Many people who use the phrase “I have depression” do not realize how dangerous this disease really is. The variety of types and forms of depressive disorders is very large, and not all have been fully studied yet. One of the most common is recurrent depressive disorder, when a person, some time after the first incident, discovers that depression has returned. Approximately 2% of the population suffers from this form of mental illness.

Characteristics and forms of the disease

Recurrent depressive disorder differs in its course. This form is characterized by recurrent episodes of depression that have typical symptoms, but in the medical history there should be no independent periods of increased mood, although there may be short episodes of improvement, sometimes due to the use of antidepressants. The duration of one depressive attack can be very different, from two weeks to many months, after which a period of remission begins without the manifestation of depressive symptoms. This includes seasonal affective disorders. This disease has different shapes, may occur with to varying degrees severity of symptoms:

• V mild degree the course of a depressive episode is accompanied by mild symptoms, with no bursts of energy;
• moderate course is characterized by moderate manifestation of depressive symptoms without energy boosts;
• at severe course the attack may take the form of major depressive disorder, endogenous depression, manic-depressive psychosis, vital depression.

It should be distinguished this type disorders from recurrent fulminant depression, where mental episodes are short, from two days to two weeks, and recur approximately once a month for a year.

Features of the course of the disease and the causes of its occurrence

Statistics show that women suffer from this disease twice as much as men. Recurrent depression most often appears quite late, after 40 years, and sometimes much later. Average length One episode lasts 6–8 months, and the period of remission lasts more than eight weeks, while the person does not have significant mood symptoms. In old age, chronic depression is sometimes diagnosed during the interictal period. Reveal real reasons This depressive mental disorder is very difficult, however, it is possible to identify the main factors influencing the occurrence of the disease:

• genetic predisposition or other endogenous factors. In 35% of cases when depression occurs, there are no external causes at all;
• psychogenic reasons. The disorder is caused by excessive brain overload due to stress, which is caused by mental trauma or other psychosocial factors;
• organic causes are associated with the consequences of any traumatic brain injury, intoxication, neuroinfections, etc.;
• if it is seasonal depression, then its occurrence may be associated with a deficiency of serotonin and other neurotransmitters.

Usually the first depressive episode recurrent disorder occurs as a result of external psychotraumatic factors, and repeated ones, on the contrary, are rarely caused by external causes.

Symptoms of recurrent depression

In their structure, mental attacks correspond to a classic depressive episode. They are characterized by a triad of main symptoms of depression: 1) low mood, inability to feel pleasure from usual activities; 2) increased fatigue, motor lethargy, lack of energy; 3) disturbances in judgment and thinking with a bias towards the pessimistic side. Everyday stressful situations may negatively affect the severity repeated attacks. Also, recurrent depressive disorder is characterized by a number of additional affective symptoms:

• a person may experience unreasonable feeling guilt, condemnation of one’s activities;
• the patient becomes less confident and his self-esteem decreases;
• the ability to concentrate decreases;
• suicidal tendencies and thoughts of causing any harm to oneself may appear;
• sleep-related disorders: insomnia, nightmares, anxiety;
• there is often a decrease in appetite;
• a person is visited by gloomy thoughts about the prospects for his future.

During different episodes, symptoms may vary in nature and severity.

Diagnosis of the disease

The main criterion for diagnosing recurrent depression is the detection of at least two attacks lasting more than two weeks. Moreover, a couple of months in a row must pass between attacks without manifestation obvious symptoms mental disorder and worsening mood. When diagnosing the current episode, the severity level of the disorder is determined: mild, moderate, severe. With a mild degree, a person must have at least two of the main symptoms plus any two additional ones. If, with two main symptoms, three or four additional symptoms are detected, then the disorder is classified as moderate in severity. In severe cases, the patient has all the main symptoms, as well as more than four additional ones. If a patient has a history of manic episodes, a diagnosis of bipolar affective disorder is made. When using differential diagnosis it is necessary to exclude any form of schizophrenic disorder, as well as affective disorders that have organic nature, for example, brain tumor, encephalitis, endocrine disorders. Recurrent depressive disorder cannot be detected by psychological methods Houses. The diagnosis can only be made by a qualified specialist in a clinical setting.

Treatment and prevention of recurrent depression

When choosing a treatment method, it is very important to conduct a complete preliminary examination of the patient and determine the maximum accurate diagnosis. Recurrent depression is treated mainly in three ways: medication, psychotherapy and ECT (electroconvulsive therapy). The latter method is used only in very severe cases. The most effective is considered to be a combination of psychotherapeutic techniques with antidepressants. However, to treat milder forms of recurrent disorder, psychologists consider behavioral and cognitive therapy sufficient. With drug therapy, in addition to antidepressants, inhibitors, antipsychotics, and benzodiazepines can also be prescribed. Regardless of the chosen treatment method, it is important to understand that recurrent depressive disorder takes a long time to be treated, and therapy should not be interrupted under any circumstances without the doctor’s permission. In addition, after the attack is suppressed, many patients are also recommended maintenance therapy, which sometimes includes lithium or other drugs. The main goal of preventing recurrent depression is to reduce the frequency of attacks and prolong the period of remission. To do this, it is necessary to minimize stress factors that can affect the patient in everyday life, and also periodically visit a psychiatrist to prescribe preventive treatment.

I had been preparing this article for a long time, but I still couldn’t write it for the reason that I wasn’t sure that I had a complete understanding of what how to get rid of obsessive thoughts.

Now I have experienced first-hand how to deal with such thoughts and I am fully prepared to tell you about it.

Perhaps some of my readers think that from the moment I started creating this site, I completely got rid of all personality problems. Indeed, I had already changed a lot by the time of the first entries in this blog, but my current state cannot be called complete freedom from negative emotions, prejudices and fears.

My situation can be described as a struggle with myself, during which experience and materials for these articles are born. Of course, in this confrontation between my true Self and the primitive, instinctive, emotional Self, the former gradually wins.

But this struggle continues: two steps back and four steps forward. Self-development stems from awareness of one’s shortcomings and working on them. If there is no struggle, then this does not mean final victory, but rather about surrender.

