How to get rid of bad thoughts in your head and what to do if they constantly creep in

Intrusive negative thoughts cannot be controlled. Their source is unknown. They completely capture a person, depriving him of vital energy, the opportunity to be in the moment and feel joy.

Thoughts are constantly spinning in my head - meaningless, suicidal, anxious, returning to unpleasant moments in the past. Questions without answers and without a chance to stop this torture. They cause headaches, keep you awake at night, and lead to nervous breakdowns.

“Mental “chewing gum” is an obsession with states, emotions that a person has experienced before, an obsession with problems, even while trying to relax and do what you like. Apathy, a bad mood on a sunny day - these are other ways to describe this exhaustion from problems that seem to not exist. Dialogue with yourself and attempts to explain to yourself that everything is fine, they don’t work, they only make things worse,” this is how Alexander, a student of Yuri Burlan’s “System-Vector Psychology” training, describes this problem.

Creative abilities and relationships suffer from constant internal dialogue, because a person seems not to be present in reality and cannot fully participate in what is happening. His attention is always partially or completely captured by internal itching questions. He seems to be in prostration. Memory and imagination work poorly, partly due to loss of interest in life and lack of vitality.

Yuri Burlan’s training “System-vector psychology” helps to understand the nature of obsessive thoughts.

Self-help methods

At the initial stage of development of an obsessive state, a person can cope with it independently. I want to offer some advice from psychologists that will help remove “mental gum” from your head.

Give up the fight

The very first and most important rule in the fight against obsessive thoughts is to stop fighting them. The more you try to get rid of them, the more attention you pay to obsessions. And this takes away your energy, strength, and depletes your body.

A rule that will help here can be figuratively expressed as follows: “To avoid thinking about blue elephants, think about an orange dog.”

The point of this rule is to switch your attention. Do you feel overwhelmed by obsessive thoughts? Focus on solving pressing matters or remember pleasant moments from the past

Postpone unpleasant thoughts for later

You accepted and realized your obsessive thoughts. So that they don’t constantly torment you, just put off thinking about them until later. Set aside 30 minutes a day, which you will completely devote to annoying thoughts, think about the situations that bother you.

This method will help get rid of excessive anxiety. Your consciousness will calm down, because you agreed with it that you will definitely think about the unpleasant, but later. As a result, you will be able to calmly deal with pressing matters, without being distracted by extraneous unnecessary thoughts. Just be honest with yourself and be sure to keep your promise to yourself.

Get creative

Creativity is a great way to cope with obsessive feelings. Express the feelings and thoughts that bother you on paper. You can draw them or sculpt them from plasticine

It doesn't matter how good your creativity is. The main task is to express the painful obsession as accurately as possible

Now is the time to get rid of it. Tear your creation into small pieces, burn it, throw it in the trash, break it, trample it. In a word - destroy. After this you will feel relief and freedom from negativity.

Divert your attention

Interestingly, while observing various dynamic processes, the brain perceives everything else as less important or completely insignificant. That is why, when we look at fire or a stream of water, sticky and nasty ideas fade into the background

They leave us alone, and we feel a surge of strength, energy and inspiration. This method is great for relaxing the brain.

Look for secondary benefits

Sometimes obsessive thoughts arise against the background of unresolved problems from which a person is trying to hide. If you correctly identify the problem and solve it, you will get rid of obsession and neurosis. It could be a job you don’t like, a boring and outdated relationship, studying at an institute in the specialty your parents chose for you.

All these questions prevent you from achieving success. Read more about this in the article “How to become successful.”

Take it to the point of absurdity

Laughter is a great way to relieve accumulated stress and anxiety. Let's say you're tormented by obsessive thoughts that a man won't like you on the first date. Now imagine his frightened face, how he falls from his chair and tries to run away. At the same time, he stumbles and falls again. Fantasize until you laugh.

This technique will not help overly serious people. They have already forgotten what it is to have fun. But life is easier and more interesting with humor. But I do not at all urge you to be frivolous and irresponsible.

Mentally destroy the obsession

I would like to suggest one interesting technique. Use it when you feel that obsessive thoughts are starting to take over you.

1. Sit comfortably and close your eyes. Take deep breaths and exhales. Psychologists say that you need to inhale courage and exhale fear. Focus on your breathing and sensations. This will help you relax and calm down.
2. When you are completely relaxed and free from tension, imagine the same image that is exhausting you. Give free rein to your imagination and destroy it by any means that come to mind.

Types of Contrasting Thoughts

In form, negative thoughts can be both abstract ideas (“What if I’m stupid and all my beliefs are wrong?”) and visual images—pictures or clips in the head (“a razor cuts the eyeball”). There are obsessive false sensations: for example, a person thinks that he has excess saliva, or there is an unproductive urge to urinate.

According to content, that is, according to the theme of contrasts, ANTs can also be divided into several directions.

