To have good mental health we must avoid making faulty assumptions about what our thoughts and feelings mean.
Obsessions are unwanted, repetitive thoughts that appear in the mind because of a hiccup in brain circuitry. If these thoughts are given no meaning, they mean nothing.
However, if we believe that having strange or perverse thoughts mean we are a strange or perverse person, we are likely to fear, loathe, and distrust ourself.
Negative Assumption Brings Anxiety
By studying brain scans of people with OCD, scientists have identified specific neurological activity associated with obsessions. This brain activity is outside a person’s conscious control. For people with OCD, this means that feeling better is not about getting rid of obsessive thoughts.
What those with obsessions can learn, often with the help of a therapist, is that disturbing thoughts and images are not the cause of their suffering. Anxiety and shame are activated when the disturbing thoughts are interpreted negatively.
For instance:
- Joanne frequently and vividly imagines that while driving she steps on the gas to run over a pedestrian.
- Joanne thinks to herself, “Only a sick, deranged person would think such a thing!”
- Joanne experiences extreme anxiety, feels depressed, and eventually stops driving.
Challenging Negative Assumptions
Once Joanne knows that her unacceptable thought is owed to a glitch in brain wiring, it easier for her to examine her reaction to it. A counselor might ask Joanne for examples of situations where she has acted deranged, or whether a sick individual would be upset by the thought of running someone down.
Since Joanne has never acted in a deranged manner, and is upset by thinking of harming someone, she will have to question her assumption that “bad” thoughts make her a “bad” person. At some point, she may venture driving to the grocery store and home again. Doing so without incident will further diminish Joanne’s anxiety.
Eventually:
- Joanne vividly imagines that while driving she steps on the gas to run over a pedestrian.
- Joanne thinks to herself, “This thought is the result of a problem in my brain wiring and it doesn’t represent me or my values. I’m not going to waste time dwelling on it.”
- Joanne feels some temporary uneasiness, she still dislikes the thought, but she is free from self-judgment and debilitating anxiety.
Worth the Effort
The example of Joanne does not imply that learning to re-appraise obsessive thoughts is easy. Trusting that obsessive thoughts are annoying but harmless brain hiccups takes courage, time, and often the help of a compassionate therapist—but is worth the effort.
Once people begin appraising obsessions as unwanted but harmless, their anxiety lessens. Since anxiety energizes OCD symptoms, the intensity and frequency of unwanted thoughts may then diminish.
Inspired by: Change Your Thinking.com
Photo credit: Cesar Cardoso
