I experience a lot of negative intrusive thoughts, but especially intrusive images flashing in my head - images that are fear inducing, like murderers breaking into my house when I am alone, images of a natural disaster like a hurricane or earthquake taking place, these images flash into my head and can be very vivid. I dont get them all of the time, but get them quite frequently. I do suffer from anxiety - OCD symptoms that have gotten better over the years and of course psychosis from SZ and bipolar - I guess these conditions can all cause intrusive thinking/images - Does anyone else get intrusive images? What is your experience with them, I’d like to know
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I hate it when my head circus wants to play this way. It’s not natural disasters for me. It’s drunk drivers have killed someone I love, or drive by shooter, or other urban violence. The thing is, Seattle is very low key. Not a violent city.
But I get a picture of them hit by a truck and squished under the tires. It’s usually my sis or my little nephews and nieces because Seattle is having a bike and car war. Hit and runs of bike vs. car are in the news a lot these days… and they do ride bikes. If I call my sis or my sister-in-law and they don’t answer, I feel myself slipping even more.
I do have moments where I’m sure someone is going to break in to our place. I can picture them plotting to break in. Then any little noise at that time, is confirmation that someone is breaking in. Then my thinking gets very jumbled.
Other intrusive images/ thoughts are that I committed acts of violence against my family members. That one makes me feel like a horrid monster. That one has been fading luckily. I haven’t had that on in a while.
But I’ve been finding that these are all traveling companions of the panic act of my head circus. If I’m feeling anxious then this flares up a bit more. Then the anxious turns to panic and then I’m not thinking too well.
I also get intrusive thoughts and images, its like an alien has put them in my head, as they are not my thoughts. They were brought on by stress. I had images of my husband dead and thoughts of murder. It gets worse as I watch action movies with shooting scenes, its like the TV puts the thoughts into my head. Its awful. I’m very glad and relieved I don’t seem to be the only one who is getting these intrusions in my head!
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No apparently you are not the only one @Saadiqah - My images are almost always violent, bloody or fear based. Again its not that I get them all day long, but they will pop up in my head vividly - I see these images very clearly. They are disturbing to say the least.
I CAN NOT handle blood or horror of war flicks of any type. I got rid of my T.V. ages ago. No T.V. in the house.
I already know that will set me off. No way can I watch that stuff any more. I’m purely Channel 9 on-line.
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Im that way too J, I cannot watch horror movies and violent shows, I do still watch cable news however
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I get intrusive thoughts but not images. Sometimes, when I get intrusive thoughts, I try to imagine an apple. Perhaps you could imagine positive images and support those images. Also, maybe don’t watch the news for a few years.
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when I have intrusive thoughts I take an Inderal 40mg pill and then everything goes OK.
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yes i get this ill be walking down the staires and in my head picture myself falling down the staires and banging my head and dying its catasrophising the worst case senario. self soothing techniques are good hypnosis yoga relaxation anything that helps you be calmer tcx
Hi @dandydinmot this happens to me also, I will be doing something like cutting food or something, and I picture cutting myself with the knife by accident, I can visualize blood all over the place. Or like you I will picture bad things happening to people - accidents, cancer, all terrible things. They just come to me very suddenly
maybe its when you have an anxious parent they can make you afraid of something be careful when your cross the road dont talk to strangers etc. its imagining the worst thing that could happen ive always been an anxious person it sucks.
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That is strange that you mentioned overprotective parents - because mine were! You could very well be right - it doesnt help being raised this way - both my parents have some form of anxiety, and of course I suffer from high anxiety as well
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I also suffer from intrusive images and thoughts. Mostly images to go with the thoughts. Some strange sexual or not images. This happened a couple years ago. I tell my doctor this and he says intrusive thoughts are normal. The bad side is I have people reading my intrusive thoughts and seeing my visual intrusive images. That’s why I get supremely harassed and miss my peaceful, unpossessed thoughts.
see121: my wife can “read” me. I don’t know if she reads thoughts, but certainly body language and perhaps some emotions. She can map body language to something I’ve told her the body language means in the past. Perhaps you are just dealing with very intuitive people who aren’t really reading your thoughts or images, rather they are seeing your reaction to what’s going on inside your head and relating that to something you’ve told them in the past. Good luck. I find having an intrusive thought I can trust very soothing. Perhaps you can find something like that.
Sometimes I have this, too, and it appears to me they are obsessive thoughts.
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I am always thinking, will that be the pillow the root of cause for such nightmare and intrusive thoughts.