Cruelty and aggression

This category includes thoughts about self-aggression and suicide, violence against other people, and cruelty to animals. One of the forms is fantasies about mass murders and jokes in an educational institution or at work, but often loved ones become “victims”: wife, husband, friends, children.

Such thoughts about loved ones are especially traumatic, although from the point of view of brain function their occurrence is quite understandable. We often see relatives and partners; their images are most densely imprinted in neurons and easily become material for cognitive exercises. Usually everything happens in familiar settings.

Italian psychologist Alessandro Bartoletti notes that thoughts of child and femicide, as well as other plots involving harm to loved ones, are associated with everyday circumstances. In such stories, kitchen knives, tools, electrical appliances, and a car become the weapon of crime.

This also includes situations when people imagine how they will destroy or spoil a significant thing that they value. Usually these are valuable possessions or objects dear to the heart that are anthropomorphized.

Obscene and dirty

The ethical systems of societies and individuals can vary widely, but for most, prohibitions such as rape, incest, paedo- and bestiality fall into the category of morally unacceptable.

For some, any fantasies about sex in a perverted form are also taboo. At the same time, the boundaries of deviations are individual and depend on our moral principles. The more restrictions and prohibitions there are in society and the personality structure of a particular person, the higher the chances of stumbling upon something categorically unacceptable in the mind.

Disgusting and absurd

Some people imagine that someone spat on their plate in a restaurant, and even if we understand that this is unlikely to happen, the person cannot eat normally. Others imagine tiny bits of animal excrement ending up in farmed meat. Heat treatment of the product can kill bacteria, but does not help “unsee” this image.

Some thoughts are completely surreal and absurd, like wanting to lick a dirty wall or putting a traffic cone on your head.

Socially unacceptable

This category includes all fantasies about behavior that does not meet social expectations: nudity, shouting obscenities, defecating in public; thoughts about a gross and illogical violation of subordination, ethics and rules of communication. Under their power, the subject suddenly thinks about what it would be like, like the hero of “Demons” Nikolai Stavrogin, to pull the boss’s nose or pour water on a leading scientist right in the middle of a conference.

Blasphemous and blasphemous

Such ideas arise in religious people - fantasies about sins during prayers, obscene speculation about the lives of saints, obsessive doubts about their own faith. This also includes images associated with the desecration of relics in the broad sense of the word, including family and historical ones.

We find a scenario for an obsession with religious content in the book of the French writer Gabrielle Wittkop, “The Passionate Puritan.” The hero falls into the abyss of these thoughts at the instigation of cousin Blanche, who secretly tells the boy stories of her own composition about extravagant blasphemies and shows the wafers stolen for the purpose of blasphemy:

“Every word of Blanche, like an arrow that cannot be pulled out, pierced my soul, into my child’s flesh, in order, after exhausting me, to reach the cherished point of “acute pain.” Everything she said continued to ring in my ears when I was doing homework, eating, and especially when I was praying. “Remember, O all-merciful Virgin Mary, that from time immemorial no one has heard of any of those resorting to You...” And Mary burst like a rotten wineskin. A torrent of ichor threatened to overwhelm me. Every hour during the day, and even when I stepped onto the fragile bridge leading to sleep, unholy words floated up from the depths of my soul like fetid bubbles and burst with a wet smack.”

Doubts about sexual identity

Self-exploration and the search for one’s own identity is a natural process, but sometimes thoughts of this nature develop into obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Homosexual people tend to doubt whether they really want same-sex contacts and relationships, or maybe they really made a “mistake” somewhere, as many try to convince them of.

Heterosexual men and women experience anxiety about their hypothetical latent homosexuality. They are ready to associate any difficulties in relationships with the opposite sex with this and fear that one day their “inclinations” will manifest themselves and they will have to endure public shame.

Bartoletti notes that such obsessions are called “obsessions about homosexuality” because supporters of opposite-sex love are more likely to fear a change in orientation than LGBT people.

Personal mistakes and failures

These are thoughts about past or future failures. Unpleasant scenarios scroll through your head and are accompanied by a feeling as if something irreparable has already happened or will certainly happen. That very familiar situation to many when, lying in bed without sleep, you remember the events of fifteen years ago and worry as if they had something to do with today.

Unsolvable questions of existence

The most difficult category of negative and unproductive thoughts is associated with basic problems of existence and consciousness. These are ontological questions to which science does not give clear and satisfactory answers: the meaning of life, the nature of reality and thinking, doubts about one’s own existence.

Academic philosophy is engaged in the development of such topics, but for a “private person” such obsessive thoughts are fraught with the development of not only OCD, but also depersonalization and derealization. By the way, some philosophers paid quite severely for their “gay science” - Friedrich Nietzsche, for example, lost his mind towards the end of his life. So if you want to find psychological comfort and maintain mental health, at some point ontological and existential questioning must stop.

