| By :
Nick Whyte
Worrying, irrational thoughts are one of the most common symptoms of an anxiety disorder and one that can be most disturbing. It's almost as if your mind is playing tricks on you, betraying you. It can lead you to worry about your mental health, It's almost as if the thoughts aren't your own, you start to think like someone else in a new disturbing way. Irrational thoughts like this are simply a side effect of general anxiety. When you suffer from an anxiety disorder you become very introspective, checking to see what you are thinking all the time, constantly asking yourself if you are feeling anxious, reviewing the day's events, thinking back on how things have gone. This checking in or over-thinking that we do is a well documented part of anxiety. And it is also what causes the worrying irrational thinking. Constant thinking develops into a habit when we have an anxiety disorder, we magnify every situation, over-thinking things, thinking through all the possible scenarios, getting ourselves into an anxious frame of mind by dreaming up the worst possible outcomes for every situation. How To Stop Irrational Thoughts And although it is maddening and you can't understand how your mind can play these tricks on you, just accept that anxiety and worrying thoughts, anxiety and irrational thoughts go together. It is simply a symptom of your anxiety. Anxious thinking is absolutely normal when you are suffering from anxiety. I think of these as the what if scenarios. Every little worry gets blown up out of all proportion as you continuously ask yourself what if, over and over again. It can feel as if you are determined to come up with the worst outcome to any potential problem or situation When you have an anxiety disorder, every situation seems to be a problem. A simple headache can get you believing that you have 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 letter about a missed credit card payment will be a sign of impending bankruptcy. Your rational sane side tells you to stop thinking like this but your anxious self just carries on doing it over and over again. It is important with irrational worrying troublesome thoughts that you recognise them for exactly what they are; they are simply thoughts that bear no relevance to real life. They are simply our normal worries and concerns magnified out of all proportion by our own anxiety. Simply accept these thoughts for what they are and instead of stopping yourself from thinking them, let the thoughts in, think through the various scenarios but accept that the thoughts are nonsense and irrational. By realising and accepting that anxiety causes irrational thinking and by realising that your thought processes are a symptom of that anxiety, you neutralize the worrying irrational thoughts, putting things back into perspective Don't try to tell yourself to stop thinking silly irrational thoughts. The harder you try to stop yourself doing something the themore importance you attach to it. Instead try thinking a worrying thought through to the end, deliberately looking at all the different outcomes. 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 avenue of thought, you can remind yourself of the outcome and recognise these thoughts for what they are. Remember, your mind took a long time to develop anxiety and coping with the symptoms can take a while too. Remember that anxious worrying irrational thoughts are just a symptom of an anxiety disorder. Accept that idea, embrace it and you have taken the first step towards mastering irrational thoughts and getting your old self back.
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