After all, self-development is an endless process. I continue to face some problems and struggle with them. Including obsessive thoughts.

Mental "chewing gum"

I've always had these thoughts. They could occupy my head and make me nervous, endlessly thinking about the same experiences. It was like mentally chewing gum.

I constantly chewed the same thoughts in my head, trying to resolve them, untie some imaginary knot. But from my attempts to loosen it, on the contrary, it became even tighter.

I remember how, back in my early childhood, I couldn’t stop thinking about some things that I didn’t have to think about at all. My brain’s habit of endlessly “processing” certain experiences and ideas must have worsened during times of other psychological problems.

I recently realized that I have learned how to deal with intrusive thoughts. Moreover, I am ready to formulate a method that allows me to get rid of them. I realized that this article can now finally appear.

Intrusive thoughts are emotions

This is the first thing you must understand. Obsessive thoughts are emotional, unconscious, irrational in nature. They are associated with your unreasonable fears, anxieties and complexes.

That's why they are obsessive. The emotions that form in you make you constantly think about something. They seem to signal “Problem! Problem! We must look for a solution!”

It's like a notification in Windows or other operating system, which appears as an icon and will irritate your eyes until you update some program, remove the virus, or install the necessary driver.

We can say that obsessive thoughts also have a positive function. They remind you of problems you need to solve. And you can’t just turn off these “notifications.” It's hard to die of hunger when your brain constantly reminds you of food.

But, unfortunately, obsessive thoughts do not always tell us about some real problem. The mechanism for the appearance of these thoughts is quite subtle. And if, for some reason, the “standard settings” of this mechanism go astray, then natural human fears and concerns can take an extreme form, manifesting itself in the form of obsessive thoughts, which are very difficult to get rid of.

Everyone knows how normal concern for one's health can develop into hypochondria, how natural fear of danger threatens to turn into paranoia.

And so you become a regular visitor to medical forums, and thoughts about your health do not leave your head. Maybe you constantly think about danger while you're outside. Or you can’t get out of your head the thought of what people think about you, although you yourself don’t see any point in thinking about it.

The point I want to make is that intrusive thoughts are based on emotions. Therefore, they do not have a rational nature. Therefore, they cannot be fought with logic.

This is a very important conclusion. I watched myself a lot, tried to understand how these thoughts appear and how they disappear, how my mind tries to deceive and confuse me. Previously, in the evening, when I was very tired, I could not stop some thoughts.

For example, I could start to think something bad about myself, blame myself. No matter how skillful the internal lawyer turned out to be, who, using logic and common sense, tried to convince me that everything was not so bad (although of course he did not rule out the problem), the blaming party always gained the upper hand, and everything became even more confusing. The more I tried to justify myself and get rid of annoying thoughts with the help of thoughts, the more confused I became and the more these thoughts overpowered me. This sport with oneself led to the fact that the invisible knot was tightened even more tightly.

The next day, in the morning, with a fresh head, I didn’t even want to think about this problem. If I began to reflect on yesterday’s “dialogue” with myself, then I understood that there was a problem, but it was greatly inflated and exaggerated by my condition. I realized that the problem needed to be solved, not thought about. There is no point in these thoughts.

After some time, I realized the deception and insidiousness of these thoughts. If you try to destroy them with logic, they will still prevail, because they are irrational and illogical and make you believe in absurd ideas that common sense is powerless against.

You can't eliminate obsessive thoughts with logic

If you are in a self-blame mindset, you will continue to blame yourself even when you have nothing to blame yourself for. Because this is your mood and it is from this that these thoughts stem, and not because of some real situation! Even if you suddenly manage to convince yourself for a minute that these thoughts are groundless, after some time they will return again if you resist them and continue to logically resist them.

If you are in a mood in which you think that you are sick, that something bad will happen to your health, then no positive results tests will not convince you otherwise. “What if the tests turned out to be inaccurate?”, “What if I have something else?” - you will think.

And you will not see the end of these thoughts, no matter how absurd from the standpoint of common sense they may be.

It is useless to try to refute them. Because it's impossible. They will come back and attack you with new absurd arguments, which you will believe because you are in such a state. emotional state, which gives rise to these thoughts about non-existent problems.

Remember the state when you are worried about something. No matter how much you convince yourself that everything will be fine, that there is no reason to worry, your perception, distorted by nervous tension and excitement, paints your prospects in the darkest colors. Not because everything is really bad, but because that’s how you perceive everything now. If in such a state you begin to think and talk a lot about the future, then your negative perception will attract your thoughts to the “negative” pole and it is difficult to break out of this attraction.

Method for getting rid of obsessive thoughts

You will need common sense, but only at the very beginning.

First of all, you need to figure out whether your obsessive thoughts are based on some real problem. It happens that mental chewing gum torments you, exaggerating the problem. But an exaggerated problem does not mean its absence.

So think about what reasons there are for these thoughts. When getting rid of thoughts, you should not ignore the problem, if there is one. For example, it seems to you that you have some kind of illness and thoughts about it do not leave your mind.

Maybe these are really not groundless fears, and you have symptoms of some disease. If this is the case, go to the doctor. If you have already done this and have not found anything, forget it.

Regardless of whether there is a problem or not, there is no point in constantly thinking about it! You either try to solve it if it exists, or forget about everything if it does not exist.

This is the only moment in the fight against obsessive experiences in which you need to apply logic and common sense.

What to do?

Choose a moment in time when you are in the best moral state, when you have more optimism and strength than usual. For example, in the morning, when you are full of energy, after physical exercise or after .

Convince yourself that there is no point in replaying the same thoughts in your head thousands of times. That these thoughts are deception or exaggeration designed to confuse you.