In Buddhism, there is a category of unanswered or useless questions - avyakata: “Is the Universe eternal? Are the spirit and the body one?..” As the Chulamalunkya Sutra reports, the monk Malunkyaputta asked himself a dozen of these, deciding that he would again become a layman if he did not learn the truth. Perhaps the point of view of the Buddha, who answered them with “noble silence” or made it clear that questioning does not lead to nirvana or is inherently incorrect, will help someone in working with insoluble questions.

How to manage negative thoughts

Many people try in every possible way to get rid of unpleasant thoughts. The simplest thing a person can do is to drive away bad thoughts. Swing them away like an annoying fly. I will say right away that this method is ineffective. On the contrary, it can worsen the situation.

By actively resisting destructive thinking, a person sinks even deeper into it. I want to offer you another way to stop thinking negatively. It will help to completely clear your consciousness and mind from unpleasant and harmful judgments.

Step 1. Realize

As soon as a bad thought arises in your head, accept it. Recognize that it exists and don't try to make it go away. So, instead of actively reacting to the thought, you will simply observe it. And this will make you independent of destructive thinking.

Look at your negative thought from all angles. This may be a productive idea that will help you make the right decision. As a result, you will become more prosperous thanks to it. Or maybe it's one of those harmful thoughts that just ruin your mood and create negative emotions.

If your negative thoughts are caused by concern for your family and friends, then you will not run away from them. Accept them for who they are. But only for a short period of time. You can tell yourself that you really care about your loved one. This is fine. But don't let these thoughts get the better of you.

Step 2. Find the reason

Until you find the reason why a specific negative thought regularly comes to you, you will not get rid of it. Ask yourself the question: “Why do I think this?” Finding the answer will also help you determine whether a negative judgment is true or false. At this point, you can either accept this negative thought or let it go forever. It's up to you to decide.

Step 3. Replace negative with positive

You have already learned to separate negative thoughts that spoil your well-being from constructive ones. At this stage, you need to replace negative reasoning with positive ones. After all, it is positive thinking that helps us achieve goals and improves our internal state. And it’s just nice to think about something good.

Now the problem cannot ruin your mood and life. Feel free to break it down into specific tasks and complete them gradually. We solved the problem and became happier.

So, when you find yourself thinking like, “I'm worthless! Life is passing me by!”, immediately change it to the opposite: “I am a unique and unusual person! Everything is ahead of me!” Do you think it won't work? It will work! You cannot think about both bad and good at the same time. Take away the power of a negative thought over you. Let there be only positivity in your mind and in your reality.

Cruel and bloodthirsty thoughts

“If only I had a chainsaw now...”
You’re calmly chopping onions in your kitchen, and suddenly the thought flashes through your head: “What if I kill my wife?” If thoughts of murder were a crime, most of us would be found guilty. According to psychologist David Bass (University of Texas at Austin), 91% of men and 84% of women have ever imagined pushing someone off a platform, smothering their partner with a pillow, or severely beating a family member.

The researcher offered a radical explanation: because our ancestors killed to survive, they passed on to us a predisposition to murder at the genetic level. Our subconscious always stores information about killing as a possible way to solve problems associated with stress, power, limited resources and security threats.

However, in most cases, thoughts about violence do not precede actual violence, but, on the contrary, block it. The heartbreaking pictures that the brain paints force us to analyze the situation before acting. The scenario is played out in the imagination, the prefrontal cortex turns on, and the terrible thought disappears.

But what happens to dark thoughts when we suppress them?

Reduction to the Absurd

You can try the completely opposite technique. On the contrary, you need to completely immerse yourself in bad thoughts and consider what bad things could happen as a result. It is most effective to imagine the most ridiculous, absurd situations. Use your imagination, use exaggeration, make your thoughts vivid.

For example, you need to pass an important interview. It is clear that many people have bad thoughts at such moments.

Imagine in vivid colors what kind of failure might await you. The head of the HR department, as soon as he sees your resume, starts screaming loudly and throwing tomatoes. You decide to escape such shame and run out of the office. But then the cleaning lady throws a wet rag at you because you trampled the entire floor. Out of surprise, you fall, get up and run again. And then you are kidnapped by aliens and taken to another planet.

Absurd, isn't it? But it is precisely this kind of exaggeration that takes away the power of negative thoughts. You just have to try it to be convinced of the effectiveness of the technique.

Miracle technique “Stop”: Click-click... Thoughts flew away in an instant...

This technique helps you get rid of bad thoughts and helps you take control of them.

So, the first thing to do is:

• We make a list of the most common situations when obsessive thoughts appear;
• For each obsessive thought, write 3-4 positive thoughts that can calm you down. (You can use the phrase “And that’s good because”, for example: “My husband is late today and that’s good because I have time to read a book.”)

Now, when you catch yourself thinking a negative thought, immediately tell yourself: “Stop” and change the negative thought to a positive one

I can’t sleep because of the thoughts in my head - 18 best ways to deal with insomnia

#1 Two hours before bedtime, turn off all blue screens - TV, computer, tablet, smartphone. Don't be on your social media feed until midnight. Our brain perceives blue light as daylight. And it interferes with the production of melatonin (a natural sleep hormone)

#2 A couple of hours before bed, dim the main light. Leave the sconce or night light. For the same reason as above - in bright light, melatonin production is disrupted.

