What does Intrusive thoughts mean?
I have read that term in regards to ptsd or childhood trauma but does anyone know what it means? I prob know but just wanna see others wording for it.
46-50, F
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PurpleGirl · 51-55, F
There are intrusive thoughts and intrusive memories. They are not exactly the same.
Everyone has intrusive thoughts which are automatic, involuntary thoughts. Those are generally things that are socially unacceptable. So it is stuff involving violence (just want to hurt someone for no reason), sex (such as baseless fears of being gay or having AIDS, or feeling inappropriate urges such as towards minors or family members), or religion (fear of having committed 'the' unpardonable sin or fear of going to Hell). Most people just shrug those off and don't act on those. They are like, "Damn! That's crazy. Where did that come from?" Then they go on about their day. Some would call those obsessions if the same ones keep coming up, and OCD combines a compulsion to do a ritual.
Then there are intrusive memories. That is when real stuff that has happened to you keeps playing over and over, not just fears or hypothetical stuff. In my case, due in part to traumatic brain injury, it is little things that others find mildly annoying or even acceptable that plays over and over. For whatever reason, others doing anything for me without my prior consent seems to feel about as strongly as torture, and it forms intrusive memories that keep playing over and over.
When someone has suffered actual severe trauma such as war, false imprisonment, rape, certain accidents, or even viewing certain things (such as witnessing suicide or murder), and that keeps playing over and over, usually with hypervigilance and nightmares, maybe an inability to function, overreactions to things (like hearing a car backfire and grabbing a gun since you believe you are being shot at), that is PTSD. And if you had prolonged traumatic incidents such as being war prisoner, constant child abuse, daily prison rape, etc., then the result may be Complex PTSD which is even harder to treat.
And words and terms associated with intrusive thoughts and memories include: rumination (skip all the hits related to digestion and cows) or self-rumination, forced thinking, automatic thoughts, traumatic memories, trauma memories, automatic thoughts, etc.
It also seems that other things are more common in folks with intrusive thoughts and memories such as depression, social anxiety, sexual fetishes, LGBT interest, or explosive rage. It is just that the areas of the brain involved seem to be shared.
Everyone has intrusive thoughts which are automatic, involuntary thoughts. Those are generally things that are socially unacceptable. So it is stuff involving violence (just want to hurt someone for no reason), sex (such as baseless fears of being gay or having AIDS, or feeling inappropriate urges such as towards minors or family members), or religion (fear of having committed 'the' unpardonable sin or fear of going to Hell). Most people just shrug those off and don't act on those. They are like, "Damn! That's crazy. Where did that come from?" Then they go on about their day. Some would call those obsessions if the same ones keep coming up, and OCD combines a compulsion to do a ritual.
Then there are intrusive memories. That is when real stuff that has happened to you keeps playing over and over, not just fears or hypothetical stuff. In my case, due in part to traumatic brain injury, it is little things that others find mildly annoying or even acceptable that plays over and over. For whatever reason, others doing anything for me without my prior consent seems to feel about as strongly as torture, and it forms intrusive memories that keep playing over and over.
When someone has suffered actual severe trauma such as war, false imprisonment, rape, certain accidents, or even viewing certain things (such as witnessing suicide or murder), and that keeps playing over and over, usually with hypervigilance and nightmares, maybe an inability to function, overreactions to things (like hearing a car backfire and grabbing a gun since you believe you are being shot at), that is PTSD. And if you had prolonged traumatic incidents such as being war prisoner, constant child abuse, daily prison rape, etc., then the result may be Complex PTSD which is even harder to treat.
And words and terms associated with intrusive thoughts and memories include: rumination (skip all the hits related to digestion and cows) or self-rumination, forced thinking, automatic thoughts, traumatic memories, trauma memories, automatic thoughts, etc.
It also seems that other things are more common in folks with intrusive thoughts and memories such as depression, social anxiety, sexual fetishes, LGBT interest, or explosive rage. It is just that the areas of the brain involved seem to be shared.