#distraction techniques

Hi lovely, 

Thank you for reaching out to us here at MHA; I know that must have been really hard for you given the circumstances, but I’m so proud of you and I really hope that I’ll be able to give you some advice and reassurance! I am so sorry that you have been dealing with this so long and are now feeling so miserable.

In short, the answer to your question is yes - sometimes our obsessive thoughts can be so strong and overwhelming (especially when we’ve been dealing with them for such a long time) that it can feel like we actually want to go through with the thought. This is really common for people dealing with obsessive-compulsive disorders and intrusive thoughts, so please know that you are not alone in this. And most importantly, please know that you are not a bad person for having these thoughts!

I think the most important thing for you right now is to remember that these are just intrusive thoughts - they can’t be controlled, they’re literally unwanted things that intrude into your consciousness. They are not a reflection of you and your worth or anything like that, please don’t feel bad for having them. Personally, I believe that the fact you are questioning these thoughts and you felt panicked and upset by them, shows that you don’t really want them. Maybe looking at it like this will help you to feel a little better about yourself and the situation? I promise that you are not bad or wrong for this.

The most important thing with intrusive thoughts, but also one of the hardest, is to not give the fire any fuel - if you mill over the thought and try to analyse it, you are adding power to a thought which will likely make it stronger and make it appear more often. This is not to say you should completely ignore the thoughts, but simply acknowledge the thought is present and then move on and try to distract yourself; I like to try and do this by imagining storm clouds coming in (representing the intrusive thought) but then they slowly blow over in the breeze, taking the negative thoughts with them. Speaking of which, I am going to link our page of distraction techniques here, and a video here. Grounding techniques may also be useful in helping you to take back control from the thoughts, and bring yourself back to reality; here is our page on grounding techniques.

I’m just wondering if you have ever reached out to a professional regarding this?  The most effective way of dealing with these intrusive thoughts is to seek some professional help. A therapist or counsellor will be able to guide you into understanding your thoughts, why you are having them, and how you can learn to manage them and diagnose you if necessary. If seeing a counsellor or therapist isn’t immediately an option for you, you could go to your GP who can then refer you onto a mental health professional. I’m linking our page about getting help here because I know how hard it can be to ask for help and to admit the issues you are facing out loud. Professionals are trained in dealing with instances like this, and this will not be something shocking or ‘wrong’ to them, so I promise that they won’t judge you or treat you differently for going to them with these issues - you have nothing to be ashamed of, lovely!  You could call a helpline or use web counselling anonymously if seeing someone face-to-face is too difficult for you.

I am linking you to our page about OCD here! We have some really great informative pages which may help with your own understanding of what you are going through. Also, the following webpages might be helpful for you to read and they have some good interactive information about trying to overcome the thoughts too:

This four step programme

Intrusivethoughts.org

Suppression

I hope this has been of some use to you, friend. Again, I’m going to say that you are not a bad person for having thoughts like this, you are not wrong or bad, or anything like that - this is just something you have been struggling with, and you are never wrong for struggling and needing to reach out for some support. Please don’t hesitate to get back in touch if there is anything else that we can help you with! Please take care.

Of hot mines and glaciers,

And always your face.

Good thing i’ll have @li-izumi and @tabascostone to distract me.

chime in if you’re wriing and anxiously awaiting the claims.

chime in if you’re an artist and you can’t wait to see what you can snag :D

I am suffering from writer’s block, so I wrote 500 words of Caryl, playing some time after 7x10. Makes sense? No? Well, it distracted me from major plot problems anyway. Put behind a cut to spare people’s dashboards. :)