What Are Intrusive Thoughts (And How Mindfulness Can Help)?

If you've ever had a thought pop into your mind and it's immediately felt disturbing or anxiety provoking,

And not just because of what the thought says,

But because you find yourself thinking,

Why did that come into my mind?

This is likely what's going on.

I'm Dr Liz White,

A UK-based clinical psychologist and I work with people who struggle with anxiety,

OCD and overthinking.

Intrusive thoughts are thoughts and images and doubts that seem to come out of nowhere.

They can be about literally anything.

And a lot of the time these types of thoughts can feel completely out of character.

And the key thing to understand is this.

Having a thought like that doesn't say anything about you.

It's something that the mind does.

Most people have had intrusive thoughts at some point.

So the problem isn't the thought itself.

It's what happens next.

Because of the nature of these intrusive thoughts,

They pull your attention in.

So you might notice yourself going over it.

Trying to understand where it came from.

Trying to analyze it,

Checking how you feel,

Or trying to get some kind of certainty.

And the more you do this,

The more it sticks.

Not because the thought is meaningful in any way,

But because your mind is treating it like it is meaningful.

And this is something that we often see in anxiety and especially OCD.

So one way of managing intrusive thoughts is to change how you respond to them.

Instead of getting pulled into it and pulled into that analysis of it,

Seeing if you can notice it as a thought,

Letting it be there without needing to do anything about it.

And that is essentially what mindfulness is helping you practice,

Being able to observe the thoughts rather than trying to get rid of them,

Changing your relationship with these types of thoughts.

And that's something that you can build over time.

It's a skill.

And if intrusive thoughts are something that you struggle with,

You might find it to explore some of the practices that help you develop that skill.