Intrusive Thoughts....Any Advice?

Try relaxing its hard but it works look on youtube for hypnosis that makes you relax I tried last night it  felt refreshing but have to do it as many days as you can it helped me last night I have health anxiety I wish it was gone to but can't do to much about it until my cbt therapy 

Hi Kitty.  It can be very frustrating when our minds do the exact opposite of what we want them to do.  It's great that you've been doing the mindfulness and I remember seeing something that said that the days you least feel as though it's working is the days when you really need to do it and I suppose that makes sense.

When I start to get into a negative thought pattern I try and focus on the 'right now'.  I may not feel great 'right now' but I know that sometimes I do feel great and there's no reason why that might not happen soon.

Hi Kitty

I.too, am having intrusive thoughts today. They are horrible negative thoughts about myself. About being a failure and having messed my life up and worry about my ability to make money. It's all very well for books to say take the time off work or go and try this therapy or that therapy but I don't have any money and if I stop working I will lose the house. Stressed out. Scared that I will get worse and I have develpoed arthritis which means I have to restrict my work (sculptor and teaching). My work makes me feel better. I feel such a wimp. Other people seem to deal with all sorts of horrible situations but I just seem to give up at the first challenge. Crying a lot. Feeling sorry for myself I guess. Trying to keep occupied but neg thoughts keep coming. Comparing myself with others as well which I know is not good thing to do but cant seem to stop it. Sorry I have no answers for you today. I practice mindfulness as well but difficult to do at the moment. I will go and sit for 10 min now and then go for a walk. Usually makes me feel better. I feel so alone. Everyone I know seems to be strong and capable. I know I can be, just not today. Feeling out of control does feel so scary.

Hi Wearykitty. I have been exactly the same for as long as i can remember. Once i start getting the intrusive thoughts they just build and build. I was referred for high intensity CBT therapy which helped and would be the bset thing for you as they teach you to control the way you think and prevent intrusive thoughts from popping into your mind. It helps you train your brain if you like. Its really useful and i now have tecniques that i use often to stop my thoughs getting worse. 

My therapist tought me that the best thing to do is to 'notice' your thought is there but not to 'engage' in it. So dont concentrate fully on what the intrusive thought is. Try to imagine putting your thoughts into a box and tieing it up to put on a shelf. Trying to imagine something like that takes the heat out of the fire if you like. And i find that by the time iv tied up my box, and even decorated it (haha) i have kind of forgotten the initial thought in the first place. It doesnt work all the time, but especially works when im in a more strong frame of mind. There are lots of CBT self help guides online. And ones that therapists give you too. I can send you a like to them later if you like.

Stay strong its so hard. Pop over to my discussion, some people have responded on there too. You may find somehting helpful. The link is below

xxx

https://patient.info/forums/discuss/obsessive-compulsive-questionning-and-cbt-can-anyone-relate--272251

Outside of therapy, I found that the best thing to keep my intrusive thoughts at bay was by engaging myself in hobbies and interests more and more, and applying self-discipline. Diaries are a great way of applying self-discipline if you feel in some way as though your existence is quite chaotic - it helps you keep track of what you're doing, and your sense of achievement in doing it.

Intrusive thoughts, for me, often got progressively worse at night when I found myself at a point where I know I need to sleep but out nowhere, a thought pops into my head and my mind begins to race. How I controlled that was by reading books that reflected my interests - I involved myself in the process of reading them; set myself an hour at night aside before going to sleep. I had a light with a dimming switch that I dimmed every 15 minutes; I read the book so that I was looking out of the bottom of my eyes as I read it, and as the hour went on, my eyes became more and more tired, and more or less as soon as I put it down, I was asleep, and often it was restful.

try getting tired through exercise then you will simply fall asleep and not keep worrying

Yes you will think about how you were before all this happened and wonder why and who are you now. But your still the same person and you can still do all the things you did before and more even in the midst of a tale spin. Just meditate on different things, peace and quiet. Exercise, tv to laugh. Its perfectly normal to want and wish you were the person in the past. But now your stronger and better but the same person with anxiety. You just change around the things you do that makes you comfortable and happy.