OVERCOMING OBSESSIVE HARMFUL THINKING
Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 12:44 pm
Have you ever had intrusive thoughts of harming yourself or loved ones that you cannot seem to control? Have you avoided certain people or situations for fear you'll act on these thoughts? Have you attempted to rid these thoughts which only resulted in variations of the thoughts themselves and increased anxiety and depression? Are you reluctant to share these thoughts with anyone for fear they'll think your not thinking correctly?
All people have irrational thoughts of this nature without any intended purpose. Everyone at some point for example has experienced road rage when another person is driving their vehicle erratically. Those prone to anxiety however were born a little more sensitive and analytical than the norm. For example, a mother or father watching a distrubing news story involving a parent harming their child, poses the question to themselves "How could a person carry out such a horrible act?". Being sensitive to this type of negative stimuli he or she follows this question up with a series of irrational questions "Could I ever be capable of something like that?" "How could I consider a question like that?" literally thinking themselves into a downward spiral of debilitating anxiety, depression and despair.
Being uniformed about anxiety the individual establishes irrational conclusions about themselves "thee must be something wrong with me because I'm having these thoughts" "I must be going crazy" "I must be losing control". He or she in turn naturally attemptes to repress these thoughts which leads to variations of the thoughts themselves. She then engages in "emotional reasoning". Reasoning about how he or she feels further establishing and reinforcing irrational reactions to these thoughts "I feel like I'm going crazy therefore I must be going crazy". They ultimately plant seeds of belief in these thoughts planting question marks where God put periods. They irrationally conclude that these thoughts pertain to themselves in someway and are filled with guilt "I am a horrible person for having thoughts like these" "I must be a horrible person".
I have expereinced the feeling of anxiety, depression, despair and frustration associated with these irrational thoughts discussed above. However, through the techniques of cognitive thinking and emotional disciple I have successfully eliminated the anxiety, depression and despair associated with these thoughts. Know that God has the resources in your path to fully re-establish your confidence. It's our job to put action behind our faith. God bless and keep pressing forward.
All people have irrational thoughts of this nature without any intended purpose. Everyone at some point for example has experienced road rage when another person is driving their vehicle erratically. Those prone to anxiety however were born a little more sensitive and analytical than the norm. For example, a mother or father watching a distrubing news story involving a parent harming their child, poses the question to themselves "How could a person carry out such a horrible act?". Being sensitive to this type of negative stimuli he or she follows this question up with a series of irrational questions "Could I ever be capable of something like that?" "How could I consider a question like that?" literally thinking themselves into a downward spiral of debilitating anxiety, depression and despair.
Being uniformed about anxiety the individual establishes irrational conclusions about themselves "thee must be something wrong with me because I'm having these thoughts" "I must be going crazy" "I must be losing control". He or she in turn naturally attemptes to repress these thoughts which leads to variations of the thoughts themselves. She then engages in "emotional reasoning". Reasoning about how he or she feels further establishing and reinforcing irrational reactions to these thoughts "I feel like I'm going crazy therefore I must be going crazy". They ultimately plant seeds of belief in these thoughts planting question marks where God put periods. They irrationally conclude that these thoughts pertain to themselves in someway and are filled with guilt "I am a horrible person for having thoughts like these" "I must be a horrible person".
I have expereinced the feeling of anxiety, depression, despair and frustration associated with these irrational thoughts discussed above. However, through the techniques of cognitive thinking and emotional disciple I have successfully eliminated the anxiety, depression and despair associated with these thoughts. Know that God has the resources in your path to fully re-establish your confidence. It's our job to put action behind our faith. God bless and keep pressing forward.