Intrusive Thoughts

"People and things do not upset us. Rather, we upset ourselves by believing they can upset us." - Albert Ellis

Something that seems to come up almost every therapy session with clients are negative or intrusive thoughts. These often are a result of a situation or something we heard. So what are intrusive thoughts? They pop into our head without warning and they’re unwanted. At times they can be disturbing or distressing. For instance, following the time you’ve had a baby, postpartum, one may have thoughts such as the baby is better off without you. These thoughts could be regarding medical diagnoses you think you might have, fear regarding doing or saying something embarrassing, or even thoughts of committing illegal or violent acts.

One of my favorite techniques is the ABC model. A = the activating event, B = our belief about the events, C = the consequences of that belief, D = disputing the belief, and E = the effects of our disputation. A common, and relatable, example revolves around road rage. A = Someone cuts us off in traffic. B = We believe that person is a jerk, idiot, ________ insert exploitative here. C = The consequences of this may include being angry at your coworkers, doing poorly on an exam, etc. D = Time to dispute this belief - we don’t know that they intentionally cut us off; maybe they’re having a bad day and are in a rush. E = The Effects of challenging that belief means we’re able to let it go quicker. We can be more present throughout the day.

This is an easy to remember, easy to implement technique that can help you right away in reconstructing your thought patterns.

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is the first form of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), founded by the American psychologist Albert Ellis. REBT is an old approach that has seriously evolved from its creation, based on research in the field. REBT and CBT are two commonly used therapeutic modalities because they’re evidence based.