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How To Stop Irrational Thoughts Caused By Anxiety
http://www.selfhelpanxietycures.com
Irrational, pointless thoughts are one of the most common symptoms of an anxiety disorder and one that can be most disturbing. It feels as if your mind is betraying you, playing tricks on you. It can lead you to worry about your mental state, It's almost as if you are not thinking your own thoughts, you can start to think in a new disturbing way that isn't at all like the 'normal' you.
Irrational thinking like this are simply one of the side effects of anxiety. When you suffer from an anxiety disorder you can become very introspective, checking in on your emotions all the time, repeatedly asking yourself if you are feeling anxious, thinking back on what you have done, reviewing how the day have gone. This checking in or over-thinking that we do is a well known symptom of anxiety.
And it is also what leads to the worrying irrational thoughts. This constant thinking becomes a habit if we have anxiety, we over-think and magnify every situation, thinking through endless what-if scenarios, working ourselves into an even more anxious frame of mind by imagining the worst possible outcomes for every situation.
How To Stop Irrational Thoughts
And although it drives you mad and you can't understand how your mind can do these things, simply accept that anxiety and worrying thoughts, anxiety and irrational thoughts just go together. They are simply a symptom of anxiety. Anxious thinking is completely normal when you are suffering from anxiety. I think of these as the what if scenarios. Even the smallest worry gets magnified as you continuously ask yourself what if, over and over again. It can feel as if you are set on coming up with the worst possible outcome to any situations.
If you have an anxiety disorder, every worry seems to be problematic. A headache can get you worrying about a tumour on the brain, a stomach ache can convince you that you have a burst appendix, palpitations caused by anxiety convince you that you are about to have a heart attack, a simple reminder letter about a missed credit card payment can be magnified into impending bankruptcy.
Your rational side is telling you to stop thinking like this but your anxious self just carries on doing it time and time again.
It is important with irrational worrying troublesome thinking that you recognise them for exactly what they are; simply thoughts that bear no relevance to real life. They are simply our normal thoughts and concerns magnified out of all proportion by our own anxiety.
Accept these thoughts for what they are and instead of trying to stop yourself thinking like this, allow the thoughts in, think through the various scenarios but recognise the thoughts as irrational and without foundation. By accepting that an anxiety disorder can cause irrational thinking and by realising that your thought processes are a symptom of that anxiety, you take away the power of the irrational thoughts, putting everything back into perspective Don't try to tell yourself to stop thinking stupid thoughts. The harder you try to stop yourself from doing something the harder it becomes and themore importance you attach to it. Just try thinking a worrying thought through to its conclusion, deliberately looking at different scenarios. The end effect is that you can make the worrying thoughts seem ridiculous and laughable, neutralizing them as you do.
Next time your mind tries to go down that rout, you can remind yourself of the outcome and recognise these thoughts for what they are.
Your mind took a long time to develop anxiety and coping with the symptoms can take some time as well.
Remember that anxious worrying irrational thoughts are just one of the symptoms of anxiety. Accept that idea, embrace it and you have taken the first step towards mastering irrational thoughts and getting your old self back.
If you found our article on anxiety and irrational thoughts useful and would like to find out more information and tips on overcoming anxiety visit our site at http://www.selfhelpanxietycures.com
Article submitted Monday, February 06, 2012 & read 66 times.
Nick Whyte lives in Shropshire with his wife and two young children. Nick and his wife run a successful business from home. Nick suffered from generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) for fifteen years until two years ago when he successfully overcame his anxiety disorder with the help of a self help anxiety programme. He now writes extensively on the subjects of anxiety, anxiety disorders and how to overcome them. He is the owner and creator of the website http://www.selfhelpanxietycures.com and also contributes on a daily basis to a number of anxiety forums to help others to recover from this debilitating condition.
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