Intrusive thoughts
Sudden, unwanted thoughts and images, sometimes shocking ones, are something almost everyone has. Here's why they stick, and what helps.
If intrusive thoughts take up a lot of your day, a GP or a therapist who knows OCD can help, and treatment works well. If you ever want to act on a thought, or feel unsafe, get help straight away.
You're standing on a station platform and a picture flashes into your head of jumping, or pushing someone. You're holding a baby and imagine dropping them. You're in a quiet meeting and think of shouting something obscene. Then comes the horror: why would I think that? What does it say about me?
These are intrusive thoughts: sudden, unwanted thoughts, images or urges that pop up out of nowhere.
Almost everyone has them
In 1978 the psychologists Stanley Rachman and Padmal de Silva asked ordinary people, with no mental health problems, about unwanted thoughts. Most had them, and their content was strikingly similar to the obsessions of people with OCD: harm, contamination, sex, blasphemy, embarrassment. The difference was how often the thoughts came, and how much they upset people.
In 2014 a team led by Adam Radomsky asked students in 13 countries across six continents. More than nine in ten had had at least one unwanted intrusive thought in the previous three months.
Why some stick
The thought itself isn't the problem. What makes it stick is the meaning we give it: "having this thought means I'm dangerous", "means I secretly want it", "means I'm a bad person". That meaning makes the thought feel urgent, so it gets attention, so it comes back.
They tend to be about what matters most to you. A loving parent gets thoughts of harming their child; a kind person gets thoughts of cruelty. That's why they're so upsetting, and it's also the clue: the horror you feel is a sign the thought goes against who you are.
Pushing them away backfires. In a famous study in 1987, Daniel Wegner asked people not to think of a white bear. They thought of it more, and once they were allowed to, it bounced back even more often.
After having a baby
Unwanted thoughts of harm coming to a baby, including thoughts of causing it, are very common in new parents. In a 2008 study by Nichole Fairbrother and Sheila Woody, most new mothers reported them. They reflect how much you care and how alert you are to danger, not a hidden wish.
If they come many times a day, cause a lot of distress, or lead to lots of checking or avoiding time with your baby, that can be perinatal OCD. It's treatable, and a GP, midwife or health visitor is a good first person to tell.
What tends to help
- Name it
"That's an intrusive thought." Naming it puts a little space between you and it.
- Let it be there
Don't argue with it, analyse it or push it away. Let it come and go in its own time.
- Skip the rituals
Checking, seeking reassurance or doing something to cancel the thought keeps the loop going. Delay the ritual can help.
- Carry on
Keep doing what you were doing, with the thought along for the ride.
Sam is waiting for a train and gets a sudden image of pushing a stranger onto the tracks. Sam feels sick at the thought. What's most helpful?
Sources and further reading
- Rachman, S., & de Silva, P. (1978). Abnormal and normal obsessions. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 16(4), 233-248.
- Radomsky, A. S., et al. (2014). Part 1: You can run but you can't hide: Intrusive thoughts on six continents. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 3(3), 269-279.
- Wegner, D. M., Schneider, D. J., Carter, S. R., & White, T. L. (1987). Paradoxical effects of thought suppression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53(1), 5-13.
- Fairbrother, N., & Woody, S. R. (2008). New mothers' thoughts of harm related to the newborn. Archives of Women's Mental Health, 11(3), 221-229.
- International OCD Foundation: What is perinatal OCD?
- NHS: Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
Finish the lesson
Answer the question above to complete the lesson.