Intrusive Thoughts: Progression into Obsessive Compulsivity

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What if I stab my best friend? What if I drop a baby down a flight of stairs? What if I run over someone with my car? Alarming as they may be, these questions occur naturally in the human brain. Most commonly known as intrusive thoughts, these thoughts occur spontaneously with no particular origin (Berry, May, Anrade, & Kavanagh, 2010). More often than not, intrusive thoughts are dark in nature, and appear in the mind when an individual least expects it, hence their name (Berry et al., 2010). These noetic interruptions are fairly common—between 79% and 99% of people in nonclinical studies experience intrusive thoughts (Barrera & Norton, 2011). On the flipside, these intrusions can fester and become more than just fleeting thoughts in some individuals. While intrusive thoughts and their related impulses occur universally in the human population, they can lead to clinical conditions such as obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
OCD is a clinical disorder with “recurrent, intrusive thoughts, images, or impulses that are experienced as ego-dystonic and extremely distressing” (Barrera & Norton, 2011). Evidence suggests that OCD and other similar disorders stem from the deliberate avoidance of noetic interruptions. As these interruptive thought processes appear more frequently, the afflicted individual perceives them as a personal image that exhibits a high incompatibility with their current personality. In an attempt to prevent those negative thoughts from becoming reality, people with OCD develop rituals and routines to “not think about” certain intrusive thoughts (Belloch, Morillo & Garcia-Soriano, 2009). While they initially start out as fleeting thoughts, intrusive thoughts can develop into full scale obsessions. What was or...

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...CD and its underlying causes may potentially indicate a solution for other similar anxiety disorders.

Works Cited

Barrera, T. L., & Norton, P. J. (2011). The appraisal of intrusive thoughts in relation to obsessional-compulsive symptoms. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 40(2), 98-110. Retrieved November 10, 2013, from EBSCO Host Database.
Belloch, A., Morillo, C., & Garcia-Soriano, G. (2009). Strategies to control unwanted intrusive thoughts: Which are relevant and specific in obsessive-compulsive disorder?. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 33(1), 75-89. Retrieved October 28, 2013, from the PILOTS: Published International Literature On Traumatic Stress database.
Berry, L. M., May, J., Andrade, J., & Kavanagh, D. (2010). Emotional and behavioral reaction to intrusive thoughts. Assessment, 17(1), 126-137. Retrieved October 28, 2013, from the SAGE Journals database.

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