Why do Anxiety and Irrational Thoughts go Together?
Why is it that anxiety and irrational thoughts/ anxiety and unreal, intrusive thoughts always go hand in hand. It is one thing to worry about the real problems in life; it is another thing completely when your mind starts playing tricks and inventing problems for you. Worrying, racing disturbing thoughts is one of the symptoms of anxiety that seems to effect so many people and is one of the hardest symptoms to deal with.
These disturbing thoughts are one of the scariest symptoms of anxiety with people worrying that they are going mad or have the start of an obsessive compulsive disorder. They are developing disturbing worrying thought patterns that are completely out of their own control; surely this must be a sign of impending insanity.
I went through this with my own anxiety and at times thought that I was going out of my mind. I would catastrophise every situation, thinking even small problems through to a disastrous conclusion and convincing myself that my life was in the process of falling apart.
So why do we, when we suffer from anxiety, spend so much of our days and nights dreaming up these irrational and ridiculous scenarios and then worrying about them. The answer is really two fold.
Firstly, when you suffer from anxiety, your subconscious mind examines every little thought in minute detail. It takes your normal thoughts and magnifies them. Unfortunately it always magnifies them in a negative way so if for example you were to have a thought about being late for work, your mind would turn that into being late for work and losing your job.
Think of anxiety as adrenaline that needs an outlet. Adrenaline affects our minds by speeding up our thinking process; unfortunately this is what generates these ridiculous worries. This is your mind playing tricks on you and the best thing that you can do in these circumstances is simply ignore the thoughts. They are your subconscious playing tricks and really don’t merit you spending any serious thought time on them. You know very well that the catastrophic outcomes that your sub-conscious has dreamt up are not going to happen so why waste time thinking about them. Try to put them out of your mind, even distracting yourself deliberately in order to do so.
Secondly, many people who suffer from anxiety get into the anxiety cycle, worrying about the anxiety itself, thinking about anxiety then becoming anxious, convincing themselves that there is something seriously wrong with them. This anxiety cycle is one of the most destructive aspects of an anxiety disorder.
- Will I ever be cured?
- Can I ever get better?
- What is I lose control and hurt someone?
- Do I have a brain tumour?
- Am I going mad?
- Will I ever get my old self back?
- Will I ever enjoy life again?
- Can I ever relax?
How to stop thinking too much and avoid anxiety
It is so easy for these anxious thoughts to take over, you start to worry about something and then your thinking shifts and you start to wonder if you will ever get out of this vicious circle, will you ever be normal again? When we are suffering from anxiety we seem to empower these negative thoughts allowing them to slip into our minds and take over but they invariably prove to be just the product of an overactive subconscious mind.
A lack of understanding of anxiety and its side effects is often the root cause of this type of thinking. If you think about it, it makes sense. If no one has explained your condition to you and suddenly you start to have these disturbing and irrational thoughts it is hardly surprising that they are so alarming. Couple this to a tired and overactive mind and it is easy to see how the anxious thought can overwhelm you. Once you understand that irrational or anxious thoughts are part and parcel of an anxiety disorder it starts to take the power away from this way of thinking.
It is not uncommon for people to worry to such an extent that they start to believe that almost every ache and pain is a sign of a life threatening condition, an upset stomach becomes stomach cancer, every heart palpitation is an impending heart attack and no matter how many times they are examined and reassured by their doctor they are never convinced that they are really alright. What you must understand is that these thoughts are just figments of your imagination, made up by your subconscious. The palpitations or upset stomach may be real but your subconscious mind is playing tricks on you catastrophising every situation. You need to ignore these thoughts and not give any thinking time to them.
This is the catch 22 part. As soon as you try to stop thinking about something it gets stuck in your head. If I said to you to not think about elephants for the next two minutes, what is the first thing that you would do………..think about an elephant.
Well, it is exactly the same when you try to ignore your disturbing, irrational or anxious thoughts. They will not go away……so think about them….that’s right…. welcome the irrational thoughts…let them in, think about them , recognise them for exactly what they are, irrational and worthless and then let them go.
This way of thinking is extremely powerful. Rather than trying to ignore the thoughts that your subconscious is coming up with, think about them with your rational conscious mind, recognise them as worthless and ignore them. It is a trick that is well worth practicing as it empowers you to deal with your subconscious and puts you back in control of your thinking.
DO NOT try to avoid these thoughts, welcome them in, let any thought in but recognise them for the exaggerated nonsense that they are. As you get better at this you can consciously think a thought through to the most disastrous conclusion that you can imagine, examine it and then decide if the conclusion is actually logical or rational or deserves any merit whatsoever. The best way to get rid of irrational, anxious thoughts is to let them in…………and ignore them.
And remember; don’t try to stop thinking in a particular way. Just like the elephant, you will simply make that thought stick in your mind. Let the thought in, think it through and dismiss it as inconsequential.
No-one who has conquered an anxiety disorder still has anxious or irrational thoughts. Once you have overcome the anxiety disorder the intrusive thoughts disappear.
Read Anxiety and Depersonalization next