Understand the following things well

• you will not come to a solution to a problem if you constantly think about it
• obsessive thoughts have no rational basis, and if they are related to some problem, then you will solve it, instead of constantly returning to it with thoughts
• you cannot get rid of mental gum with logical argumentation and reflection

Realize the absurdity of obsessive thoughts

Next, you can once again, with the help of several logical theses, expose the absurdity of obsessive thoughts. For example: “I have nothing to be afraid of, because the tests showed nothing”, “people don’t die from panic attacks, I’ve read about this more than once”, “no one is trying to harm me”, “even if there really are things to be afraid of” , you don’t need to think about them 1000 times a day, this will only lead to nervous exhaustion.”

Your argument against obsessive thoughts should be clear and concise. You should not get carried away by arguing with yourself. Remember, in a long-term argument with obsessive thoughts, you are doomed to failure, in which emotions and fears will prevail over logic and reason, and negative perception itself will “pull” thoughts to the negative pole.

To destroy the force of this attraction you need to think less. When you think about annoying thoughts and chew on them endlessly, you only make them stronger.

Give yourself the mindset to ignore intrusive thoughts.

Tell yourself that you will no longer think about what you think about all day long. and what plagues and torments you. Indeed, why constantly chew mental gum when it brings no benefit?

An obsessive thought is a repetition of the same thought in different ways. You will not get any new and valuable information from it, you will not come to any decision.

Therefore, give yourself the mindset not to get carried away by fruitless thoughts. After you've told yourself this, made a promise that you won't break, draw an invisible line. After this trait, you no longer pay attention to intrusive thoughts.

Don't expect the thoughts to never come back

They will come back more than once. Tune in like this: “Let them come back, what difference does it make, I realized that these thoughts are deception and do not relate to the real problem.”

Thoughts will come back, sometimes you will again begin to untie this knot in your head. As soon as you notice that you are carried away by this again, smoothly move your attention to the side. Don’t argue with these thoughts, don’t be upset that they come (and they will come), ignore them, treat them with complete indifference.

If you suddenly need to remind yourself of the absurdity of these thoughts, do not go beyond short formulations: “nothing will happen to me, and that’s all.” Don't get involved in an argument you will never win. All the endless arguments that again make you afraid or nervous are lies and deception.

Remember what I said in the article: if you are in a psychological state where you tend to worry about your health or your future or your loved ones, then your mind will focus on that fear, no matter how absurd that fear may be. . Don't turn your mind against yourself.

You must know the puzzle toy, which is like a tube. If you insert into both ends of this tube index fingers different hands and try to free them with physical effort, pulling your hands into different sides, then nothing will come of it, the tube will only squeeze your fingers tighter. And if you relax and don’t procrastinate, everything will work out.

The same applies to intrusive thoughts. There is no need to want to get out of them at any cost. Relax, “kill it”, let them be.

Be indifferent!

Your indifference towards intrusive thoughts will deprive intrusive thoughts of their emotional content, which fills them with such power that you sometimes cannot control. Over time, you will learn to manage your attention and notice those moments when you again start thinking about things you shouldn’t.

Then thoughts will leave you forever.

But there is no need to wait impatiently for this to happen: “when will they leave!”, “I try not to pay attention to them, but they still don’t get out of my head!” There is no need for such thoughts!

Arm yourself with saving indifference: thoughts don’t bother you – good, they’re back – that’s also normal. There is no need to turn thoughts about the appearance of obsessive thoughts into obsessive thoughts!

It's no big deal if repetitive thoughts keep coming to you. If you deprive them of their emotional “charge” and try to ignore them, then they don’t get on your nerves like they used to. In this case, they simply become an annoying notification window (the kind you might have seen on your computer) that pops up in your head from time to time.

And this is no longer so scary. You can live with this. Thoughts appear sometimes, but they no longer capture your attention or confuse you. These are just short signals in the head that appear and disappear.

When I began to treat obsessive thoughts in this way, they left my head and I learned to fight them. A fighting obsessive thoughts is not fighting, if we perceive the struggle as fierce resistance. Relax!

Conclusion

I have already said in other articles that mental illnesses: panic attacks, obsessive thoughts can either break you or make you stronger (as in the statement of the famous philosopher).

Fight with panic attacks can teach you. Working to overcome depression will help you find the source of happiness within yourself. And trying to control obsessive thoughts will teach you to manage your attention and control your mind.

Arm yourself with patience and work on yourself, then you will not only get rid of your ailments, but as a result you will also gain valuable and useful experience that will be useful in your life!

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Imagine - you are driving to work, turn on your favorite radio station, and there some clear-voiced singer starts performing another catchy hit. Having started work, you realize that the motive of the song is firmly stuck in your head and does not let you forget about it all day long.

Translation for – Evelina Skok

Imagine - you are driving to work, turn on your favorite radio station, and there some clear-voiced singer starts performing another catchy hit. Having started work, you realize that the motive of the song is firmly stuck in your head and does not allow you to forget about it all day, forcing you to constantly sing along to yourself the already tired motive. Eventually, the intrusive cyclical passage begins to irritate, but continues to persistently break through the stream of thoughts, and so on until you, completely exhausted, finally fall asleep.

When listening to a song, a person's auditory cortex is activated. Researchers at Dartmouth College found that when part of a song they already knew was played to test subjects, the participants' auditory zone automatically filled in the rest. In other words, the brain continued to “sing” after the song ended.

There are several other theories about why songs get stuck in your head. Some researchers argue that stuck songs are like thoughts we try to suppress. The more diligently we try not to think about them, the more they take over our consciousness. Other scientists believe that haunting melodies are simply a way to keep the brain occupied while it's idle. And as many hypotheses are devoted to this phenomenon, it has just as many names, ranging from “repetition” to “melody mania.”

So why do some songs “stick” with us and others don’t?

Getting rid of intrusive melodies

James Kellaris, a marketing professor at the University of Cincinnati Business Administration, conducted a study on intrusive melodies and “brain itch,” during which he found that 99% of people periodically become hostage to this “itch.” James argues that women, musicians, people are able nervous tension and stress are the most vulnerable to this scourge. And if everything is clear with musicians (they obviously often have to listen to music), then why women are more susceptible to this “itch”, he cannot yet answer.

Typically, such songs have a simple and cheerful motive, as well as extraordinary, constantly repeated words or an unusual rhythm.

