Intrusive Thoughts?

[Withnail88]

What little research I've done on AS (It's a little new to me) suggests it's usually coupled with other disorders like bipolar, anxiety, etc. Take your pick; they're all lovely.
I've noticed that I have some terrible thoughts that just won't go away. Thoughts I know aren't sincere, but they really bug me. They're usually just derogatory in nature. Like a sort of mental Tourette's, I suppose.
Does anyone have OCD or any other intrusive thought disorders? Or just scary intrusive thoughts?

 

[juffur]

This happens to me as well, and I'm fairly certain it's because of OCD.

 

[Geordie]

ASDs only do things their way --- so, intrusive thoughts do happen

 

[Occasional_Demon]

I personally don't have intrusive thoughts, but they can be distressing and can be from OCD or from anxiety. There's a type of OCD where the main symptom is intrusive thoughts - Pure Obsessional.

If it's OCD, usually the first treatment would be something like a high dose of a SSRI antidepressant. They seem to help with quelling OCD thoughts. Then lots of therapy.

If it's more anxiety-based, then the first port of call would usually be cognitive behavioural therapy and mindfulness.

 

[Geordie]

Some things keep coming in my head. Like what to wear

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[NeverEnder]

Yes, I have intrusive thoughts.

My Aspergers is coupled with Depression and possibly elements of OCD.

Sometimes I feel paranoid. Some of the medications I take help with this.

I also ruminate with my thoughts quite a bit, usually after being triggered by something.

-Matthew-

 

[2010Dolby]

Arg, those thoughts suck. You know how some people have a constant fear that their health is falling apart and they're about to get a terrible disease? Thats how I am about my car and truck. I always have thoughts of, "WAIT! Was that a tick in my motor? Is my valve-lifter busted?" or "I can't feel my secondaries opening!!! Did I snap a pin?!?!?" It borders on specific anxiety I suppose.

 

[kg4fxg]

OCD to the Max. Everything has to be clean and in order. Measure stuff on my desk. Car has to be perfect like really detailed. Then the world is a great place. I clean everything and everything has to be in order. But I don't have any intrusive thoughts? Except I think I am normal? Or, the rest of the world should operate like me.

 

[King_Oni]

The only times I have those thoughts if I'm posed with a situation and I have no clue how it's gonna work out (and weirdly enough, 99% of the people I'd ask don't have any solid advice for me.. not even the people who are in charge of the situation). Thus I end up going through possible scenario's... and that's bothering me sometimes.

I know one cannot be certain of things in life, but a bit more security than "Oh, I don't know... just see how it works out and hope life doesn't bite you in the ass" all day, every day, just does not work.

 

[Csutelan]

I constantly have to deal with unwanted thoughts usually revolving around death or executions. Ever since I was a kid, I gravitated towards images or descriptions of death. When I was ten, I even built a full size, fully functional guillotine although without the blade. My parents really must have thought I was nuts. I hav never had any desire to hurt people or animals nor do I consider myself sadistic. I just have these recurring images in my head from I cannot seem to ever be able to escape. Very frustrating...

 

[Loomis]

I had a very serious problem with catastrophising. I would think about some recent event and begin to imagine the worst possible outcomes. Often my thoughts would lead to highly improbable and even ridiculous expectations. For example, once I was convinced I had rabies even though I had not been bitten by any animals. I read that the rabies virus can live in your nerves for up to a year before the symptoms appear and once the symptoms do appear you are doomed to a horrible death. So I worried about it for a year and low and behold I never showed any symptoms. This fantasy caused me a lot of unnecessary anguish. I saw a psychiatrist and he prescribed an SSRI, paxil, and it was very helpful. Eventually I was able to recognize when I was beginning the process of catastrophising and learned to nip it in the bud by telling myself I was engaging in illogical thinking. I believe my ultra-empirical aspie nature allowed me to overcome this problem and now 10 years later, without paxil, I am able to see when I am starting to catastrophise and can tell myself to stop because I am being illogical just like my hero Mr. Spock might do.

 

[earthsteward70]

Scientifically speaking, I wonder where the disturbing, violent, sick, evil, twisted thoughts come from, what triggers us to have them, what part of the brain they come from, etc. I was once plagued by them too. They frightened me so much I'd say to myself, "Cancel, cancel, cancel" so that nothing would come of them. I was afraid that if given enough thought, the universe would respond and materialize those fears, or that perhaps one day, my mind would snap and I'd actually kill someone or something. I always hated those thoughts because inside I know that I am a good person. Eventually I would recognize this anti-thesis of myself rising up in my mind and I would replace those thoughts with good thoughts. It was harder in doing, than in the saying. It took practice. I don't know if I outgrew it, or if I reprogrammed my mind.

