Intrusive Thoughts - Just a Side Effect of Anxiety

Intrusive thoughts are actually just a side effect of anxiety - and then the thoughts produce more anxiety, and the anxiety produces more thoughts. You get stuck in a cycle. Once the anxiety starts to ease so too will the thoughts.  I had loads of bad thoughts and they just manifested over time, moved from one important one to another.  As I recovered the thoughts became unimportant and now no longer bother me.

People worry about their thoughts, but understanding they are no more than a side effect, just as a headache is a side effect of a cold, that really does help.  Don't try and stop them - doing that you're just making them more important.  If someone said to you 'don't think of a giraffe', then you'd automatically think of a giraffe.  Letting them be, not reacting to them and they'll lose their power.

Thoughts are very upsetting but if you can learn to just let them be, however powerful they seem, however much anxiety they cause.  By paying them attention you make them important ... and so they cling on.  They won't go away overnight or next week, but continuous practice and they start to diffuse them.  Its like ignoring them, even though they're there.  They will pass as you recover.  An anxious body goes hand in hand with an anxious mind.  Once you're better you think completely differently.  Honestly.