Researchers also don't agree on why some music tends to get stuck in people's heads while others don't. Although probably every person has a composition that can simply drive him crazy with its annoyingness. Typically, such songs have a simple and cheerful motive, as well as extraordinary, constantly repeated words or an unusual rhythm.

Many people (74%) suffer from songs with lyrics, but (15%) people can also suffer from commercial tunes or background instrumental themes (11%).

Speech stereotypies, also known as speech iterations, verbal tics, are reflexive, meaningless and emotionally indifferent repetitions of sounds, syllables, words and entire phrases in the patient’s speech.

The patient’s speech can be either on his own initiative or provoked by questions from people around him.

Types of speech stereotypies

Several types of speech stereotypies are known: persistent repetition of one conclusion or word (perseveration), repetition of the same expression, figure of speech (standing turns), repetition of words or syllables in a certain rhythm or in rhymed form (verbigeration).

Perseveration - we sing odes to the persistence of the stubborn

The term perseveration comes from the Latin word perseveratio, which means “perseverance”, “persistence”. In speech, perseveration manifests itself as repeated reproduction of the same syllables, words or sentences.

A word or thought seems to be “stuck” in the patient’s mind, and he repeats it repeatedly and monotonously when communicating with his interlocutor. In this case, the repeated word or phrase is not related to the topic of the conversation. The patient's speech is monotonous. Perseveration can be expressed both orally and in writing.

Perseveration is the result of associative activity, part of consciousness and does not occur by chance. It should not be confused with obsessive phenomena, since the latter have an element of obsession, and the patient is aware of the absurdity of his actions.

Verbigeration is a common fate of schizophrenics

A mental disorder in which the patient repeats and shouts in a monotonous voice the same interjections, words, phrases. These repetitions are automatic and meaningless and can last several hours or even days.

The patient rhythmically, often in rhyme, repeats words and combinations of sounds that do not make sense. Verbigeration should be distinguished from perseveration, since with the latter, repetitions depend on neuropsychic states, and disappear with the elimination of these states.

Standing speed

Standing phrases are fragments of phrases, expressions, words, ideas of the same type that the patient repeatedly reproduces during conversations.

At first, the patient pronounces them with the same intonation, and subsequently simplifies, reduces, and the process comes down to a stereotypical repetition of words.

Often the pronounced standing phrases are greatly distorted and it becomes impossible to understand their original meaning and sound.

Palilalia

Palilalia means the patient repeating a phrase, or part of it, a single word or syllable, from a fragment of speech he himself uttered, two or more times in a row.

Repetition occurs at normal voice volume; the volume may gradually decrease and the rate of speech become faster. For example, having given an answer to a question, the patient repeatedly and continuously repeats the answer.

Manifestations of palilalia relate not only to intellectual forms of speech, but also to emotional ones (exclamations, shouts). However, it usually does not refer to mechanically pronounced turns of automated speech. The number of repetitions can reach two dozen or more.

Echolalia

When the patient repeats phrases and words that were said by people around him. Echolalia is often characteristic of young children, and in them it is not a pathology.

This is considered a pathology when echolalia causes delay mental development, or its development is observed in an adult.

Speech stereotypies and psychoneurological diseases

The causes of speech stereotypies often lie in the development of neurological and psychological diseases.

Causes of perseverations

Experts believe the cause of perseveration is defeat lower sections premotor nuclei of the cortex of the left hemisphere in right-handers, and the right hemisphere in left-handers.

The most common cause of perseveration is considered to be neurological diseases resulting from physical damage to the brain. This makes it impossible to switch between various activities, changing the train of thought and order of actions when performing various tasks.

With the neurological nature of the disease, the causes of perseveration are:

1. , in which the lateral orbitofrontal areas of the cortex and its prefrontal convexities are affected.
2. - the appearance of disturbances in speech formed at the previous stage of life. These disorders arise due to physical damage to the speech centers, as a result of traumatic brain injury.
3. Pathologies related to the area frontal lobes cerebral cortex.

Psychiatry and psychology classify perseveration as a symptom of various phobias and anxiety syndromes. The course of this speech stereotypy in the psychological and psychiatric direction can be caused by:

• obsessiveness and selectivity of individual interests, which is most often found in people with autistic disorders;
• lack of attention with hyperactivity, while stereotypy arises as a defense mechanism to attract attention to oneself;
• a steady desire to learn and experience new things can lead to fixation on one conclusion or activity;
• perseveration is often one of the symptoms.

Perseveration should not be confused with obsessive-compulsive disorder, human habits, and sclerotic changes in memory.

Perseverations are more often observed in patients with dementia (), which is caused by, as well as with age-related atrophic processes in the brain. The patient’s intellect is impaired, and he cannot understand the question being asked and, instead of a logical answer, repeats previously used phrases.

What provokes the development of verbigeration?

Verbigeration has no connection with certain neuropsychic conditions. One of the features of verbigeration is that the patient pronounces words without showing emotion. As a rule, verbal repetitions are accompanied by active facial expressions and motor disturbances.

Most often, these verbal iterations occur in patients with catatonic schizophrenia.

Causes of standing rotations, palilalia and echolalia

The appearance of standing phrases in speech signals a decrease in intelligence and empty thinking. They often appear with this disease such as epileptic dementia. Also, one of the diseases in which standing turns are characteristic is, as well as other atrophic diseases of the brain.

Palilalia is typical manifestation with Pick's disease. It also often accompanies diseases such as striatal pathology, striopallidal pathology (atrophic, inflammatory, vascular), postencephalic, and schizophrenia.

The occurrence of echolalia is often associated with damage to the frontal lobes of the brain. If the patient has symptoms such as hallucinations, lack of coordination, and forgetfulness, it is necessary to seek advice from a specialist. If brain damage is not diagnosed, then the causes of echolalia may be schizophrenia, autism, or Tourette's syndrome.

Making a diagnosis

Diagnosis of speech stereotypies involves comprehensive testing. The patient is asked to undergo special testing or answer simple questions(implying answers “yes” or “no”), repeat similar-sounding sounds or sound combinations.

