Posted by mattdds on June 8, 2003, at 11:05:55
In reply to Re: Accepting intrusive thinking » mattdds, posted by Larry Hoover on June 8, 2003, at 9:59:58
Hey Larry,
Good to see you here again!
>If you can learn to ignore the intrusive thoughts (in other words, not react emotionally too them), they no longer stand out from all the other thoughts that you might have.
Exactly. For people with OCD or strong negative appraisals of intrusive thoughts, thoughts become just another neutral event. The problem with thoughts is that sometimes we get too "locked in" on them. This is what Adrian Wells refers to as "object mode". Metacognitive mode is getting out of this and saying "hey, this is only a thought / feeeling / symptom, and not reality". These are just big words for simple concepts, but it gives them names so we can talk about them.
One insight that I remember reading somewhere is that with intrusions, the thoughts become the "object" to which one tries to become desensitized. The mechanism seems similar to a simple spider phobia. Exposure to the spiders while allowing disconfirmatory information to be processed (i.e. erasing old beliefs, making new ones about spiders) is therapeutic. In many ways, OCD is thought-phobia. Cognitophobia?
>>When you react to the thought, you "lock it in". It doesn't pass by and fade away, like all the other thoughts do.
I'ts "selective abstraction" or "mental filter". Something in your belief system is causing the direction of an undue amount of attention toward the thought. This is the "getting locked in" you decribe.
The goal is not to try to stamp out the thoughts. There are too many, it's like using a fly swatter in the jungle! The goal, perhaps is to tease out the metacognitive beliefs that are causing the attention to be directed so strongly toward the thoughts. Examples of metacognitive beliefs are:
1. I am bad for having X thought
2. Thinking these thoughts can something terrible happen
3. This thought is reality (usually we aren't aware of this belief)
4. etc, etc.>>Everybody has unusual thoughts that pass through their brain. Some are quite bizarre. If you don't react to them, they have no significance.
Everyone has them, right. My feeling is just that only the *beliefs* about the meaning of the thoughts is the difference. Beliefs direct attention. Attention causes thoughts to grow in consciousness.
>>The problem is the reaction, not the thought itself.
Perfect. I was raised in a strong religious family. When I would get intrusive sexual thoughts, I would get anxious. I, on some level believed I was bad for the intrusion; as if it meant something about me as a person. So guess where my attention went? I try to look at intrusions as *totally* uncontrollable now! I truly believe they are. That absolves me of all ownership of them. Interestingly, I don't get anxious about these intrusions anymore, but I still have them. Now they just seem like any other thought (well, maybe a bit better :))
>>There are a number of different techniques you can learn, to desensitize your reaction. That's a matter of personal preference. One I like is "I don't own that thought. It doesn't spring from my spirit."
Good idea. My dad likes "oh, there goes another one...oooh, wow look at that, there's another one!"
This is true. There are various ways of getting into a "metacognitive" mode of thinking.
Thanks Larry, these are great insights! Sounds like you reinvented Adrian Wells' wheel without even knowing it! You seem to have a grasp on things that 99% of clinicians don't!
Best,
Matt
poster:mattdds
thread:230572
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20030529/msgs/232373.html