Intrusive Thoughts And Feelings That Cause Stress And Anxiety.

[Jyar]

I have terrible thoughts about friends and family getting hurt or worse that come out of nowhere. These are thoughts that I cannot shake. They are incredibly terrifying and induce severe anxiety attacks. Does anyone else experience this?

 

[Misul]

I get these, too. They do seem to come out of nowhere and not be related to what is going on around me. My theory so far is that any type of stress can bring on these thoughts and that's hard to swallow since I'm basically feeling stress 24/7.

Sometimes when I lie down to sleep or nap, I'll try to make up a pleasant story in my head or think about something positive but I always end up on a tangent that is centered around some fear or trauma and I end up having a panic attack.

I'm so sorry you're going through this. One thing I try to do is remind myself each and every time that it wasn't actually happening and that it's just my PTSD acting out. Even if I still feel bad, I think it's important just to remind myself that I'm safe and sound in that moment, despite what my mind says.

Misul

 

[Lady of Longbourn]

Is it something like this? If not, it still may help...

[DLMURL]https://www.ptsdforum.org/c/threads/violent-images.33659/[/DLMURL]

 

[twopenny]

Yes, I do.

Sometimes fleetingly, sometimes so badly and for so long that it cripples me for the rest of the day.

I don't have any magic self-help way of dealing with it. Mostly I just sit and shake, and try to breathe, till it goes away. For me, I know where it comes from (losing family), but I'm not sure that actually helps.

 

[Petros]

I have a lot of intrusive thoughts too sometimes. Thoughts of hurting myself and others in very violent ways. I am trying though to figure out if maybe some of these images are triggered by specific thoughts in my head: often they occur when I'm thinking about something more mundane that is stressing me out. So maybe if I can find a way to get better at managing the mundane things in life the images will go away? Ultimately these thoughts are incredible upsetting, but they do seem to express anger towards myself and towards others. Maybe if I find a constructive and positive outlet to express my anger these incredibly disturbing images in my mind will go away? Will they ever go away?