#3 Instead of watching TV, read for 20-30 minutes before bed. Just don't overdo it. If the book is very interesting, you can stay up late into the night. Book lovers will understand me.

#5 A good habit is to take a short walk before bed. Walk around the house for 15-20 minutes, breathe in some fresh air. Walking helps calm the nervous system and calm thoughts.

#6 While you are walking, do a breathing practice - inhale in 4 counts and exhale in 4 counts. You can do this practice at home. This will also calm the nervous system and distract the mind from obsessive thoughts.

#7 If a specific thought keeps you awake, such as forgetting to call someone, or sending something, or worrying about not doing the dishes, then do it as soon as possible. If there is no such opportunity right now, then get up and write down this thought on a piece of paper and perform the disturbing action first thing tomorrow morning.

If there are a lot of such thoughts, then write them all down on paper and put them off until tomorrow. Scarlett O'Harra from Gone with the Wind often repeated to herself the phrase "I'll think about it tomorrow." Our brain is designed in such a way that it cannot leave alone what bothers it. It's like a computer, with a lot of windows and documents open, it continues to process information. But when we write down our thoughts on paper, they move from mental observation to visual observation. And the mind can relax a little. The main thing is to complete all or as much of what you wrote the next day.

#9 Take a warm bath

Not hot, that’s important, but warm. Add salt or foam

Let your body and brain relax.

#10 Drink half a cup of warm milk with honey and cinnamon. Milk will make you feel full and contains a substance that helps produce sleep hormones.

#11Do some light stretching. You can do it right in bed. Often, muscle stiffness due to sedentary work prevents you from relaxing properly. A 15-minute movement will relieve tension and allow you to fall asleep peacefully. In this article you will find simple and effective exercises Stretching the muscles of the whole body at home

#13 The bedroom is only for sleeping and making love. Try to remove from the room any objects that create electromagnetic radiation - televisions, gadgets, tablets, phones, routers, set-top boxes, computers, clocks with light displays. Fence off a corner in your apartment where you will only sleep.

#14 Use a mechanical alarm clock. This way there will be no need to keep your phone in the bedroom. And this, in turn, will protect you from the desire to access a social network or the Internet while lying in bed.

#15 Don't drink caffeinated drinks after 5 pm. Avoid coffee, green and black tea for better sleep. At night, a herbal drink of chamomile or lemon balm is good.

#16 Have sex before bed. Sex is a great way to relieve stress and get a release of endorphins. Great sleep is guaranteed.

#17 We sleep very well with so-called white noise. These are the sounds of rain, rustling leaves, and a waterfall. Use sleep music, which is a lot on the Internet now. Just set these sounds on a timer so that the gadget then turns itself off and does not disturb your sleep.

#18 Do simple breathing meditation or yoga nidra before bed. These practices are good for relaxation.

When does negative thinking form? Root Causes of Negative Thoughts

If bad thoughts come to mind, then people often begin to look for their reasons in recent events, in their environment, in current life circumstances. Without a doubt, that's where they are. However, it is worth thinking about why, being in similar circumstances, some people begin to think negatively and imagine all sorts of horrors, while others do not.

Psychologists say that the root cause of negativity that arises in the human mind is childhood trauma, and current life circumstances act as an alarm clock, the ringing of which awakens this type of thinking. In other words, bad thoughts in the head arise not only due to real circumstances or mental characteristics, but also because a person has a tendency to have and retain negativity in his consciousness.

A negative type of thinking is formed in childhood. As a rule, it occurs due to the fault of parents who suppress the child. The development of a tendency towards a negative perception of reality is also influenced by the child’s personal experience - failures, problems in the garden, being alone in his room, constant dissatisfaction with adults, family conflicts, lack of holidays, desired gifts and much more.

The child very quickly learns that, regardless of his actions, everything in life will be bad. He gets used to negativity and constantly waits for it. This habit transforms over the years into a negative type of thinking. And as soon as something happens that awakens the experience acquired in childhood, a person begins to think about how to get rid of the bad thoughts that poison his life from his head.

Why are bad thoughts dangerous?

Negative thoughts do not just worsen fate and make a person sick. They reprogram reality in such a way that even those around them unconsciously begin to treat the person with negative thoughts badly. At the same time, a person has more unpleasant events in life, his luck leaves him and he begins to plunge into despondency and a depressive state.

Even after getting out of difficult thoughts, the body recovers in at least a few hours.

How to clear your mind of unnecessary intrusive thoughts

1. Relax

Every person has an activity in mind that helps him clear his mind of unnecessary thoughts. For some, it’s enough to eat their favorite dish in a cafe, meet a friend for a cup of tea, go to the movies, visit a spa, swim in the pool, go shopping, and so on. Think about what brings relaxation to you specifically.

