I am having a problem with scary thoughts and what if thinking. When I have these thoughts that I don't want to entertain, I know that I should say thoughts only thoughts and have the thought and ignore it, but how do you do that. I will have the thought, which will scare me and then I will dwell on it and end up crying because it scares me so much. I had a thought about going crazy and dwelled on it so much that I actually thought I was going crazy, which I wasn't, but it's like what if I do go crazy. Deep down I know that it's the anxiety. I need some help with this one. It's time to get on with my life and let is go and I really want to get over this, but it's like I'm hanging on for some reason. I'm always putting myself down for things that I have done in the past. My husband is so supportive and most of my thoughts are about him which make me scared too. Any suggestion would help. Thanks

Hey Deb...

I too suffered persistant thoughts of "going crazy" and "what if I really do"... I had other scary thoughts too that caused more and more fear.

My husband is also VERY supportive and I love him more and more each day for it.

You need to educate yourself as much as you can about anxiety! The more you know, the more you will understand and less afraid you will be.

As far as ignoring the thoughts....I don't think that helps much at all. In fact, Lucinda talks about bringing them out and examining them!! They are only thoughts and if they are only thoughts then they can't hurt you. Face them, examine them and then gently remind yourself the TRUTH and REALITY of the thought and keep doing this....eventually it will start to lose it's power. The more power and fear you place on a thought...the more it's going to scare you. Instead, let the thoughts come in and then let them GO OUT and focus on something else. Don't be distracted by those thoughts. Let them come and let them go, in the meantime....do something with yourself. I think you will find that over time, they will go away. They did for me.
Now whenever a thought comes....I say....yeah, yeah.....that's not going to happen and then I quickly focus on something else. I am not going to give in to thoughts that ARE NOT REALITY.

SMears,
Thanks for your reply. I going to try and just have the thoughts. Why do these thoughts seem so real at times? I always thought that if you think sometime than it must be true. Like when my husband would be late coming home, I would think that he was in an accident. I would really think that something happened to him. Then he would pull in the driveway and the thought would go away because I knew that he was alright. I need to really work on this one, because it's my biggest problem with anxiety. Thanks again.
Deb

I can't recall off hand which lesson it was where Lucinda shared the idea of heading down a road to what I believe was an old barn (or maybe that was just the picture I created in my own mind LOL).

I envisioned a starting point where all of the roads lead off in different directions. I guess for me I replaced the thought with the picture of the road. I would say to myself "I have been down this road before. (The road of worry or obsessing.) I would say "Where did this road lead me?" "It lead me nowhere."

Do not go down this road again.
And I would skip off in another direction.

Shawn.

Dear Deb57,
i faced the same fears you are going through,
it is also my deepest fear of going crazy, i have a bad case of schizophrenia in my family
and you don�t know how much i suffered in asking myself "will i also become like this...? Will i also get these symptoms..." and i was in the middle of a panick, it sometimes seemed so real to me...but nevertheless it is only my anxiety and yours also, try to see your fears rational, you don�t go crazy just fearing it...
Hope this helps you a little...

quote:

Originally posted by deb57:
I am having a problem with scary thoughts and what if thinking. When I have these thoughts that I don't want to entertain, I know that I should say thoughts only thoughts and have the thought and ignore it, but how do you do that. I will have the thought, which will scare me and then I will dwell on it and end up crying because it scares me so much. I had a thought about going crazy and dwelled on it so much that I actually thought I was going crazy, which I wasn't, but it's like what if I do go crazy. Deep down I know that it's the anxiety. I need some help with this one. It's time to get on with my life and let is go and I really want to get over this, but it's like I'm hanging on for some reason. I'm always putting myself down for things that I have done in the past. My husband is so supportive and most of my thoughts are about him which make me scared too. Any suggestion would help. Thanks