Dealing with Intrusive Thoughts: Need Suggestions!

The way I started to cope and deal with intrusive thoughts, especially since I also have Dissociative Identity Disorder, is to steer the "day-dream" (mine are full flashback/day dream play by play of intrusive thoughts of actions). If I catch myself I may not be able to turn the boat or stop it, but I can steer away from the storm. I took to thinking about if I found a Genie in a bottle. 3 wishes. What would you chose and how would you word it to avoid ambiguity and a Genie tricking you into something that fits the description, but not what you wanted. Endless distraction to steer from something unpleasant, dangerous, and not needed to something just not needed. Practice is progress!

practicing moving past them in the moment has been helpful for me but honestly sometimes i need to feel them even more. sometimes those thoughts are popping up bc something isn’t working for u. recently i’ve been practicing looking deeper into my intrusive thoughts and asking myself what they might be indicating. i’ve found that sometimes giving them space to exist and giving them real consideration has helped me b/c i don’t feel as anxious when they pop up — i know i can and have given them loving consideration

I try my best to distract myself and ignore the intrusive thoughts. It's not always the easiest and has taken me years to practice ignoring them. One thing I used to do is write them down and then when I had a stack of them I'd somehow safely destroy the many thoughts I had written down. I now do that mentally rather than physically. Another thing that has helped is saying them out loud to a therapist or close friend

I wish I could help you I get them all the time they practically take up my entire brain like I'll be minding my own business starting off into space on my bed because I really have nothing better to do I have a Nintendo switch now but I don't play it that often so I try hard if they're bad intrusive thoughts to remind myself that they're probably not real and it's just a worry of mine or something but if it's big life events that I have no control over I tell myself that also have no control over them whatever the thoughts are telling me