2. Play sports

Probably, many have heard that sport helps to keep oneself in good shape in many troubles in life, but most often this advice is not taken into account. Meanwhile, it is one of the most effective! As you know, physical activity not only has a beneficial effect on physical health, but also significantly strengthens moral health.

Believe me, your stress level will soon decrease, and your own improved reflection in the mirror will not fail to add positive thoughts to you.

Prayer for bad thoughts

If you are a believer, then most likely, prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos will be able to bring you peace.

It sounds like this:

“My Most Holy Lady Theotokos, with Your saints and all-powerful prayers, drive away from me, Your humble and accursed servant, despondency, oblivion, foolishness, negligence, and all the nasty, evil and crazy thoughts from my accursed heart and from my darkened mind; and extinguish the flame of my passions, for I am poor and damned. And deliver me from many and cruel memories and enterprises, and free me from all evil actions. For Thou art blessed from all generations, and glorified is Thy most honorable name forever and ever. Amen".

Where do negative thoughts in your head come from?

1. Lack of self-confidence

You are quite biased towards yourself - it seems to you that you are a failure in life, and it is unlikely that you will be able to get anything good from fate. When trying to decide on something, you think many times about what it might lead to, what obstacles you will encounter on your way, whether you are capable of this task, whether you will look stupid, humiliating, and the like. As a result, more often than not, you prefer to stay in your “shell” and do nothing, and the next point follows from this.

2. Unrealization

You understand that if it weren’t for your complexes and doubts, you could have achieved a lot, but now you are forced to only regret missed opportunities and imagine how things would have been if you had acted more decisively. However, you continue to miss your chances, and it becomes a kind of vicious circle.

3. Powerlessness

You were faced with an event that had a negative impact on you, but your main problem is that you could not resist these circumstances, and perhaps you still cannot. You don't know what to expect next, feeling completely powerless in your situation.

4. Guilt

You feel guilty about something. Perhaps you have let someone down or offended someone. These thoughts haunt you, forcing you to replay the current situation in your head over and over again, aggravating the feeling of guilt.

Gloating thoughts

“Your failure is my joy”
When we hear on the news that some girl was caught drunk driving and arrested, it doesn’t bother us. But if that girl turns out to be Paris Hilton, we feel a strange, evil satisfaction that the Germans call "shadenfreude" (literally, "joy from harm").

Australian psychologist Norman Feather (Flinders University) proved that we are more pleased by the failure of someone outstanding than by the failure of a person equal to us in status. When successful people fail, we feel smarter, more insightful, and more confident.

Perhaps this is how our inner desire for justice manifests itself. But where does the feeling of shame come from? According to Professor Richard Smith, author of The Joy of Pain, there is no point in beating yourself up over this trivial emotional reaction. To overcome an attack of schadenfreude, you need to imagine yourself in the place of the victim or concentrate on your own achievements and merits, because the best antidote to envy is gratitude.

Postponement

It’s not for nothing that they say that the morning is wiser than the evening. Sometimes it's best to postpone your thoughts until later. For example, if you can't sleep because of bad thoughts, promise yourself that you will definitely think about it tomorrow. If the problem is not particularly serious, then the brain will easily agree with this proposal. Most likely, in the morning the negativity will no longer bother you and will even resolve itself.

This is a very simple but effective technique. It can be used in many situations. There is no point in thinking about something that will become insignificant in the future. Realizing this makes it much easier to get the negative things out of your head. For serious problems this method will not work. It is better to find solutions for them.

Why do bad thoughts come into my head?

• Recently, a bad event happened to you, the consequences of which are making themselves felt. Perhaps you were unable to resolve that situation, and now you know that additional difficulties lie ahead.
• You feel generally depressed. Nothing very bad has happened in the recent future, but you have already been in an apathetic state for a long time, and it is difficult for you to switch to something positive.
• Bad thoughts are your constant companions. You are often afraid that something bad will happen, and given several options for the development of the situation, you are inclined towards the most unfavorable.

Bad, bad or obsessive thoughts can appear in every person's head for a variety of reasons, but it is important to know that they are all easily correctable.

How to get thoughts of a person out of your head

Realize that when you think about this person, you are clinging to the past, because if you do not want to think about a certain person, it means that he is not in your present life, or you do not want this. You know very well that the past is unchangeable, but you own your present and future! Think about what you spend it on? Are there really no people more dear to you in your life right now that you could think about and who deserve your attention and care?