The patient is also asked to name the objects that are in the room, name the days of the week, explain the meaning of the words, and retell the text.

When examining a patient, it is very important to determine whether he understands speech addressed to him. If there is a suspicion of mild forms speech disorders, a defectologist uses other more complex diagnostic methods.

To diagnose speech stereotypies, a technique is used that includes a series of individual tests. The patient is asked to write words in normal and reverse order, to write words and phrases in capitals and lowercase letters, read the text in forward and reverse order, write numbers in normal and inverted form, perform multiplication. When making toasts, the doctor assesses the number of correct and incorrect answers per minute.

Therapy and correction

Treatment of patients with speech stereotypies involves the following techniques:

• pharmacotherapy;
• physical therapy;
• psychotherapy;
• psychological correction;
• physiotherapy;
• logotherapy;
• working with defectologists.

It is necessary to begin therapy with treatment of the main provoking disease. It will be possible to restore speech function depend on the main diagnosis.

If the patient has aphasia, the main emphasis is on automated speech, then the patient is gradually taught to comprehend and separate the main from the secondary. If the underlying disease is dementia, during therapy they focus on the semantic meaning of words. Patients with mild form schizophrenia is taught to correctly construct sentences that preserve semantic content.

IN Western countries When treating these disorders, the main emphasis is on medicinal method therapy. The most widely used. They promote change in pathological processes brain function.

More about obsessive thoughts: what is it, treatment

Syndrome of obsessive states and thoughts - OCD. What is this psychic mechanism, and how to get rid of obsessive thoughts and fears?

Greetings friends!

This article is very important for me because I am familiar with this problem from my own experience.

And if you are reading it, you may have encountered something like this yourself and don’t know what to do about it.

We will talk not only about knowledge of psychology, but also, what is even more important, about our own experience, feelings and important subtleties, about which, in order to know, you need to go through it yourself.

I want you to apply and verify what is discussed in this article from your own practical experience, and not from someone else’s words that you heard or read somewhere. After all, nothing and no one can replace your own experience and awareness.

I will repeat myself somewhere throughout the article, but only because these are very important points to which I want to draw your special attention.

So, intrusive thoughts, what are they?

In psychology there is such a concept as “mental chewing gum.” This name alone should tell you something - a sticky, viscous, addictive thought.

Obsessive thoughts, obsessive states or obsessive internal dialogue - scientifically OCD (), otherwise called obsessive-compulsive neurosis.

This mental phenomenon, in which a person develops a painful feeling of forced occurrence of some repeatedly repeated information (some thoughts) in his head, which often leads to obsessive actions and behavior.

Sometimes a person, exhausted by obsession, himself comes up with some behavior for yourself, action-ritual, for example, counting some numbers, license plates of passing cars, counting windows or pronouncing certain “safe words (phrases)” to oneself, etc. etc., there are many options here.

He comes up with this behavior (action) as a way of some protection from his obsessive thoughts, but in the end these “actions-rituals” themselves become obsessions, and the situation only gets worse over time, because these actions themselves constantly remind the person of his problem, reinforce and strengthen it. Although this can sometimes help in moments, it is all one-time, short-term and does not relieve OCD.

The mechanism of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

No matter how strange it may seem to anyone, the main reason for the emergence and development of obsessive states, no matter in what form it manifests itself, are: firstly, the formed the habit of constantly conducting an internal dialogue with oneself, and in an automatic (unconscious) way on any exciting old or new occasion;secondly, this attachment to some of your beliefs (ideas, attitudes) and deep faith in these beliefs.

And so obsessive thinking, to a greater or lesser extent, is present in many people, but many do not even know about it, they just think that it is right, that it is normal image thinking.

Having become habitual, obsessive internal dialogue manifests itself not only in what is important to a person, but also in any everyday, everyday and new situations. Just watch yourself carefully and you will quickly understand this.

But more often this manifests itself in what a person is fixated on, what has been bothering him greatly and for a long time.

Constantly scrolling through a monotonous, restless (often frightening) and essentially useless internal dialogue can cause such fatigue that there is no other desire except the desire to get rid of these thoughts. Gradually, this leads to fear of one’s own thoughts, of their appearance, which only aggravates the situation.

A person loses his freedom and becomes a hostage obsessive-compulsive disorder. Insomnia appears VSD symptoms() and almost constant, increased anxiety.

Actually, the general internal anxiety and dissatisfaction for some reason led to the possibility of this problem, but this is the topic of other articles.

Obsessive ideas (thoughts) in their essence.

What exactly are obsessive thoughts in their inner essence?

It is very important to understand that obsessive thoughts are those thoughts that, without our will, force us to think about something. As a rule, these are stressful, monotonous (monotonous) Scrolling internal dialogues the same mental plot, just in different ways. And this unconscious stream of thoughts in the head can absorb attention so much that at this moment everything else happening around almost ceases to exist.

An obsessive state, as a function of the brain, oddly enough, has its own certain natural task, it plays a certain role and is something like a “reminder”, “signal” and “forcer” that push a person to something.

Many of you may now be thinking, what is some kind of “reminder” and “signal” here, because obsessive thoughts are still just thoughts.

In fact, these are not just thoughts. And the main difference between obsessive thoughts and ordinary, logical ones is that these thoughts, despite all their often apparent reasonableness, do not contain anything sensible in their internal filling.

These irrational, emotional thoughts, as a rule, are always associated with our fears, doubts, grievances, anger, or something important and disturbing to us. These thoughts are always based on an emotional charge, that is, their basis is emotion.

What could be useful about this obsessive mechanism?

An obtrusive Signal is called a signal that tells us something. This mechanism is mainly designed to automatically remind and focus our attention on what we consider important to ourselves.

For example, if you have a bank loan that needs to be repaid, but you don’t have any money right now, and if you are a sensible person, you will look for a solution. And obsessive thoughts that, whether you want it or not, will often or constantly, at any time of the day or night, remind you of the situation that has arisen so that you resolve it.

