Unlike other types of intrusive thoughts, which often have little to do with the person thinking them, these thoughts are usually flashbacks to your most unhappy memories. People with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) sometimes struggle with intrusive thoughts related to a traumatic event in their lives, such as combat experience, a car accident, or a troubled childhood. You’ll know you’re dealing with an obsession if you’ve started upending your life to avoid or relieve a particular intrusive thought, like washing your hands repeatedly to stave off fears of infection. That’s because people with OCD tend to believe their disturbing fantasies will become reality unless they take specific actions, called compulsions. If you’re able to put an unwanted thought out of your mind pretty easily, then it was probably just an intrusive thought.īut for people with OCD, an intrusive thought can easily become an obsession.
Intrusive thoughts are a key part of OCD, but it’s important to know the difference between intrusive thoughts (which nearly everyone experiences) and obsessions (which characterize OCD). That’s why it’s so important to take intrusive thoughts seriously if they’re bothering you, before they have time to cause even more havoc in your mind. When you’re struggling with disturbing thoughts, obsessively tracking your eating habits can be an unfortunately effective distraction. To make matters worse, intrusive thoughts aren’t just a symptom of eating disorders-they can also cause them. If you’re dealing with anything like this, you should talk to your doctor or a psychiatrist right away. These can include unhealthy urges to restrict your food intake, or shame about the way your body looks. People with eating disorders, such as anorexia or bulimia, can struggle with intrusive thoughts about their body or their diet. What causes unwanted intrusive thoughts? Eating disorders In other words, you’ll know your intrusive thoughts have become an issue if you’re obsessing over them to the point that they’re getting in the way of your life. Instead, they open them, pore over their contents, and sign up for more emails, even though they don’t like them. People who struggle with intrusive thoughts can’t just delete these junk messages from their minds. Examples of these types of thoughts include worries about being contaminated by germs, acting inappropriately in social settings like work or church, or committing acts of violence.īut what makes an intrusive thought a big problem isn’t the content of the thought, it’s how you react to it. If a particular thought feels very out of character for you, disturbs you, and hurts your quality of life, it could be a sign of a problem. How do I know if I’m struggling with intrusive thoughts?Įven though occasional intrusive thoughts are normal, certain types of thoughts are more likely to signal an underlying issue. If you’re able to simply push the thought out of your mind and move on with your day as easily as you’d delete an unwanted email, then your intrusive thoughts are probably nothing to worry about. In fact, a 2014 study published in the Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders found that 94% of people deal with them. Like junk mail, intrusive thoughts are an unpleasant but common experience. You didn’t ask for them, you don’t know why you’re getting them, but there they are. If you think of your mind as an email inbox, intrusive thoughts are like junk mail. So how can you tell if your unwanted thoughts are a sign of a larger issue? We’ll talk you through it. But disturbing thoughts that won’t go away can be a symptom of a mental health condition like an eating disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), depending on what other symptoms they come along with. When you’re worried about your intrusive thoughts, you might be scared to tell someone about them. They might think about doing inappropriate things in public or hurting themselves or someone else. But for some people, the frequency or nature of the thoughts can be disturbing. Most people experience unwanted thoughts, also called intrusive thoughts, from time to time. Have you ever had a thought you didn’t want to have? It might’ve been something as simple as a flash of fear that you left the stove on, or an embarrassing memory from high school.
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