Intrusive Thoughts

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Have you ever been driving, listening to your favorite song on the radio and enjoying your commute home when suddenly your brain tells you, "You can let go of the wheel and crash right now." Or something in far more graphic detail? Congratulations you have what is called an "Intrusive thought!" Intrusive thoughts are unwanted thoughts that for some reason your brain thinks up that can be absolutely horrifying. Something of the sorts of, what if a person breaks into my home? Imagining yourself slipping in the shower and no one is there to help you. Getting into a car accident and all other just terrible things that are probably not going to happen to you but your brain wants to freak you out a little bit. I get intrusive thoughts a lot, I have terrible anxiety and I am also bipolar which are two disorders that cause intrusive thoughts. I don't want to explain my intrusive thoughts because they are a little gruesome. People with Obsession Compulsive Disorder (OCD) also deal with intrusive thoughts and they find compulsions to help them "cope" with their thoughts. Such as, "if I check the lock on my door three times an intruder cannot come in." And such things can really boggle the mind. The fact there are people out there that do not have these worries or paranoia is so strange to me. I was just talking to a friend and she was dealing with depression when her intrusive thought came through. She was asking me if it was normal for her to have this "vision" and it was absolutely very normal. She went into greater detail, but she likes to be dramatic and scare herself even more than her brain is already trying to scare her. I suggested to her to find a hobby. I found that when you have a hobby intrusive thoughts lessen. I cannot say that for everyone but I know it has helped with me and a few of my friends. Keeping your mind stimulated is a good way to really combat any mental health problems. I combat my depression and anxiety and whatever else is going on in my brain with three different things, my first go to is always writing, writing helps me so much to really get out of those feelings and even turn some of those intrusive thoughts into a story... I'm sorry to all my characters that suffer because my brain is mean to me. The second thing I go after is of course drawing! I draw all the time thanks to my webcomic and sometimes I do other doodles and such. The third thing is video games. As much as I always want to go to this outlet, it isn't helpful to me as much because I don't let myself relax. I always have to be working on something and I freak out if I am wasting too much time. BUT I am a strong believer in mental health days and when I am at my peak of I cannot handle anything anymore, my work is struggling, I feel defeated, then I let myself take a break with video games. So, what about you? Have you ever dealt with intrusive thoughts? if so, how did you handle it?