How To Deal With Obsessive Thoughts?

There are techniques for learning to deal with obsessive thoughts. The important thing is to know how we manage them. You want to know more ? We tell you everything there is to know in this article.

Having obsessive thoughts is a common thing among people in general. We are thinking beings and it is important that we are aware of the possibility of harboring multiple random thoughts. The problem arises when these thoughts become obsessive and limit our daily functioning.

This often happens because the person places too much value or importance on thinking about something. In fact, thought goes from a simple mental event to a psychological problem. The act of valuing thoughts is something we have a capacity for control over.

There are big differences in the way we deal with our cognitive events. There are people who are able to not merge with their thoughts,  to see them as they are and not to give them too much value or too much importance.

On the other hand, there are people – often very perfectionists and responsible,  who manage their thoughts as if they were real situations.

One of the main ways of learning to deal with obsessive thoughts is logically for the  patient to learn new ways of dealing with his thoughts. The goal is that the thought does not control the life of the person.

To think or not to think? That is the question

Obsessive thoughts can become very annoying. Remember all the times the summer hit stuck in your head and couldn’t make it go away. In fact, the  more you tried not to hear it or to hum it, the more it bothered you.

The exact same thing happens with obsessive thoughts. The idea of ​​“not thinking” paradoxically induces a rebound effect. Thought becomes even more present. Therefore, we must learn to put our thoughts aside,  contemplating them as if we were spectators of our own mental processes.

However, this exercise is far from easy. We have already explained that obsessions are very uncomfortable and that it is natural to want to eliminate them from our mind to free ourselves from anxiety. This is where the compulsions come in. It is these motor acts that neutralize the discomfort and make the obsession diminish.

In the short term, it would appear to be effective. In contrast,  the long run shows us that the “solution” becomes the real problem. We become addicted to these compulsions and we use them to eliminate the obsessions. The latter are thus reinforced.

Strategies for dealing with obsessive thoughts

The idea is not to fall into compulsion as a way to neutralize thoughts or avoid them. Therefore,  the strategies that have been proven so far for dealing with obsessive thoughts are as follows:

Apply cognitive defusion

Cognitively disassociating oneself from our mental events means knowing how to separate thoughts from reality and from oneself. In other words, you have to tell yourself that you are not your thoughts, you are much more. On the other hand,  it is also necessary to realize that having thoughts does not mean that they are real.

Thoughts are nothing more than psychological contents, images, perceptions… But they do not constitute objective and verifiable realities. It is foolish to act on ideas that do not correspond to the truth. 

It is much better to view thoughts as entities that you do not like, to watch them go by, including greeting them and staying with them, until they go away on their own. decreasing their intensity.

Reduce the value granted

We have no reason to give importance to a thought just because we have it. As we have already indicated, to think is human, just like the fact of dreaming. We all have thoughts that we would be ashamed to recognize or relate.  However, that does not mean that they are important or that they define us in any way. Therefore, it is good to decrease the value we place on it.

Embrace the thought

We must try to do the mental exercise of embracing our thoughts. Embracing our demons involves being open to the experience of being in their presence, although we don’t like them.

Inhibit compulsions

This part is fundamental. Each compulsion that we produce gives a reason for thought. In other words, we perform an actual act on the basis of a mental idea.

Reality and spirit are two different worlds which have no reason to go hand in hand. It is thus  necessary to make the effort to inhibit the compulsion  so as not to further fuel obsessive thoughts.

Do you have obsessive thoughts? As you may have noticed,  there are several strategies to manage them and prevent them from taking control of our life. However, it may be advisable to consult a psychologist.