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What to do when you are haunted by obsessive negative and panicky thoughts
26.02.2024 15:24
Any thought causes emotions, and vice versa. Negative ones lead to a deterioration in the quality of life, a decline in mood, strength, a subjective assessment of the uselessness and meaninglessness of existence. Of course, you need to seek help from a specialist to quickly and successfully cope with emotional problems. But there are also simple methods of local mood control.
In general, a person’s behavior and feelings depend on his reaction to events, says psychologist Andrei Kashkarov .
The fundamental difference in the reversibility of the phenomenon
The fundamental difference between obsessive thoughts and mental pathology is that the person retains critical thinking. When there is an assessment of thoughts as unnecessary, annoying, and an understanding of the reasons for discomfort - from the fact that thoughts are destructive, as if it is not you who thinks this way, but someone imposes thoughts. This is already a good sign and prerequisites for controlling the situation.
Mental overstrain occurs. You want to stop it, but you can't; panic sets in. Approximately the same thing happens when you feel worse, your heart "loses its rhythm", cold sweat appears, and you think your heart is about to stop. This is not yet a heart attack, although there are elements of it. This is a panic attack - that's what it's called: it occurs suddenly and develops rapidly, with the properties inherent in panic, even when it seems that you are ready for it.
Cause and effect relationship
As a rule, obsessive thoughts arise after experiencing fear and stress. The blood is saturated with adrenaline, and if the energy is not “spent” outside, a change in hormonal levels soon occurs - a direct path to a state of anxiety. An addiction is formed, which complicates getting rid of obsessive thoughts.
A neurobiologist will say that it is difficult to get rid of obsessive thoughts because they form stable neural connections. Obsessive thoughts signal an initial destructive disorder, which is based on an affective mood disorder and obsessive-compulsive mental disorder. If the situation is not resolved at this stage, then under the influence of additional factors, such as post-traumatic anxiety disorder - after experiencing fear and stress, stable phobias may arise over time, and this is already the competence of a neurologist and psychiatrist.
It is clear: in order to prevent or warn against the development of panic attacks or obsessive thoughts with negative connotations, it is necessary to distance oneself from stressors, such as difficult life situations and mental trauma. The difficulty is that this is not always possible or we do not know how to do it.
A person reacts individually to obsessive thoughts in accordance with their psychotype - personality and thinking characteristics, due to which reality is perceived in a negative way.
To stop the cyclical development of “obsessive thinking” and prevent the development of a phobia, you need to know the causes of generalized anxiety disorder.
A terrible, oppressive feeling of tightness in the chest, worsening mood and quality of life. In general - negative and unnecessary for a person. The reasons are a complex of lifestyle problems against the background of neurosis. The psycho-emotional state creates symptoms at the physical level. Anxiety is the cause of the symptoms that arise, and not vice versa. There are actually several hundred symptoms.
Stress and stressors affect almost all people - from children to the very old. However, a conditionally medically healthy (or prepared) person is distinguished by the fact that he quickly adapts to the stressor and returns to a harmonious psycho-emotional state. That is, he does not scroll through anxious thoughts in his head.
Symptoms and dangers of self-medication
Unfortunately, trying to fight obsessive thoughts usually leads to the opposite result - the person becomes even more fixated on them. Symptoms may include tinnitus (noise in the ears), ear congestion, and destruction of the vitreous body - "flies in the eyes".
There may be obsessive thoughts of high anxiety, as if you will soon go blind. Not dangerous, not scary, not cured immediately, but stops bothering along with addiction.
There is a way of quick and temporary localization: "nothing happened", and tomorrow I will consult a doctor. But for an immediate reaction - this way you remove stress. The same applies to other symptoms that interfere with concentration, for example, the sensation of "pulsations" in the head. They are associated with chronic "lack of sleep" and decreased overall tone of the body and blood vessels.
