What are Intrusive Thoughts?
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Intrusive thoughts are unwelcome thoughts or flashbacks that repeatedly find their way into a person’s thinking. In either case, a person dealing with intrusive thoughts who is unable to get them out of his or her mind should seek the help of a medical professional. If left untreated, intrusive thoughts can cause a great deal of emotional, mental, and physical stress.
Intrusive thoughts in the form of flashbacks are memories of past experiences. A person coping with intrusive thoughts in this fashion may force herself to relive the memory, no matter how disturbing it may be. A person who was molested, for example, may experience intrusive thoughts in the form of flashbacks. Some people become consumed by these flashbacks for several days, reliving the entire event. Others experience only bits and pieces of these flashbacks at a time.
In some cases, individuals experiencing flashbacks may reverse the roles in the situation. Using the molestation example, the person who was molested may see himself as the person doing the molestation rather than as the victim. Others may experience the flashback as if they are a third person watching as it takes place. This is often because the situation was so traumatic or frightening that the person cannot experience the flashback in first person.
Intrusive thoughts in the form of unwanted thoughts are common in all people. Some individuals with certain psychological disorders, however, are not capable of dismissing such intrusive thoughts. This is particularly true of those with post traumatic stress disorder or obsessive compulsive disorder. Rather than pushing the intrusive thoughts from their mind, these individuals become focused on them.
For individuals suffering from psychological disorders, intrusive thoughts occur automatically and frequently. Usually, they are distressing, upsetting, or disturbing in some way. Examples of intrusive thoughts of this type are thinking about killing someone, thinking about driving off a bridge, and thinking about suicide. Individuals with psychological disorders may act upon these intrusive thoughts because they are unable to dismiss them, or they may obsess over their fear of following through with these intrusive thoughts.
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New: Discuss this ArticlePosted by: anon14979
To K.M.G 'Friend', intrusive thoughts cannot be created or invoked.....if they could be then they are 'not intrusive' thoughts. This can only be understood by the people who have the problem. The fear & anxiety comes with intrusive thoughts, but intrusive thoughts does not come because of fear.
Posted by: anon14381
I have intrusive thoughts, i was not abused but they continue. They are driving me to distraction. I found my teenage daughter engaging in sexual relations with a much older man while camping. I do not purposely bring them up, but i have nightmares and for awhile after these incidents i do not try to think them, but they persist. I feel as a father i let her down. I have never experienced such a situation, and am at a loss as what to do. S
Posted by: anon11152
To K.M.G.
I disagree with you... I used to suffer from suicidal intrusive thoughts to the point they consumed my entire life...I've made about a dozen attempts on my life. Three or Four were very serious. While being consumed with these thoughts, I welcomed death. Posted by: anon8661
I think the person who "studied" psychiatry is wrong. I *have* intrusive thoughts and this article is exactly what goes on with me. My intrusive thoughts rarely involve things I fear happening, but are more about things that have already happened, whether 20 years ago or earlier today.
textbook definitions vs. real life experience
Also, because not all intrusive thoughts are distressing, just unwelcome or even uncomfortable, I can easily see how someone under certain mental conditions could act upon them.
Posted by: anon8485
The above article is not primarily about acting on "intrusive thoughts". That concept was only half a sentence in this article. This leads me to believe that both of the above respondents may have missed the point of the article.
Intrusive thoughts are defined in the article, either as "unwelcome" thoughts or as repetitive flashbacks. In either case, they are "intrusive" partly because they cannot be readily dismissed by the individual.
People often act on what is most familiar to them, whether or not they actually agree with that behavior. Using the definition of repetitive flashbacks as those thoughts which are disturbing but not easily dismissed, a person may act out the intrusive thoughts when they are emotionally or mentally unstable or simply out of habitual familiarity. Posted by: anon4928
I for one agree with very little of this article.
I have studied psychiatry and find this article very misleading. "Intrusive thoughts" will NEVER be acted on. Why? BECAUSE they are intrusive! If a person has intrusive thoughts that are unshakable and recurring lets say about suicide, it is because he or she has an enormous fear of suicide. Hence you will find that suicide will be the one thing missing from his/her ' to-do list'. Also it is wrong to believe that intrusive thoughts are what the name says they are. Remember that you conjure up and create your intrusive thoughts. You think them. Because you fear the subject, (this can develop into an obsession) . The point I'm making is intrusive thoughts will never be acted on. If they were, they would be 'welcomed thoughts'. The thoughts a person acts on are not intrusive, or frighten them. Intrusive thoughts are the result of an intense fear of an event occuring (etc.), hence they go hand in hand with extreme anxiety. -K.M.G
Posted by: punjab2007
No, a person is not likely to go through with their thoughts because they find them so distressing. They won't go ahead with it. Thats false it mostly goes against their values and morals.
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