How and what to do to distract yourself:

• The more you are busy with important and interesting things, the less time you will have for unproductive thoughts about the person you don’t want to think about.
• Meet with your family or close friends more often. In conversations with him, you do not remember the past that you are trying to forget. Spend time in a warm, cozy and positive atmosphere!
• Take up interesting hobbies that have attracted you for a long time. We can talk about dancing classes, training in the gym, painting lessons, vocal lessons, embroidery, horse riding and much more.
• Try registering on a dating site or going to various crowded events more often. Your task is to start meeting other people, even if you don’t feel like it right now. Gradually, new acquaintances will displace from your life all the remnants of a past that has long been unnecessary to you.
• Traveling is one of the best and most enjoyable ways to escape. Give yourself a firm determination to leave all bad thoughts in your hometown, going on a trip with a light heart and a clear head. Choose a tour according to your preferences - a beach holiday or numerous excursions. It will be great if some loved one joins you. Surely, while traveling you will gain so many positive emotions that upon arrival the thoughts that previously bothered you will seem distant and meaningless.

Make pauses in conversation with an ill-wisher

You should also hesitate during a conversation with a person who annoys you in order to cool down a little and look at everything said differently. The less said, the less you will have to regret. After all, after some time, the anger will pass. Very often we do a lot of stupid things that we later regret. In this case, there is no need to rush. Finding someone to blame or blaming oneself in rare cases leads to constructive solutions. In such cases, you should resign yourself and look for a way out of this situation.

No matter what happened, you need to remember that anger is the biggest problem. In this case, you need to do some calming activity - meditation, walk, physical exercise.

Why do bad thoughts come into my head?

• Recently, a bad event happened to you, the consequences of which are making themselves felt. Perhaps you were unable to resolve that situation, and now you know that additional difficulties lie ahead.
• You feel generally depressed. Nothing very bad has happened in the recent future, but you have already been in an apathetic state for a long time, and it is difficult for you to switch to something positive.
• Bad thoughts are your constant companions. You are often afraid that something bad will happen, and given several options for the development of the situation, you are inclined towards the most unfavorable.

Bad, bad or obsessive thoughts can appear in the head of every person for a variety of reasons, but it is important to know that they are all easily correctable

Hypnosis and self-hypnosis.

Many people are interested in hypnosis as a method of getting rid of negative thoughts. And indeed, with the skillful use of this method, many, although not all, can be “fixed.” However, in this article I will only talk about the technique of self-hypnosis, thanks to which you can stop thinking negatively.

The very decision to control your emotional state, your thoughts and feelings, already has a certain power. With such a decision, a person shows himself that he has taken responsibility for the course of his life. Sometimes just this thought is enough for positive changes to occur.

Self-hypnosis almost always begins with observing your body. First, we relieve muscle tension and relax. And when the body is already relaxed, the stage of repeating to yourself the verbal instructions you need begins. This technique ends by again switching attention to the sensations of the physical body. Mental attitudes received in a relaxed state have a different effect on our brain. Think about what thoughts you would like to have in your head instead of negative ones.

In a state of relaxation, our consciousness is less critical of information received from the outside, hence the real help when using self-hypnosis.

Causes of bad thoughts

It is believed that people with labile temperament and unstable psyche are more susceptible to bad thoughts. It is not true.

Everyone has to face negative experiences and difficult trials.

The vulnerability of people is greatly increased by objective and independent reasons:

• experiencing a traumatic experience;
• severe and/or prolonged stress;
• imbalance of neurotransmitters;
• organic brain damage due to trauma;
• hormonal imbalance (diseases, pregnancy, age-related changes).

Genetic predisposition plays an important role, but it is not decisive.

Even if all of your immediate family were in excellent health, there is a chance that you will encounter difficulties and illnesses that no one else in your family has ever experienced.

Dark and frightening thoughts

“This is disgusting, show me more”
People are embarrassed to admit that they are attracted to sinister and vile stories: it is considered to be the preserve of freaks and perverts. Fans of bloody thrillers, photo compilations of road accident victims, or preserved embryos in alcohol have a reduced ability to empathize. Thirty years ago, University of Delaware professor Marvin Zuckerman determined that some people are more susceptible to sensation-seeking than others. When confronted with something abnormal and terrible, people with this personality type become more excited - this can be determined by measuring electrodermic activity.

Cravings for unhealthy and creepy things can be healthy. According to psychologist Eric Wilson, thinking about the suffering of others allows us to neutralize destructive emotions without causing harm to ourselves or others. They can even lead to a state of awe: “I can feel the value of my own life in a new way,” Wilson writes, “because I myself and my family are alive and well!”

Why is negative thinking dangerous? Why do you need to fight it?

Any negativity is destructive and carries a destructive beginning. If bad thoughts constantly creep into your head and become intrusive, then this inevitably affects the quality of a person’s life. Such thoughts interfere with sleep, prevent relaxation and rest, prevent joy, and set you up for failure.

The thought is material. Of course, this is a highly controversial statement. However, it is a well-known fact that people with a positive type of thinking achieve success in life. Those who constantly expect trouble are sure to encounter various difficulties and troubles.

Accordingly, the danger of negative thinking is that it tunes a person exclusively to the bad and does not allow him to notice the good. In addition, obsessive thoughts that constantly spin in the mind have a negative impact on health. After all, if a person cannot get enough sleep, is not able to relax, then this will inevitably lead to some kind of disease, for example, increased blood pressure or arrhythmia.