Another example of the usefulness of this intrusive feature.

What is so vitally important that a person can think about that can lead him to an obsessive state?

About money, oh better job, better housing, personal relationships, etc. For example, a person has a goal, and he begins to constantly think about it, makes plans, without looking up, does something and continues to think about it.

As a result, if this continues non-stop for a long time, a moment may come when he, having decided to take a break, tries to switch and occupy himself with something else, but notices that he continues anyway unconsciously reflect on your important goal.

And even if he tries to use willpower and sound reasoning to tell himself “stop, I need to stop thinking about this, I need to rest,” it won’t work out right away.

Obsessive thoughts, in this example, force a person to think about important things. That is, they perform completely useful role, not allowing a person to stop there, but at the same time, not caring at all about his health, because it is not their business, their only role is to signal, remind and push.

The very occurrence of an obsessive state is dangerous and harmful for us - it is a sign that mental problems have begun.

Just keep in mind: no matter what important things you do, if you don’t let yourself good rest, this may lead to some disorders, chronic fatigue, increased anxiety, obsessive states and neurosis.

There is only one conclusion here - no matter how valuable and useful what you do and what important things you think about, you must always take breaks, stop and allow yourself to have a good rest emotionally, physically and especially mentally, otherwise everything can end badly.

Obsessive thoughts about an alarming (frightening) occasion

Obsessive thoughts can be associated either with something natural and completely reasonable, or with something completely absurd, frightening and illogical.

For example, thoughts related to health, when a person, having felt some painful symptom, begins to worry, think about it, and the further he goes, the more he frightens himself. My heart began to pound or pound strongly, and I immediately thought: “Something is wrong with me, maybe my heart is sick.” A person becomes fixated on this symptom, worries, and obsessive thoughts arise about this, although in reality there is no illness. It was just a symptom caused by some disturbing thoughts, fatigue and internal tension.

But you can’t just take them and immediately ignore them. Perhaps it really makes sense to listen to these thoughts, because you really may have some physical illness. In this case, consult a doctor. If, after all the tests, you were told that everything is fine with you, but you still continue to worry, go to a second doctor, but if it is confirmed there that you are healthy, then it is so, and you are now simply susceptible to OCD .

Other people are attacked by the obsessive thought of harming and even killing someone close to them or doing something to themselves. At the same time, the person does not really want this, but this very thought haunts him and frightens him because it even comes to his mind.

In fact, and this is a proven fact: there is no recorded case in the world that would lead to dire consequences. It is precisely the presence of these obsessive thoughts that keeps a person from such actions. And the fact that they arise means that you not inclined to this, otherwise it would not frighten you.

Those who are prone to something like this do not worry within themselves. They either act or wait, that is, they really want it and at the same time do not worry about it. If this scares you, it means you are not like that, and this is the main thing.

Why did you have your problem? Something like the following happened to you. Some crazy thought once visited you, and instead of saying to yourself: “Well, stupid things can come to mind,” and not attaching any importance to it, you would leave yourself alone, get scared and begin to analyze.

That is, at that moment some thought came to you, you believed it and believed that since you think so, it means that you are like that and can do something bad. You trusted without solid reasons this irrational thought, not knowing that it is so absurd and can visit anyone healthy person, this is a completely common phenomenon. This thought, in turn, caused an emotion in you, in our case the emotion of fear, and off we go. Subsequently, you became fixated on this thought because it scared you, you began to analyze a lot and endowed it with power (gave importance), so now you have a problem, and not at all because you are some kind of abnormal or mentally ill, that you can and you want to do something so terrible. You just have a disorder that can definitely be treated, and you definitely won’t do anything bad to anyone.

Thoughts themselves cannot force you to do something, for this you need the present, strong desire and intention. All they can do is make you think, but nothing more. This is also, of course, very unpleasant, and how to deal with it, how to get rid of obsessive thoughts, will be below.

For others, obsessions may be related to everyday things, for example, “Did I turn off the stove (iron)?” - a person thinks and checks a hundred times a day.

Some are afraid of becoming infected with something and constantly or repeatedly wash their hands during the day, clean the apartment (bath), etc.

And someone may have long been worried and obsessively think about their appearance (), or constantly worry and think about their behavior in public, self-control and their status in society.

In general, everyone has their own, and no matter how much more terrible or acceptable what is being imposed is, it is all essentially the same thing - OCD only in different manifestations.

An example of how obsessive thinking can manifest itself

Let's briefly, using a simple example, see how often the habit of obsessive thinking can manifest itself, and what physically strengthens and reinforces this habit.

If you have had a conflict or argument with someone, and some time has passed, but thoughts related to the situation do not go away.

You continue to mentally, unconsciously scroll through this in your head, conduct an internal (virtual) dialogue with the other side, argue about something and find more and more new justifications and evidence of your rightness or your guilt. You get angry, threaten and think: “You should have said such and such or done such and such.”

This process can go on for quite some time until something catches your attention.

You worry and get nervous over and over again, but in fact you are doing something very real, very harmful. absurd, which is reinforced and automatically driven emotionally intrusive condition and anxiety.

The only right thing to do in this situation is to stop thinking about it, no matter how much you want to and no matter how important you think it is.

But if you succumb, and this obsessive process drags on, it can be very difficult to gather yourself internally and stop the internal dialogue.

And you can aggravate the problem even more if at some point you realize that you are not in control of the situation at all, you become even more frightened by these thoughts, you begin to fight them in order to somehow distract yourself, and you begin to blame and scold yourself for everything that is now happens to you.

But the fault for everything that happens to you is no longer only yours, but also in the running mechanism, which has both mental basis, both physical and biochemical components:

• certain neurons are excited and stable ones are created neural connections, at which it begins to be produced automatic reflex response;
• the body produces stress hormones (cortisol, aldosterone) and a mobilizing hormone - adrenaline;
• vegetative starts nervous system(ANS), and manifest themselves somatic symptoms- body muscles tense; increased heart rate, blood pressure, tension, sweating, trembling in the limbs, etc. Very often there is dry mouth, fever, a lump in the throat, difficulty breathing, that is, all signs of VSD (vegetative-vascular dystonia).