 

[Quintin]

Wow...me too. These thoughts are sometimes so frightening . And sometimes I think I loose friends because of the absolute anxiety . It is a form of anxiety I'm sure. When I went to group therapy for Social Anxiety ( very stressful on its own) they said we had to re-train our brains out of negative thoughts and catastrofic thinking. Therapy helps for sure.

 

[Christian T]

I constantly have to deal with unwanted thoughts usually revolving around death or executions.

Me too. I cannot look at a kitchen knife without reflecting on the possibility of using it for suicide or murder - scary, isn't it?

Plus, I used to have urges to kiss just about anyone at school, just to see how much awkwardness I could conjure. That is also quite scary.

 

[Soup]

I get odd unwanted thoughts too. They can be disturbing, disruptive & inappropriate by any standard. What I've learned to do is to NOT pay attention to them & not feed them. The more I try to NOT think about something, the more I wind up thinking about it & becoming more annoyed with myself & thinking it all the more. You can see how this can go downhill in a hurry. I refuse to feel guilty or shame & lecture myself over these thoughts. I see them as irritating brain glitches best ignored.

 

[Jessica]

Does anyone else suffer with intrusive thoughts?

My mind scares me most of the time, i?m so frightened of myself. I keep having these random violent thoughts and they make me feel sick. I want them to go away but they won?t. I?m actually rather embarrassed about it, I don?t want to be me right now.

Some days when i'm walking to college I have the urge to step out into the road infront of a very fast car. The other day I was in a shop with my Dad and we were in the DIY section, I just had this horrible urge to grab a hammer and start bashing someones brains in, I really don't know what the hell is wrong with me and I hate it so much. Now I think about it I've always had these thoughts even as a child. The important thing is that I keep myself from never fulfilling these urges, I've tried watching horror/gore movies to try and release the thoughts but I still don't feel right. Please tell me i'm not the only one.

 

[Acetic]

Re: Does anyone else suffer with intrusive thoughts?

Have you tried talking to a therapist about this?

It's good you have realized they should never be acted out upon. What emotions do you feel before these thoughts occur? Do you find yourself angry or stressed out? Are you feeling depressed at the moment? These thoughts are triggered by something affecting you. Sometimes when i feel embarrassed to be seen with my parents in public or frustrated with my life i imagine doing drastic and crazy things to deal with the situation at hand. These thoughts might be a way of you coping with stress.

 

[Gomendosi]

Re: Does anyone else suffer with intrusive thoughts?

Jessica, it seems you are not alone in having intrusive thoughts as I found there had already been a thread made for it, therefore I joined your thread with it.
Perhaps you can have a look at these other members’ similar situations and maybe find useful some of the ways they have of coping.

 

[King_Oni]

Re: Does anyone else suffer with intrusive thoughts?

Have you tried talking to a therapist about this?

It's good you have realized they should never be acted out upon. What emotions do you feel before these thoughts occur? Do you find yourself angry or stressed out? Are you feeling depressed at the moment? These thoughts are triggered by something affecting you. Sometimes when i feel embarrassed to be seen with my parents in public or frustrated with my life i imagine doing drastic and crazy things to deal with the situation at hand. These thoughts might be a way of you coping with stress.

For me it's true though... stress and depression because of known causes does cause a bit of violent thoughts... thought I don't neccesarily "suffer" from them. I'm not a physically violent person in general, but I can enjoy violence from a visual aspect a lot, so having images and thoughts in my mind don't bother me... but I'm well aware that acting as such will get me in trouble and therefore I wont end up doing "stupid" things.

I adressed that I'm kinda prone to a lot of negative side-effects when being "forced" to things or being put in places I don't feel comfy. And therapist pretty much told me that I'd need a perfect fit in terms of employment or the outcome can be kinda unfavorable for people I'm involved with. I'm easily triggered to act as such, but like I said... I can manage it well if I'm on my own (and as such I'm currently unemployed with minimal physical human interaction and do whatever keeps me "happy"). But I might just as well be a timebomb set to off of at some point if not handle with care.

As such I'm protective to not let myself put in such problematic situations. It kinda feels that by forcing me there, while other people know how I might respond, it's kinda like being set up or framed.

 

[Cerulean]

Re: Does anyone else suffer with intrusive thoughts?

I get these too, mostly on the mischievous side like Christian wanting to kiss people to bring on awkwardness. I get that one too.

There are just so many possibilities. Like he said about the knife- normally I think of cutting veggies, but there are all kinds of possibilities. Stabbing, slicing, throwing it to get it to stick in a wall. The longer I think about an object like that the more possibilities I can come up with and some of them sound kinda fun (to stay with the knife example, I really enjoy throwing stars). But I know rationally that if I were to be there chopping my peppers, talking to my dad in the kitchen, and just pick up the knife and hurl it into the wall, I'd end up in the psych ward. So I keep chopping and feeling like a crazy person.