How To Learn To Fight Obsessions

1 in 50 people is affected by obsessions. This is one of the psychological problems people tend to hide if they struggle with it. An obsession is a thought that you cling to completely and are unable to get out of your head again.  In general, obsessions are often full of worry on an irrational or absurd level. All these thoughts cause unnecessary suffering. In this article we will talk about how to combat obsessions.

We have all had bad days or ended up in quarrels or discussions that have ruined the day for us. These situations often mean that we spend the rest of the day thinking about them and analyzing what we could have done differently or how we could have reacted in a better way. Even though  we may want to let go and move on, we can not stop thinking about the situation.  Even if we can not change anything, the thoughts go through it all over and over again and it becomes a situation where you wish you could stop, but you can not do it. This is an example of an obsession.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder as a mental problem

We can all experience having obsessive thoughts from time to time. This means that some of these thoughts do not necessarily signal a problem or an illness. For some, it is still a mental problem, since these thoughts can significantly change their lives. In addition, they tend to hide these thoughts. It is embarrassing to admit that you have something you find strange and ugly about yourself.

For these people, obsessions are a recurring problem. The obsessions they have tend to focus on absurd worries  and even though people like to know that they are absurd, they cannot avoid worrying. A classic example of an obsession is: “could I have done something dishonest, illegal or seriously criminal?”

Causes of obsessions

Obsessive-compulsive disorder can occur for many reasons and perhaps rather a combination of several factors. One of the most common reasons is related to the future and the need someone has to be able to predict what will happen. We want to know what will happen in order to prepare ourselves and perhaps most of all assure ourselves that something tragic will not happen in our lives in the near future. We want control over something that cannot be controlled, which we cannot have.  Unforeseen things happen every single day.

Another cause of obsessive-compulsive disorder is our low tolerance for anxiety. We live in a world where we constantly have bad times and are constantly bombarded by various stimuli and information. We are forced to always be busy with something. All of this generates a lot of stress and can lead to anxiety. It is a normal thing that our bodies are prepared for, but not our minds. When we get a thought that makes us nervous, we will silence it or make it disappear immediately.  We do not tend to reflect on it.

The last reason is something we can call “cruelty”. Cruelty is the belief that all challenges are “cruel”. We like to believe that we are the center of the universe and therefore all setbacks are often seen as the end of the world.  This tendency to exaggerate the problems and what they bring with them is one of the reasons why one develops obsessions. Although these are the three main reasons behind obsessions, there are several, such as superstition, an excessive feeling of shame, fear of being ridiculed, etc.

What should be done to combat obsessions?

Obsessive thoughts have some characteristics that are easy to define and that can help us neutralize the negative impact they have. This disorder can be 100% cured or its effect can be reduced to the point that the mind can be ignored.  We can all fight obsessions without having to resort to medication. Still, it is absolutely necessary to go for some form of treatment.

The treatment is often based on  learning to tolerate anxiety.  The more anxiety we have the ability to deal with, the longer we can endure when we experience anxiety. To achieve this, you need to get used to anxiety or at least a certain level of anxiety. You must also learn to live with insecurity. We must be able to live without focusing on the things we cannot predict.

On the other hand, we must also learn to stop focusing on unimportant things. Most of our problems are relatively harmless, so one of the best ways we can deal with them is to see them in the context of the bigger things.  To be able to do this, we must learn to accept ourselves. We have to erase the “perfect” picture of how we should be, which is usually very unrealistic. We must begin to accept ourselves with all our flaws. This will help us to distance ourselves from generally useless thoughts and especially obsessive thoughts. We must therefore get it into our heads that “nothing is too cruel” to be able to fight obsessions.