How to get rid of Dark/Intrusive Thoughts?

Spark of Thoughts-

Sometimes, somethings get struck in your head even if you don’t want them disturbing you. They can be violent, bad or God knows what else. I can’t tell what is really going in your mind but you know what is going on. You can’t tell what is going on in my mind but I know. But we can agree on the fact that we do think and have some thoughts which we really need to get rid of. It is completely normal to have these thoughts and you’re not alone. Now, what is a dark thought? Where do they come from? How to get rid of them?

Justifying Thoughts-

Let’s say that a person who is really close to you have been affected very badly. Generally, we try to think of them and their problem. Thinking these could eventually lead to putting yourself in the same situation happened to them or you put your other loved ones in the same situation. We don’t want any bad for them, but these thoughts are “self-destructing”. Watching a movie packed with violence and crimes might trigger you having the thoughts you committing the same crime which you don’t want to. Having Frightening dreams over the phobias you have or having nightmares. These dark thoughts revolve around a loss, danger and failure. Fear of losing someone is the worst but when you can’t get rid of the thought of losing someone, that is just level infinity terrible. If you have not had any yet, please I just wish the best for you. If you have been affected by these “Dark Thoughts” I’m here anyway to help you to get rid of these thoughts.

Root of thoughts-

We need to dig the root of the problem to solve any problem in any field. So, let’s see where are these thoughts coming from.  People realize before it’s too late that they had these disturbing thoughts. These thoughts are the symptoms from being depressed of course. Depression can do a lot of things to our mind and having these intrusive thoughts is one of it. There can be a number of reasons for the depression which we can’t control anyway. These thoughts can also be a symptom of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a mental sickness that is caused after a terrifying event which you did experience or witness. You suffer from having flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety. These things happen inside your head leading to have dark thoughts. Others reasons for having these thoughts include Troubled relationships, Health issues, poor quality of life, existential crisis (as my friend might say it), having a tight schedule in your work place or study place. Since we have found the root of the problem which is “Depression”, we can move towards finding solutions for the problem. Depression is a state of mind and problems around mind. I consider the mind as a realm filled with galaxies and worlds. No world can exist without problems and so can our mind. The mental realm is the place where our conscious exists. This is where our concepts, images, thoughts reside. The mental realm has to be left in peace to stop having dark thoughts and the ones that disturbs you.

Cutting off the roots-

If you’re having these thoughts continuously, just stop everything and have a breather. Just pause or stop the moment and focus on your breath instead. If you find that difficult you have five physical senses in which you can focus your mind on. Have food crazily, hear songs which rips out your ears or melts your heart. Distract your mind from the thought, so you just forget you even had that thought. You have to recognize the thoughts which are “Negative” and just tell yourself that “Oh! Don’t open that door”. Just be quick enough to identify the thoughts and distract yourself. You don’t need to distract yourself if you’re not comfy doing it.  

The simplest method to get rid of these is just to simply let it out. You can talk to a friend. Talking is so effective that you’re letting off something from your chest and you feel so relieved. Talk to somebody on whom you can rely on. Not just to someone who hears, but “listens”. Talk from your heart to the person who won’t judge for anything that happened. That person can be your best friend, your mentor, your partner, your parent, your sibling or anyone you can just trust. Meditation is also a good practice to calm yourself down and get rid of the thoughts.

As my mentor once said, writing the dark thoughts down can just be effective as talking to a person. When you write it or type it, you’re literally letting out the thoughts and it is very much up to you if you want to look back it or not. Who knows, you might see it later and find it funny too. Don’t think about the failures, it will put you in a very bad place where you can’t even get back for the next opportunity. Thinking about the incident that happened in the past is not very healthy, you have flashbacks, I do agree it’s not easy to not think about the incident happened but we owe ourselves a try. Break the cycle of negative thoughts and think positive. It’s never late to talk and think about the thoughts you had. Consult a doctor if you “really” need professional help, if you can’t let go of things and it’s completely normal to consult a doctor and talking about your problems.