Do intrusive thoughts in addition to perverted, violent, and/or blasphmeous thoughts also including thoughts of profanity and cursing at other people?
If you become obsessed with passing thoughts of cursing at others, then those have become intrusive thoughts to you. I believe they would fall under the “violent” category.
What do you mean by “intrusive?”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrusive_thoughts
Especially when these thoughts occur for no reason at all or for idiotic or trivial ones.
Seeking out a therapist would be a much wiser thing to do than seek advice on the internet.
If they are so intrusive you are dwelling on it this much, and if there is no reason, or the reason is idiotic or trivial then you should seriously seek a therapist.
Chance are you’ll have a few conversations, they’ll talk you through, or help you address, the root of these thoughts, and you can get on with your life.
Therapy, that’s what it’s for. Doesn’t have to be a shrink, talk to a counselor at your church about it. If it’s out of their depth they’ll point you toward another resource very likely.
Or, y’know, just keep dwelling on it and trying to ignore it. Yeah, I’m pretty sure that never worked for anyone.
Christian guilt is a bitch. Shame.
I would hazard a guess that it’s different for everyone. Are you seriously asking this?
Joe
I think the answer to your question is, yes, intrusive thoughts might well sometimes take the form of cursing at other people.
However, I do not think that if someone commonly finds themselves silently cursing at the people around them, that that necessarily amounts to a case of intrusive thought (even if the person in question thinks that the cursing is wrong, inappropriate, or unfair to the people being cursed). It might just be a symptom of someone who is very frustrated with the life situation that they find themselves in. I believe that thoughts only really count as intrusive (and thus a possible symptom of psychosis) if they do not seem to be your own thoughts, occasioned by your actual situation and feelings, but to come into your mind from without, and to be quite inappropriate to how you actually feel.
If you are silently cursing at people because you are mad at them, you are probably not crazy, even if you believe that you really ought not to be so mad at them and that your curses and anger are unjustified. If you (or a voice in your head) are silently cursing at people that you yourself feel no very great anger towards, then you might be well advised to seek medical help.
Of course, if you are so frustrated with your life that you are angry with people much of the time, then a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist might also be able to help you. But that is not the same as being crazy, (i.e. schizophrenic or otherwise psychotic, or incipiently so).
I don’t really have thoughts I consider intrusive. I may see an attractive woman and think, “Nice ass!!”, but I don’t consider it intrusive. The same with thinking profanity when someone cuts me off in traffic, I think my profanity, occasionally say it, and move on. The thought comes, I acknowledge it, and put it away.
I believe the OP has said that he’s in the autistic spectrum, which could indicate that he’s having some unusual thought loops.
Qin, when you think about swearing at others, is it when you are already mad at them for something, or is it just random impulse?
I’ve found that my intrusive thoughts, when meditating in particular, are of far greater import than what I am meditating on, normally.
They alert me to concerns that I may otherwise have not been aware of, thereby finding a subject to work upon to resolve.
Of course, doing a mundane, repetitive task is also a rather meditative time, occupying my mind, while a small portion continues the task at hand.
Its a random impulse that usually happens when I think to the effect of “I must stop thinking this”. If that doesn’t occur to me than I don’t think those thoughts at all. And not just swearing but an urge to shout imprecatory statements.
While many answers to the OP are factual, it probably belongs in IMHO. Moved.
samclem Moderator, GQ
Well, it doesn’t quite work that way. It’s like purposely trying NOT think of elephants for five minutes. Try and do so. You really can’t.
Well, we ALL have urges to swear at people and tell them to DIAF or whatever. That’s NORMAL, kiddo.
You’re really overthinking this.
Well, there’s the “Imp of the Perverse” (named by Poe, I think) occasional thoughts that bother people at times, and then there are intrusive thoughts that make it hard to function because they’re overwhelming. I’d talk with a therapist about the latter, to look for ways to overcome the situation.
One method that might work sometimes is to mentally take the thought to the worst possible place. If you think about swearing, run with the thought mentally and imagine yourself saying the worst possible things. Burn out the thought, take the negative energy out of it by running it to a crazy, impossible finale. When it comes up again, you may find yourself mentally cutting it off and laughing at it because you’ve already played out that scenario and wrecked it in your head. Alternately, try just kind of mentally “nodding” at it and telling yourself, “yes, but that didn’t/won’t happen. It hasn’t happened the other times I’ve thought about it, and it won’t this time.” The next time might get easier to dismiss, until you barely have to acknowledge a thought before it dissolves.
And you know who could help you with that overthinking thing, before it becomes a bigger problem than it is now? A therapist. Seriously, if you want mental health, and a sound mind, then be prepared to defend it, it’s the most valuable asset you’ll ever have, after all.
Qin, in my opinion this is not a question that can be answered without knowing a great deal more about the thoughts you are having, and why they bother you. It’s fully understandable if you don’t want to share them here, but a general answer may well be worse than useless to you.
Therapy may be an answer, but so might talking to people you know, if that is an option.
He’s talking about getting these impulses not from normal anger, but just as random non-sequiturs. That means it could be something neurological.
Qin, have you discussed this with your parents? I might suggest telling it to a doctor to. It’s normal think angry thoughts, even violent thoughts, if someone actually does something to annoy you - but if those kinds of thoughts are coming out of nowhere and for no reason, there could be more to it.
Remember that you are what you do, though, not what you think. Everybody has horrible, ugly thoughts at times. We can’t control what we think. That doesn’t make you a bad person. It’s how you act that matters. Those kinds of thoughts are abstract manifestations of emotion. They aren’t literal. Don’t let them scare you. They’re just id - just your reptile brain which basically has three impules - “eat,” fuck" kill." The higher function parts of your brain are there to temper that and translate the base responses into something civilized.
Thank you. I think perhaps I should tell a shrink or a minister or my parents but I am rather embarassed to do so-not to mention being afraid they might put me in “Special Ed” or something (especially due to my Asperger’s). Usually its triggered for some reason but trivial ones or reasons where I’m definately in the wrong.
Which comes first? The urge to curse or the “I must stop thinking this” thought?
If it’s causing concentration problems or anxiety, you should seek treatment. You may have OCD. Or it just may be an obsessive-compulsive symptom, but not full-fledged OCD (for OCD, it has to be problematic to your daily life).
Regardless, you are not to blame and should not feel guilty. Intrusive thoughts can be controlled with lots of hard work, but that doesn’t mean you are intentionally thinking them. And urges are out of your control too. Even if you act on them, you have to give yourself a break.
(When my urges to repeat my crazy thoughts out loud become unbearable to hold in, I close the door to my office and let loose. I’ve also trained myself to mouth my “repeats” instead of using my voice. Sometimes I’ll speak softly into my hand. The only person to ever ask me what the hell I’m doing is my mother.)
I would examine the situations under which these thoughts/urges usually occur. If they occur when interacting with people under stress, then they may just be a way of letting off steam. You may just need to find a way to relax yourself during social interactions. But if you have the urge even when you’re taking a peaceful stroll in the wildflowers, then I would say you might need some help figuring out what’s going on.
I did not know that you were on the autism spectrum, by the way. If so, then it wouldn’t be unusual for you to have looping thoughts and accompanying urges with or without associated anxiety. You can learn how to deal with it through therapy or on your own, or by taking drugs such as Anafranil. I haven’t had luck with the latter, but the former works most of the time for me (not autistic, just an unusual person).