Remember: why scold and be angry with yourself in this situation - crime against yourself, a lot of things here simply don’t depend on you, stabilizing all these symptoms takes time and the right approach, about which we'll talk below.

By the way, you shouldn’t be afraid of these symptoms listed above, this is completely normal reaction body to yours anxiety. The same as if it arose real a threat, for example, a huge dog would run towards you, and you would naturally be afraid of it. Immediately your heart would begin to pound, your blood pressure would rise, your muscles would tense, your breathing would become faster, etc. These unpleasant symptoms- consequences of the release chemical elements and adrenaline, which mobilizes our body in times of danger.

Moreover, notice and realize the fact that all this happens in our body not only at the moment real threat, but also with far-fetched, virtual, When real danger now no, no one is attacking you, and nothing is falling from above. The only danger is in our heads - we think about something worrying, we overwhelm ourselves with some disturbing thoughts and begin to tense up and get nervous.

The fact is that our brain simply does not feel the difference between what is happening in reality and mental (mental) experience.

That is, all these strong, unpleasant and frightening symptoms can easily be caused by disturbing (negative) thoughts, which will provoke some unwanted emotions, and those, in turn, unpleasant symptoms in the body. This is what many people constantly do, and then, in addition, they begin to be afraid of these natural symptoms and even bring themselves to PA () and.

Now, I think, it will be difficult for you to immediately realize this, because this moment of the relationship between the psyche and the body requires a more detailed and in-depth explanation, but this will be discussed in other articles, but now, so that you can slowly begin to understand yourself, I will tell you I again suggest learning to observe yourself, your thoughts and emotions.

Understand where and what comes from, how thoughts, emotions and other related sensations arise; what happens unconsciously and what we consciously influence; how much it all depends on us, and how your thoughts affect your current state.

How to get rid of obsessive thoughts and fears on your own?

The first thing you need to realize is the fact that you cannot completely believe everything that comes into your head, and you cannot associate (identify) yourself, your “I” only with your thoughts, because we are not our thoughts. Our thoughts are only some part of ourselves. Yes, very important, intellectual, necessary for us, but only a part of us.

Logic (thinking) is our main ally, it is a magnificent tool given to us by nature, but we still need to be able to use this tool correctly.

Most people are confident that ALL our thoughts are only our own thoughts, we are the ones who think them up and then think them over.

Indeed, since some thoughts arise in our head, then these are, of course, our thoughts, but besides this, they are largely derivatives of various external and internal factors.

That is, what we can experience and what thoughts come to our mind now, does not depend only on us, whether we like it or not. All this directly will be related to our mood in at the moment(good or bad) and will be a consequence of circumstances and past experiences beyond our control.

If we had different attitudes, a different mood, a different past, for example, we would have been born to different parents or would now live in Africa - we would have completely different thoughts.

If some negative moment had not happened to us in the past, there would be no bad experience, therefore, there would not be any obsessive thoughts.

When we associate ourselves, our “I” only with our thoughts, when we are sure that our thoughts are OURSELVES, then we have no choice but to deeply believe everything that comes to mind, and yet it can come this...

In addition, it is very important to realize that we are able to observe our thoughts, comment on them, evaluate, judge and ignore them. That is, we are something that can be attended to out of thinking, to be aware of yourself outside of your thoughts. And this suggests that we are not only our thoughts, we are something more - what can be called a soul or some kind of energy.

This is very important point in solving this problem. You need to stop identifying yourself with your thoughts, stop believing that they are you, and then you will be able to see them from the outside (detached).

Our body talks to us all the time. If only we could take the time to listen.

Louise Hay

If you start observing yourself and your thoughts, you will quickly notice the fact that most of our thoughts in our heads are nothing more than automatic thoughts, that is, they arise unconsciously, on their own, without our desire or our participation.

And what’s most interesting is that most of these thoughts are repeated day after day. These are 80-90% the same thoughts only in different variations.

And these are not just someone's words, this is confirmed scientific fact, based on numerous studies. In fact, every day we most often think and replay the same thing in our heads. And you can trace it yourself.

Second step which I briefly wrote about in the article “You cannot in any way fight obsessive thoughts, resist and try to get rid of them, brush them aside and forget about them.

Watch yourself: if you try very hard not to think about something, then you're already thinking about it.

If you strive to get rid of thoughts, switch or somehow drive them away, then they will overcome you even stronger and more persistently.

Because by resisting you themselves you endow them with an even greater emotional charge and only increase internal tension, you begin to become even more anxious and nervous, which, in turn, intensifies the symptoms (unpleasant physical sensations), which I wrote about above.

That's why key point - don’t fight your thoughts, don’t try to forcefully distract yourself and get rid of. This way, you will save a lot of energy that you are now wasting on fighting them without getting anything in return.

How to stop obsessive internal dialogue if you can't fight?

At the moment when obsessive thoughts visited you, and you realized that these thoughts do not tell you something really necessary (useful) - it is just from time to time, repeatedly, like a broken record, a repeating internal dialogue that somehow something is very disturbing and has not yet resolved your problem - simply, impartially, indifferently begin to ignore these thoughts, without trying to get rid of them.

Let these thoughts be in your head, allow them to be, and observe them. Look at them even if they scare you.

In another way, and perhaps it would be more correct to say, without entering into dialogue with them, without analyzing you just contemplate them gently trying not to think about them.

Do not analyze what obsessive thoughts tell you, just observe them without delving into their essence. Always remember that these are just ordinary thoughts that you are not obliged to believe in, and you are not at all obliged to do what they say.

Don't avoid sensations

Also observe the emotions and sensations in your body that these thoughts cause, even if they are very unpleasant to you. Take a closer look and feel what, how and at what moment is happening. This will give you an understanding of why your unpleasant symptoms occur and why at some point you begin to feel worse.

Just like with thoughts, don't try to get rid of these sensations, give in to them even if you feel bad for a while. Remember that these are completely natural, although painful symptoms, and they have good reason. During the war, people experienced even worse things, and afterward they lived long and healthy.

