? just a thought..maybe you have these thoughts as some type of coping strategy---?

Been there, done that... I would tell my pdoc about these re-occurring thoughts of cutting (which I had done). week after week. Finally he looked at me and said. Do you always have to act on every thought you have?. End of story, I never have those overwhelming thoughts and urges anymore. Good luck.

That's your anxiety. Unlike what another maybe said regarding your "thoughts are like feelings, they come and go as you wish".

I COMPLETELY disagree with that they come and go as YOU wish.

Thoughts are indeed like feelings, and with feelings more often than not we have no control, at least not initially.

I sometimes have dreams that my teeth are falling out. Being a oral hygiene fanatic, these dreams were upped my anxiety and contributed to over brushing, flossing etc.

Anxiety is so tricky, it can heightened other illnesses and disorders due to stressors in our daily lives.

Find a doctor, and continue your talk therapy. That might be all you need. ((hugs))