Entertaining Psychology

They’re these little seeds in the back of your mind, waiting for a chance to grow and show themselves. Whenever you think about them you have no idea why they popped into your head in the first place. Some are simple, sometimes overly-optimistic thoughts while others are the exact definition of pure evil and sadism. I’m of course talking about intrusive thoughts.

Intrusive thoughts are basically involuntary thoughts people have that seem weird to them when they think about them and are hard to get rid of/manage since they constantly recur. Sort of like when a person goes into a room and forgets why they’re there in the first place, there has to be a reason they’re in there but they can’t think of it. Such is the same with intrusive thoughts, they just sort of happen ,and keep happening, without any reason the person having them can think of, for them to exist.

Intrusive thought in general is usually attributed to things like guilty consciences or evil dark sides. However, this isn’t always the case. Intrusive thought could also be caused by traumatic events involving a certain one of the five senses or by the environment one is exposed to. The majority of the intrusive thoughts people have are, unfortunately, unpleasant and have even lead some to complete and total insanity. When someone thinks “intrusive thoughts” they usually picture this nice little child who is very timid and bashful suddenly thinking about everything totally opposite of their character (such as  turning into a dreamed Texas Chainsaw Massacre with them being the main serial killer). However, not all intrusive thoughts are necessarily as bloody, gorey ,or evil as real-life Jason Voorhees next to you at the bus stop. Some intrusive thoughts can actually be somewhat of a good thing. As stated earlier, intrusive thoughts have the ability to change people usually because of their recurring nature. So, if a nice kid can be turned into an insane monster with intrusive thought, what’s preventing a relatively mean kid from being turned into a kind fellow of the community? Nothing, that’s what! Intrusive thoughts are not necessarily things deemed unpleasant by society, they are things deemed unpleasant by the person having them. If someone thinks being mean is good and they start having intrusive thoughts about being good to others, that can have a major psychological effect on them. Certainly this isn’t always the case that people are changed by intrusive thought (I manage it quite well ;)) but it just goes to show that intrusive thoughts are not necessarily a bad thing. I personally think intrusive thoughts are what can lead us to our fullest potential in life and can give us a better understanding of how the human psyche works and functions.