PSYCHOLOGY 'Mental rumination': how to get out of the loop of obsessive thoughts that destroy you inside
Having intrusive, unpleasant and involuntary thoughts is quite common, and
when they become obsessive they can cause a lot of suffering
.
It is then that people become more aware of the lack of control that is usually had over thought.
Although intrusive thoughts are
a common symptom of different psychological disorders
, such as anxiety disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder, also depression or bipolar disorder, it is not necessary to have a serious psychological disorder for these unpleasant thoughts to appear.
Coinciding with
World Mental Health Day
, The Sphere of Books publishes
Order your mind to order your life
, a practical guide to taking care of mental health.
Written by the psychologists María Ibáñez and Jesús Jiménez, intrusive thoughts are one of the aspects in which the publication stops.
WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?
They are, in reality, the effect,
the manifestation of unresolved conflicts
, in most cases unconscious. Thus, people who are very demanding can become obsessed with a problem or with the recurring idea of having made a mistake in a decision; someone with jealousy can become obsessed with their partner ... The intensity and recurrence of the thoughts will depend on the complexity and severity of the conflict. Being preoccupied with an important decision usually increases mental activity, but this would not be considered intrusive thoughts.
If you observe your thinking throughout the day, you will see that you have many spontaneous, involuntary thoughts, sometimes by association of some things with others.
As long as these thoughts are neutral or pleasant, they are not perceived as a problem.
There are studies that affirm that
more than 50% of thinking is spontaneous and independent
of external stimuli.
But when these thoughts are scary or aggressive, they generate anguish, lead to negative actions or some other type of discomfort, they can become obsessive.
Thus, you can have thoughts about attacking a loved one, or visualizing accidents, or humiliating other people without actually trying to do something like that.
And there are even more serious cases.
WHAT IS ITS CAUSE?
An easy to understand example is when a person anticipates that a chest discomfort could be the prelude to a heart attack, or perhaps a tumor, and cannot stop thinking about it, intrusively taking over their mind throughout the day .
The cause in this case is obvious: fear of illness.
Well, in the same way, but sometimes in very complex ways, any type of intrusive thinking
corresponds to unresolved conflicts
, which have repressed emotional components, often unconscious.
HOW TO SOLVE IT?
The usual techniques and tips to deal with this problem are often insufficient.
They are usually limited to
three types of actions
: distraction, the willpower to try to control the thought or block the thought.
However, if it is understood that the causes of intrusive thoughts, even wandering ones, are unresolved psychological conflicts, such as repressed aggressiveness, fear of rejection and loneliness, feelings of guilt, self-demand, jealousy, fear of failure ... it is easy to understand that such techniques can have, at best, a palliative effect. They can temporarily stop suffering, but
they will not be a definitive solution
. When the internal causes of these unpleasant thoughts are understood and resolved is when they disappear permanently, putting an end to the struggle and suffering. We have implemented and experienced it many times over over 20 years of providing therapy.
To resolve the causes, as we have stated on numerous occasions,
both the cognitive and emotional parts and the action
must be
properly embroidered
.
It is not enough to propose to stop being aggressive, or to visualize yourself being peaceful, or to make self-affirmations about how you are going to feel or how you are going to act.
You do not have to manage the problem or "work", you have to pay attention to reality, both external and internal, and understand psychological errors.
Nobody wants to suffer, but you have to
learn to solve the causes of suffering
.
It is a learning process, not an act of the immediate will.
Clearing your mind is an exciting and enriching adventure that inevitably improves all aspects of life.
* María Ibáñez and Jesús Jiménez are a couple of communicators specializing in psychology, psychologist and psychotherapist, writers and lecturers.
His new book,
Order your mind to order your life
(The Sphere of Books), goes on sale on October 13.
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