This is how intrusive thoughts give way to anxiety.

Let's look at how anxiety facilitated by intrusive thoughts is generated.

Anxiety mismanagement is one of the most common problems among both psychotherapists and the general population. This psychological phenomenon degenerates into psychopathologies quite frequently, but even when it does not constitute a disorder, it can cause a significant amount of discomfort in everyday life.

One of the reasons why these psychological imbalances associated with anxiety is that it can be triggered by various factors that occur a lot in all kinds of people: insecurities and self-esteem problems before a project or a social context, work overload, relationship problems, drug use, etc.. In this article we will see what one of these anxiety-causing elements consists of: rumination based on intrusive thoughts.

What is psychological rumination?

The psychological rumination is a vicious circle in which our mind is subject to an almost constant coming and going of intrusive thoughts that disturb us and generate us discomfort.

It is a very common phenomenon that happens to almost everyone at various times of lifeIt is the annoying feeling of not being able to get a **** thought or an image out of our head, being this mental content something that makes us feel bad: a memory about something we did and of which we are ashamed, an assumption about how bad we have looked to someone, a prognosis about how badly we will do on an important exam, etc.

Thus, psychological rumination works in a cyclical manner on the basis of intrusive thoughts. (so called because they intrude into our consciousness even though we do not want to attract them to it) and it makes us more and more vulnerable to them, because we become more and more desperate when we see that we are not able to get rid of them.

By means of a paradoxical effect, the fear of suffering again because of the intrusive thoughts attracts them to our consciousness, and that installs us in the sensation that whatever we do, we will feel bad and we will be distracted by our own thoughts, whose unpleasant emotional charge will make it difficult for us to concentrate on doing things to improve our situation..

How do you go from intrusive thoughts to anxiety problems?

Given what we have seen so far about intrusive thoughts and psychological rumination, it is not surprising that these are a cause of anxiety. This cycle of feelings and mental images that bother us or even hurt us emotionally deteriorate our mood and predispose us to enter a state of alertness in an attempt to take control of what enters and leaves our own consciousness, without succeeding.

However, it is also true that rumination and intrusive thoughts are both causes of anxiety and consequences of anxiety. are both causes of anxiety and consequences of it.. When we begin to feel anxious, it is easier for us to interpret everything from a pessimistic point of view, and to direct our memory towards what may give us reason to worry.

On the other hand, there are several aspects of intrusive thoughts that link them to anxiety. They are the following.

1. They have an avoidant component

Rumination is closely related to worry, but since it is a cyclical phenomenon, it can be being a cyclical phenomenon, it paralyzes us.. This happens because it directs our attention towards our own mind, and not so much towards the search for solutions.

That is why it is often said that it has an avoidant component: the fact of directing our attention towards these intrusive thoughts is a way of self-sabotaging ourselves.

2. They lead us to seek distractions

To try to dissipate the discomfort generated by intrusive thoughts, it is common for us to give in to impulses that promise us instantaneous pleasant sensations with the capacity to distract usEating even though we are not hungry, browsing our social network updates, watching videos on the Internet, etc.

These kinds of supposed remedies only provide very short-term solutions, and over time, we learn to associate them with anxiety, so that the very act of doing them or thinking about them can bring intrusive thoughts to our mind.

3. Wasting time makes us feel more anxious.

Due to the above, we waste time and we notice that we are in a worse situation when it comes to doing something to solve what worries us or what makes us feel bad (for example, we let the days go by without studying for an exam, because the fact of always thinking about it and the problem it involves exhausts us emotionally and we do not have the strength to devote more time to it).

4. Sustained discomfort during all this time damages our mental health.

Finally, we cannot forget that the simple fact of having spent a considerable time thinking about things that make us feel bad is something that in itself causes our nervous system to be activated, since we notice that we have a problem that we must solve as soon as possible. This means having even more anxiety, produced by the anxiety itself..

Are you interested in psychotherapeutic help for anxiety?

Fortunately, anxiety problems and everything that comes along with them can be overcome through psychological therapy. If you are suffering from anxiety problems or any other type of emotional disturbance that causes you discomfort, please contact me, please contact me. I am a psychologist and neuropsychologist dedicated to the care of patients of all ages, and I offer face-to-face and online sessions by video call. On this page you will find more information about my services, as well as my contact details.

Bibliographic references:

• American Psychiatric Association -APA- (2014). DSM-5. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Madrid: Panamericana.
• Dickson, K.; Ciesla, J. A.; Reilly, L. C. (Dec 2011). "Rumination, worry, cognitive avoidance, and behavioral avoidance: Examination of temporal effects". Behavior Therapy. 43 (3): pp. 937 - 959.
• Joormann, J.; Dkane, M.; Gotlib, I. H. (2006). Adaptive and maladaptive components of rumination? Diagnostic specificity and relation to depressive biases. Behavior Therapy, 37(3): pp. 269 - 280.
• Magee, J.C. & Teachman, B.A. (2012). Distress and Recurrence of Intrusive Thoughts in Younger and Older Adults. Psychology and Aging, 27(1): pp. 199 - 210.
• Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2000). The role of rumination in depressive disorders and mixed anxiety/depressive symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109(3): pp. 504 - 511.
• Papageorgiou, C.; Wells, A. (2004). Depressive Rumination: Nature, Theory and Treatment. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons.