Читать книгу Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Dummies - Rob Willson - Страница 74

Worrying and upsetting thoughts and images won’t last forever. If you do nothing, they’ll eventually fade away. As we’ve already mentioned, trying to control unwelcome thoughts rarely works for long. The key is treating these thoughts as though they’re of no importance. When something is of little or no importance, you tend to ignore it or give it little attention. Instead of fighting against these trivial (though tormenting) thoughts, do nothing. Take off the boxing gloves and just let your mind move onto other more neutral images and thoughts naturally. Doing so sounds pretty simple and straightforward, but just letting go can be hard to master. Your feelings of anxiety, disgust or horror about intrusive thoughts can compel you to action. Resist the pull of your feelings.

Try these tips:

 Let unwelcome thoughts play out in the background as though they were just noise. Think of these thoughts like static on the radio or street noise outside your office window. You can filter them out and refocus your attention onto a task.

 Get your mind busy doing something else more interesting or compelling. Pick up the phone and make some important calls, do a crossword puzzle or go for a walk.

 Raise your heart rate. Going for a run, playing a sport or vacuuming vigorously can help relieve anxiety and clear your mind.

As you pay less attention to unwelcome thoughts, you’ll probably find that your adverse feelings about them become less intense. Eventually, just allowing your thoughts to extinguish will become much easier because you’ll have reduced their emotional impact.

It may be tempting to ask for reassurance from friends (or even your CBT therapist) that your thoughts are not dangerous. This can be a slippery slope since you unwittingly reinforce fear and intolerance of unwanted thought content. Instead of repeatedly seeking reassurance, remember to treat thoughts of this ilk as unimportant. You probably don’t dwell on or talk incessantly about unimportant things – so practise the same policy in this instance.