Intrusive thoughts

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10 Jan 2021, 8:41 pm

For context, I am diagnosed with OCD.

Am struggling with intrusive thoughts right now. I would describe how I experience them as being akin to the ebb and flow of tides. They are always here, but can range between mild, strong, tidal wave, and tsunami. Right now there is a tidal wave.

The best way to "deal" with them is to distract myself with an activity that demands my continuous, undivided attention. It has to be an external activity, by which I mean it has to be something I'm physically and mentally engaged in outside of my head. This distraction technique is basically a form of ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention).

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Fnord
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10 Jan 2021, 9:31 pm

All of my thoughts are intrinsic, not intrusive.

Abstract_Logic
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10 Jan 2021, 10:00 pm

Fnord wrote:

All of my thoughts are intrinsic, not intrusive.

I'm not sure what you mean. It seems like you are saying your thoughts are intrinsic and not intrusive because "intrusive" implies them originating from an external source?

This is true for everybody I would imagine, but "intrusive thoughts" are described that way because, even though OCD people are well-aware they are "internal", we don't see them as consistent to our identity and moral values, and they are unwanted, involuntary, and distracting. So in that sense they are intrusive.

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10 Jan 2021, 10:27 pm

I get intrusive thoughts to but I'm not diagnosed with OCD but GAD instead. They are quite unpleasant and can make it uncomfortable to be with others .-. I find a lot of stimulus can help too. I listen to things while I work and tend to fidget too. Depending on the day there is varying success.

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15 Jan 2021, 3:01 am

I do. Sort of.

And most of these thoughts are sometimes distracting enough for me to laugh at the wrong time and places, than detracting or even negative.

From ideas or stories and musing about scenarios I may ought to write elsewhere, to songs I might've heard somewhere I couldn't recall where...
Basically memories and thoughts repeated being summoned this way.

Closer to maladaptive dreaming than simply unwanted thoughts.

Yet I'm not sure why, other than parts entertaining yet still time-killing kind of distracting.

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15 Jan 2021, 4:19 am

everytime i put in eye lubricant i get the thought, "you will go BLIND, DEAF, DUMB, PARALYZED, TERMINAL PAIN." to get them to stop i tell them to "SHADDAP!!"

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15 Jan 2021, 5:28 am

Abstract_Logic wrote:

Anything/k which increase your emotional state, such as caffeine or recreational drug, can make these intrusive thoughts worse.

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15 Jan 2021, 7:08 am

Edna3362 wrote:

I don't think these are considered intrusive thoughts in the clinical OCD sense, which is what I meant in my original post.

I have an inner mental life like that too though, where I laugh at inappropriate times because what is going on in my head is out of sync with what is going on in the social context, much to my chagrin (and others' discomfort). And yes, "memories and thoughts repeated being summoned this way" I experience too. My internal monologue tends to be like a more mature/complex form of echolalia--if that makes sense--combined with images as well as abstract concepts that have no describable visual form. If I am replaying thoughts, events, or "scenes" in my mind, it is like viewing still-frames of those scenes while repeating the dialogue internally. I tend to have a good episodic memory for physically experienced events. My timeline is usually pretty accurate too, but unless I had made some significant association with a specific date, I am only able to recall the time of year, like the season, month, or quarter. I feel like my episodic memory / mental timeline ability is tied to my autism and anxiety/OCD somehow, because repeatedly replaying events in my mind is an mental compulsion I have, so it seems to strengthen the neural connections.

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15 Jan 2021, 7:14 am

Pepe wrote:

Abstract_Logic wrote:

Anything/k which increase your emotional state, such as caffeine or recreational drug, can make these intrusive thoughts worse.

Oh I know lol. Caffeine makes my life more tolerable and gets me through the day though. It's such an important part of my daily routine that I would rather deal with the net increase in anxiety and intrusive thoughts it causes. Most of the time I am able to focus, while some days I just get overwhelmed by the intrusive thoughts so I just stop drinking coffee. I am pretty good about knowing my limits.

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15 Jan 2021, 7:55 am

I have social anxiety but not OCD.

I think I have these.

They come in cycles where I don't have them for ages then I have days almost like a robot slave full of them.

They feel literally intrusive like they're from elsewhere and like I have to respect them due to that. They feel like they come from external authority. They're very negative towards myself.

I had one on Tuesday where I imagined that I was a pig masquerading as a human...

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15 Jan 2021, 10:57 am

From as long as i can remember Its been a neverending flow of thoughts, I wouldn't call any of them intrusive though.

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16 Jan 2021, 6:47 pm

KT67 wrote:

This sounds more like thought-insertion. I've experienced something kind of like this before, but I've always known they are my own thoughts. I occasionally get these "insights/intuitions" about things that seem like they could be true, or that they are something someone could have said, and my reaction to them is like "where the heck did that come from? why did my mind concoct /that/ specifically? it sounds too much like something X could have said/done". I can see how someone less introspective might experience these as being inserted from an external source. They seem to happen automatically without conscious effort. Dreams and nightmares happen automatically without conscious effort, but these "daydreams" and "daymares" actually make realistic sense, at least in my experience, and at least as far as my understanding of "makes realistic sense" at a given time coincides with actual reality.

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16 Jan 2021, 6:56 pm

theprisoner wrote:

From as long as i can remember Its been a neverending flow of thoughts, I wouldn't call any of them intrusive though.

What you are describing sounds more like everyday conscious experience

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29 Jan 2021, 8:34 pm

Extremely frequently, actually. Basically any time I'm isolated and not being distracted. Or if I'm being agitated (driving is enough to do it).

I've concluded that with the nature of the thoughts in question, and that I didn't use to have them NEARLY this hostile, that they might very well be a sign of some form of PTSD from trying to overtax my brain sorting through several years' worth of lies.

Given that the last time I went into therapy (for depression) I actually had trouble responding to it all that well and coped by trying to understand my condition myself, I probably would need either a specialist in PTSD (yeah, no odds of getting them up HERE) or someone who's specialized in autistic burnout in order to calm THESE down.

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29 Jan 2021, 8:38 pm

FiruthiDragovic wrote:

Interesting

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31 Jan 2021, 6:19 pm

Abstract_Logic wrote:

theprisoner wrote:

From as long as i can remember Its been a neverending flow of thoughts, I wouldn't call any of them intrusive though.

What you are describing sounds more like everyday conscious experience

What's also interesting is research into sub-vocalizations, a.k.a. Internal monologue

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