Accordingly, it is important to get rid of bad, evil, and negative thoughts from your head. You need to get rid of destructive thinking

This can be done with the help of a psychotherapist or on your own.

Causes

Negative thoughts develop gradually and are in many ways reminiscent of hypochondriacal neurosis. The person ceases to control himself and does not understand what to do in the future. Having dealt with the reasons for what is happening, we can hope to eliminate the unpleasant factors. The main thing is not to run away from yourself, not to try to pretend that nothing is happening. Why are negative thoughts and how do they interfere with life? Let's try to figure it out.

Shock experienced

It’s quite understandable if, after experiencing a shock, you don’t want to trust people or make positive plans. Sometimes it seems that the world has collapsed, and nothing good awaits ahead. It is reasonable to stop believing people for a while, to despair, to plunge into a state of sadness. But if the situation drags on for years and the person literally gets stuck in unfavorable emotions, then this is no longer good. Shock often causes the formation of a prejudiced attitude towards people and the world as a whole. Here one should not be surprised at the negative thoughts that literally engulf a person. Sometimes feelings are so strong that you don’t want to do anything, make new attempts to get closer to people.

Feeling disappointed

When the efforts made do not pay off, a feeling of hopelessness involuntarily arises. It seems that there is no way to get what you want, to come to what is valuable and dear to you. It’s not clear how to cope with yourself, how to get away from melancholy. Frustration often hinders success precisely because a person stops believing in it after facing numerous trials. You have to start all over again, develop different forms of behavior. And this is not always easy to do, given the unstable psychological state. Negative thoughts prevent you from becoming happy, this is obvious.

Personality Traits

Some people are fundamentally more attuned to suffering than to thinking positively. They have no idea how to get rid of overwhelming fear and despair. Everything they have experienced seems terrible and completely distant to them. Some character traits must be taken into account, namely: suspiciousness, self-doubt, the habit of always thinking about the bad before a problem appears. By paying attention to your individual traits, you can easily predict how your reaction to a particular event will occur. Character traits should not be ignored and there is no need to try to forcefully correct what is given by nature. You can always find another way out of the situation.

Environment

Communication plays a paramount role in our lives. If it is not very prosperous, then unpleasant thoughts inevitably come to mind. Frustration tends to spread quickly if grievances are not dealt with in time. Being in a certain group, we inevitably adopt specific patterns of behavior that are characteristic of the majority. Moreover, this happens unnoticed, as if by chance. The environment partly shapes one’s outlook on life and forces one to begin to have a different attitude towards what was previously significant and valuable. Pronounced negativism appears when a person cannot overcome a state of hopelessness, unable to cope with the approaching despair. Clearing negativity, especially if it has been accumulating for years, is not an easy task. Many people don’t know what to do for years and have no idea how to feel better.

Negative thoughts in the head: consequences

It would seem that there is such a danger in negative thinking. Well, we think about a bad outcome, so what. After all, not so much depends on us in some situations anyway.

However, there are still negative consequences and quite serious ones:

Materialization of our ideas

Last time we already discussed how to materialize positive dreams and desires into reality. However, if there is always negativity in your head, then what prevents it from becoming a reality.

Believe me, the mechanism for materializing dreams and negative expectations is the same. Therefore, it is worth filtering what is in our heads;

The nervous system suffers

Remember those moments when your not-so-rosy thoughts were constantly spinning in your head. Do you remember? Now focus and remember how you felt at that time emotionally.

Usually in this state people feel increased anxiety, the level of suspiciousness increases, and many fears appear. And this definitely negatively affects the nervous system;

The emergence of diseases

It’s no secret to anyone these days that our thoughts affect our health. If you stay angry, offended, or afraid for too long, you can get a real disease with a whole bunch of accompanying pathologies.

As you can see, the consequences of a negative thinking style are quite serious. And here the question arises: do you need it? I think not

Therefore, it is important to be able to remove unnecessary thoughts from your head.

Thinking NOT Childishly: The “Secret” 4-Step Technique

1. Step. You need to catch yourself in a negative emotion and track this moment.
2. Step. Recognize that there is a negative emotion, talk it out, get it out of yourself - say “yes, I’m angry now...”, “yes, I’m scared...” and the like!
3. Step. Make yourself an intention for the future: say “...now in such situations, I will be more balanced, calm, confident... etc.”
4. Step. To switch, either to the positive (if this is possible now), or to something that gives positive emotions, you can ask yourself the question: “What do I want?” Treat yourself and let your positive thoughts come to you.

Typically, this four-step formula works 90% of the time, but if you want more techniques, read on.

Postponement

It’s not for nothing that they say that the morning is wiser than the evening. Sometimes it's best to postpone your thoughts until later. For example, if you can't sleep because of bad thoughts, promise yourself that you will definitely think about it tomorrow. If the problem is not particularly serious, then the brain will easily agree with this proposal. Most likely, in the morning the negativity will no longer bother you and will even resolve itself.

