In my previous post, I touched on obsessive thoughts. To reiterate, it's important not to shame yourself over obsessive thoughts. When you tell yourself, "I shouldn't be thinking these thoughts," you're very unlikely to stop thinking those thoughts, and you're actually likely to think about them more by bringing them to awareness.
When I fall into a mixed state (features of mania, depression, and anxiety), I often begin to obsess over some of my past mistakes. In this post, I'll focus on the anxiety side as that is the most common emotion people deal with.
After one of my hospitalizations, I attended a DBT group therapy class. According to Very Well Mind, DBT, or dialectical behavior therapy, is is, "a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy. Its main goals are to teach people how to live in the moment, develop healthy ways to cope with stress, regulate their emotions, and improve their relationships with others."
When obsessive thoughts become acute, one helpful technique from DBT is to IMPROVE the moment. IMPROVE stands for: imagery, meaning, prayer/practice, relaxation, one thing in the moment, vacation, and encouragement.
You can read about each of these techniques over at Hartstein Psychological, but I'll focus on how each of these techniques do and don't work for me in my next post.
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