These sensations are necessary accept and live to the end. And gradually inside you, at a level deeper than our consciousness (in the unconscious), a transformation of these sensations will occur, and they themselves will weaken until at some point they no longer bother you at all. Read more about the sensations in this.

Without struggling with internal processes, you can smoothly shift your attention to breathing, make it a little deeper and slower, this will speed up the recovery of the body (read more about proper breathing).

Please note the world around us, people and nature - to everything that surrounds you. Look at the texture of various things, listen to sounds, and while doing something, direct all attention on this matter, that is, plunge into real life with full attention.

Acting in this way, it is not necessary to do everything in the sequence I described, do it the way it works for you now, the main thing is that observe everything consciously and carefully.

If thoughts return, let them be, but without mental analysis and struggle from your side.

Your indifference and calm attitude without fighting these thoughts will significantly reduce or completely deprive them of their emotional charge. With practice you will understand this yourself.

Don't rush things, let everything take its natural course, as it should. And these thoughts will definitely go away on their own. And they will leave without consequences or without serious consequences for you. It will turn out that you calmly and smoothly, somewhere unnoticed by yourself, naturally turn your attention to something else.

By learning not to fight thoughts, you learn to live when these thoughts are there and when they are not. No annoying thoughts- great, but if there is, that’s also normal.

Gradually, as your attitude towards them changes, you will no longer be afraid of the appearance of any thoughts, because you realize that you can live calmly without fear or torment by them. And these thoughts in your head will become less and less, because without running away from them, without giving them strength, they will lose their sharpness and begin to disappear on their own.

Confronting obsessive thoughts and finding a logical solution

It happens that, trying to get rid of a constantly overwhelming, obsessive thought, you look for some thoughts or mental solutions that would calm you down.

You think intensely, perhaps argue with yourself or try to convince yourself of something, but by doing so, you only strengthen the problem from the inside.

In an argument with obsessive thoughts, you will not prove anything to yourself, even if you manage to find a thought that will calm you down for a while, soon the obsessive thoughts in the form of doubts and worries will return, and everything will begin in a circle.

Trying to replace thoughts or convince yourself of something with obsessive states does not work.

Obsessive states: possible mistakes and warnings

Don't count on quick results. You could have been nurturing your problem for years, and in a few days changing your attitude towards thoughts, learning to observe them impartially without succumbing to their provocation - it will be difficult, and this really needs to be learned. Some will have to overcome strong fear, especially at the beginning, but it will get better later.

You may succeed in something almost immediately, and for some it will immediately become easier, for others it will take time to feel how it all happens, but everyone without exception will have downturns, the so-called “kickbacks” or “pendulum”, when past states and behavior return. The important thing here is not to get discouraged, not to stop and keep practicing.

Very harmful talk to someone about your condition, what you are experiencing, share and discuss your experiences not with a professional person.

This can only ruin everything. Firstly, because you once again remind yourself, your psyche, your unconscious of what is happening to you, and this does not contribute to recovery.

Secondly, if the one to whom you are telling something, showing his initiative, begins to ask: “Well, how are you, is everything okay? Are you feeling good yet?” or “Don’t worry about it, it’s all nonsense,” - such questions and words can simply destroy the healing process. You yourself can feel what you feel at the moment when you were told something like this, take a closer look at your inner sensations, you are clearly getting worse, you are acutely starting to feel sick.

Therefore, it is very important to exclude any conversations on this topic with other people except a medical specialist. Thus, by not communicating about what you are experiencing, you will remove many reminders (internal messages) that you are supposedly sick, and you will stop developing your problem deeper.

Trying not to fight with obsessive thoughts, you observe them, but at the same time you internally want and try to get rid of them, fight them, that is, essentially the same struggle occurs.

Therefore, a very important initial step here is to capture and record the wish get rid of obsessive thoughts. Don't be led by this desire, just be aware of it within yourself.

There is no need to wait impatiently for these thoughts to go away and for them not to appear again.

This is impossible, because you can’t fool your memory, and inducing amnesia, friends, well, that’s unwise. If you are constantly waiting for some of your thoughts to disappear and never return, you are already creating resistance and struggle, which means the problem will remain a problem, and you will continue to dwell on it.

The key to solving it is not that these or similar thoughts will no longer happen, but in your correct approach - in changing the attitude (perception) towards them. And then you simply won’t care much about what sometimes comes into your head.

Notice this fact, when you are already immersed in an obsessive internal dialogue, or you have some kind of obsessive fear, sound logic completely stops working. You seem to be able to remember or think about something right and necessary at this moment, you can say sensible words to yourself, but if you fail to immediately follow them, then the logic is no longer perceived, the obsessive state stubbornly dictates its own. Even understanding the absurdity of this obsession (and many people do), it is impossible to get rid of it either by willpower or logic.

Impartial(no rating) mindful observation without logical analysis(because in essence obsessive thoughts are absurd, and even if in some cases they come for the purpose, they only remind and signal that they are needed some practical steps to solve the problem, and not about the fact that these thoughts need to be thought), without identifying yourself with this state (that is, observe everything that happens inside you: the thought process and sensations from the outside, you - separately, the obsessive state (thoughts and sensations) - separately), and natural, soft, without resistance to these thoughts switching (when you don’t try in any special way, by force of will, to be distracted, get rid of, forget, etc., that is, you accept everything that happens to you now), is the most the right way out from the situation and the natural process of recovery (freedom from obsessive states and thoughts), if you don’t count.

If you had done this in the first place, you wouldn't have this problem now.

P.S. Always remember. In any case, no matter what the intrusive thoughts are telling you, there is no point in going deeper into them and replaying the same thing a hundred and a hundred times.

Even if some obsession suddenly turns out to be justified and informs you about in real life or some real problem, then you must solve it in a practical way ( actions), and not thoughts. You just have to do what you need to do; what the intrusive thought tells you, and then there will be no reason to worry and think about it.

Best regards, Andrey Russkikh