How to Stop Anxious Thoughts
In addition to pills, various relaxation methods help: massage, contrast showers (option - dousing with cold water), rubbing, active physical exercises, yoga, breathing practices and meditation. Meditation and relaxation techniques can relieve stress, improve concentration and mood. But if you do not carry out accessible therapy, obsessive thoughts can cause a mental disorder that will require long-term treatment.
Self-help tools
Creativity is a powerful tool for expressing and releasing negative emotions. Acting, dancing, painting, cooking, and even just reading, writing, music, or any other form of art are all ways to express emotions and feelings without even having to verbalize them. In this vein, it is necessary to establish and create a habit of a regular schedule (classes).
Interact with other creative people, preferably in person or through social media communities, as socializing with like-minded people has been shown to be inspiring and supportive. It’s one of the best distractions, and it’s far more effective than antidepressant pills.
Because, being creative (in this case not only art, but also sports) you get unforgettable impressions from achieving your own successes – in comparison with others. You become a stress-resistant person and better understand the saying-recommendation of W. S. Churchill: “Not a single word that flies in your direction should change your opinion of yourself.”
Finding inspiration in the beauty of the world around you also helps.
Overall, it is important to experience emotions and redirect attention from depression and anxiety to positive impressions.
Examples
Unexpectedly, your boss calls you, and you know that he has something to "scold" you for. You are excited, expecting serious criticism and punishment, you go to the office, but the conversation is neutral. A prepared and healthy person quickly goes into a conditionally normal state, an empathetic person to stress - "worries" for a long time and looks for a way to calm down with the help of conversations with others, bad habits, or falls into apathy - depending on the characteristics of the psychotype.
Do the opposite
This is exactly the case that people who often want to contradict with or without reason do well. It is connected with the peculiarities of typical thinking: you are asked not to think, for example, about black caviar or a polar bear for just a minute, but you really want to think about them – simply out of a sense of contradiction. And without this persistent request, thoughts about caviar would not have entered your head.
Simply put, with the right approach to prevention, the method of avoiding concentration on obsessive thoughts works. For example, a person feels discomfort and even fear, is preoccupied with the decision of how to get rid of the experience" and "what medicine to take." And if you tell yourself that it is normal to worry, "all people worry", and that your opponent is even worse, the drug should not be taken at all without a prescription from a certified doctor, then after a few minutes you are able to switch to something more positive. Try it.
Risk group and recommendation
Traditionally, people who abuse alcohol, drugs and psychotropic substances are at risk. Experienced psychiatrists and narcologists will confirm that most suicides associated with a hangover syndrome happen early in the morning - after waking up and restless sleep. This is also associated with a change in blood composition and deterioration of brain activity - a person simply does not think about the consequences, it seems to him that he is no longer there.
In this case, the main thing is to use willpower to survive for at least a few hours until lunch and “forbid yourself” to think at all. “I want to sleep,” you convince yourself and endure it until things get better. Additional help is to remember how you got out of a similar situation before. You survived it, and nothing happened. At the same time, it is advisable to help the body by washing out the stomach – drink a lot of water.
It is explained not by the awareness of the stressful state, but by the habit of it. And the subsequent reaction of the body due to the emotional load can be up to a heart attack, accompanied by a rise in blood pressure, a feeling of suffocation or, conversely, hypoxia.
The attack occurs, seemingly without reason. The functions of the heart, like those of vital organs, are regulated by the nervous system through changes in the composition of the blood.
Blood purification occurs in the liver. This is the main organ, the health of which is directly related to stress resistance and generally prevailing good mood even when there are reasons for concern. Therefore, regular care of the liver, even with the help of dietary supplements, rather helps to stay in a good mood and without the risk of obsessive thoughts.
But there is an important point. Care should be carried out in "courses" with their regular repetition, because there is no such "single" pill that "cures everything at once" - the benefit is provided by a complex process associated with increasing physical activity, positive impressions - surprises, proper and regular nutrition, adherence to the work and rest regime, reasonable solar therapy (light affects a person's mood), liver cleansing and doing what you love.
Earlier we wrote about how to apologize correctly if you are wrong.