This is a very simple but effective technique. It can be used in many situations. There is no point in thinking about something that will become insignificant in the future. Realizing this makes it much easier to get the negative things out of your head. For serious problems this method will not work. It is better to find solutions for them.

The fight between good and bad

I always remember the parable about two wolves. I will try to retell it briefly.

An old Indian somehow revealed the truth of life to his grandson, just as I once discovered it for myself. Inside every person there is a struggle between good and bad, this war is like the struggle of two wolves, white and black.

The white wolf represents peace, goodness, love, joy, support, sympathy, compassion, faith, generosity, loyalty and other positive things. The black wolf represents the exact opposite: evil, anger, envy, selfishness, lies, jealousy, greed, arrogance and other unpleasant things.

The old Indian’s answer about who would win this fight remained in the memory of his little grandson for a long time. “The wolf you feed wins!”

The same can be said about negative thoughts... that's what this article is about!

Autotraining

How to deal with self-pity? With exactingness and rigor? How to stop worrying and worrying? Psychologists advise using the auto-training method and learning to recognize your emotions.

What does this mean? Autotraining is nothing more than self-hypnosis, setting consciousness in a positive way. For example, in one of the famous Russian films, the heroine repeated to herself the words that she was the most attractive and charming.

As soon as a person is seized by anxiety, fears arise, and bad images appear in the imagination, you need to stop the stream of consciousness, close your eyes and repeat several times to yourself or, if possible, out loud, phrases that convince you that everything is very good. Auto-training helps not only in the fight against habits that interfere with the expulsion of obsessive, bad thoughts. With its help you can cope with the negative type of thinking itself. But for this, self-hypnosis should be carried out not when the need for it arises, but every day, at the same time. Psychologists believe that the best hour for auto-training is before bed. Of course, it makes sense to do this activity in the morning, but most people spend it in a hurry, in a bustle, and even eat breakfast on the run. Accordingly, they are unlikely to be able to relax and tune in to the positive.

Awareness of emotions is a complex process. Its essence is that before saying or doing anything, a person must “freeze” and understand what caused his reaction. For example, if a child says that he went into the forest to pick mushrooms with a dog, the parents’ first reaction is not to let him in. Before you stop your child from going for a walk, you need to count to yourself to 10 and take a deep breath. At this time, the realization will come that the reaction is based on obsessive fear, the habit of thinking through the development of events in a negative way, and other similar emotions.

How to distract yourself from bad thoughts: advice from a psychologist

1. Be surrounded by positive people.

Research shows that the people around us influence our behavior. If there are pessimistic people next to you, then little by little they will teach you to think negatively. Therefore, your task is to try to change your surroundings to the authors of your life, to optimistic people who set and achieve their goals, the “Workshop of Useful Habits” course will help you with this.

Be with optimists, communicate with optimists and be charged with their positive attitude.

1. Share your experiences with your loved ones.

Don't be afraid to share with loved ones whom you completely trust. A conversation with an understanding person will most likely only be beneficial. Forgive all your grievances, this will help you learn to look at the world differently, your life will shine with new colors, attracting wealth and love.

1. Calm down.

When you realize that obsessive thoughts are taking over you, close your eyes, take a few deep breaths and exhale, and relax. This will help you reduce stress and relieve tension.

1. Take your free time.

Anxious thoughts usually come when you have a lot of free time. Try to organize your day, go in for sports, spend more time with friends, listen to pleasant music, get distracted.

1. Keep a success diary.

A success diary will help you radically change your life. By writing down your daily small and big victories in a notebook, you will feel proud of yourself and will always be in a positive mood.

People often do not notice their useful deeds accomplished during the day, and by the evening they completely forget about it. There are people who become depressed because they feel worthless.

A success diary helps you understand that even the most ordinary day is full of positive moments for which you should praise yourself (here you can also use the exercise “Scooping out the positives” and “Sunshine”) and feel proud of yourself.

And so that these steps are carried out willingly, joyfully and positively, you can download the “Success Diary”, completely free of charge, let your life sparkle with new colors as quickly as possible.

Symptoms

Physiological symptoms are expressed by the following changes:

• blood pressure surges, rapid heartbeat;
• stiffness throughout the body;
• discomfort in the chest, inability to take a full breath, shortness of breath;
• sleep disorders;
• tightness in the neck;
• constant urge to urinate, bowel problems (diarrhea or constipation);
• trembling in the body, sweating, fever, red spots on the skin;
• tinnitus, feeling of squeezing in the head;
• general weakness, lack of appetite, dizziness.

Behavioral symptoms, when scary thoughts enter the head, are characterized by avoidance of social interaction, outbursts of irritability and aggression towards others, a desire to be alone, as well as obsessive actions - compulsions. With the help of such actions, patients (in their opinion) protect themselves or other people from danger (in most cases imaginary). Compulsions help the patient to temporarily calm down and achieve an acceptable state. However, after a short time, obsessive thoughts attack OCD patients again.