If a thought is disturbing and it's something you want to push out of your mind, it might be an intrusive thought. The thought feels hard to control. Intrusive thoughts are often repetitive and won't go away. "The more you think about it, the more anxious you get and the worse the thoughts get," says Dr. Williams.
The presence of unwanted intrusive thoughts does not indicate anything about your character or sanity. In fact , the content of the thoughts are actually meaningless and irrelevant, no matter how compelling. These unwanted thoughts are not fantasies or impulses or urges.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by repetitive, unwanted, intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and irrational, excessive urges to do certain actions (compulsions).
People with OCD tend to have obsessive thoughts, which they try to prevent by engaging in repetitive rituals, or compulsions. In contrast, a person with ADHD typically presents with excessive hyperactivity and impulsivity and difficulty focusing on one task at a time.
Everyone has thoughts that are upsetting or strange, and that do not make a lot of sense, from time to time. This is normal. In fact several well-conducted studies have discovered that close to 100% of the general population has intrusive and disturbing thoughts, images or ideas.
ADHDers—people with ADHD—can also experience intrusive thoughts that are repetitive, distressing, or just flat-out strange. It's not uncommon to have intrusive thoughts, but frequently experiencing them may be a symptom of your ADHD (if you have ADHD) or possibly something else.
01 Intrusive thoughts are caused by misfired signals in the amygdala. 02 According to Dr. Phillipson, intrusive thoughts are a mental disorder, not a mental illness.
Facing Intrusive Thoughts Head-On
You should avoid “running away” from situations that can cause you stress, as this can push you into rumination. If you find that intrusive thoughts severely or persistently interfere with your health and well-being, consider seeing a therapist.
Obsessions are repeated thoughts, urges, or mental images that cause anxiety. Common obsessions include: Fear of germs or contamination. Fear of forgetting, losing, or misplacing something.
And if your intrusive thoughts are related to a mental health condition, they will likely last as long as you have symptoms. In some cases, fear- or trauma-related intrusive thoughts may never go away completely. But with treatment, you can learn to manage them so they cause much less distress.
Intrusive thoughts, say experts, have no bearing on a person's intentions or moral character. Rather, they are the product of the brain's constant motion — sometimes what it produces is inexplicably terrifying.
What are intrusive thoughts? Intrusive thoughts are words or images that pop into your mind unwanted. They're often disturbing.
A Word From Verywell
People with BPD are often affected by several types of distorted thinking. Some ways that a person with BPD thinks include having paranoid ideation, dichotomous thinking, and dissociation. If you believe that you might be experiencing thinking associated with BPD, talk to your doctor.
Intrusive thoughts can be persistent and disruptive in people with ADHD due to the underlying neurobiological differences in the brain. Individuals with ADHD often experience difficulty regulating their attention, leading to a constant stream of thoughts that are difficult to control.
People struggling with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) are often misdiagnosed as having other psychological conditions. One of the most common misdiagnoses for this population is Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). This diagnostic problem arises for two reasons.
Most Thoughts Are Normal – But Obsessing About Them Isn't
But if you feel “stuck” on a particular thought and wracked by feelings of anxiety, guilt, disgust, and other negative feelings because of it, and you can't stop thinking about it, this is not normal.
This has been linked to anxiety—suggesting that frequent catastrophizing may be a factor in developing certain mental health problems. Catastrophizing comes from the belief that by imagining what might go wrong, we're better able to protect ourselves from harm—both physical and mental.
The mind of a person with ADHD is full of the minutiae of life (“Where are my keys?” “Where did I park the car?”), so there is little room left for new thoughts and memories. Something has to be discarded or forgotten to make room for new information. Often the information individuals with ADHD need is in their memory…