Ep. 55: Thought Suppression Never Works

Your Anxiety Toolkit - Anxiety & OCD Strategies for Everyday

Kimberley Quinlan, LMFT | Anxiety & OCD Specialist

Self-improvement, Education, Anxietymindfulnessmeditation, Mental Health, Health & Fitness

4.9 • 802 Ratings

🗓️ 28 June 2018

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Thought Suppression Doesn't Work!!

Thought Suppression Intrusive Thoughts CBT OCD Anxiety Depression Mindfulness Your Anxiety Toolkit Kimberley Quinlan

You may have heard it multiple times, but consider this a little reminder. THOUGHT SUPPRESSION NEVER WORKS! This short but hefty statement is considered one of the golden rules when it comes to the management of anxiety disorders, specifically Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety, Healthy Anxiety and Phobias.

However, the truth is, we all attempt to make our “bad” or anxiety-provoking thoughts away. We try to push them down so they won't hurt us anymore. We try to make them go away, so we don’t have to feel the related shame, guilt, irritation, and annoyance of these thoughts. Does this sound anything like you? Let me tell you, you are in the right place.

You see, this is a very common reaction to intrusive, anxiety-producing thoughts. For those with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Health Anxiety (hypochondria), Social Anxiety, Panic Disorder or Specific Phobias, thought suppression can be involuntary and we often do not even know we are doing it. Intuitively, our brains will fight or run away from almost anything that creates discomfort for us. We are biologically set up for fight, flight or freeze.

In today’s episode, we talk about why thought suppression never works. We talk about how thought suppression can actually increase our anxiety over time and how thought suppression teaches us to intuitively judge our thoughts as bad.

If this sounds counter-intuitive to you, you are not alone. My clients and the members of the CBT School Campus are commonly asking some pretty great questions about this, so I wondered if this was a topic that might benefit you.

In this week's episode of Your Anxiety Toolkit Podcast, we talk about how Mindfulness can help us to accept and allow thoughts, non-judgmentally. We address how it can change the dynamic between you and your thoughts to a more peaceful and coexisting relationship.

Remember, allowing thoughts is the key. Allow them to come and go. Accept them and see what happens. Listen to hear more!

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Your Anxiety Toolkit, episode number 55.
0:09.9	Welcome to Your Anxiety Toolkit. I'm your host, Kimberly Quinlan. This podcast is filled by three
0:16.9	main goals. The first goal is to provide you with some extra tools to help you manage
0:21.8	your anxiety. Second goal, to inspire you. Anxiety doesn't get to decide how you live your life.
0:29.3	And number three, and I leave the best for last, is to provide you with one big, fat virtual
0:35.6	hug, because experiencing anxiety ain't easy. If that sounds good to you, let's go.
0:46.8	My name is Kimberly Quinlan and welcome to your anxiety toolkit. I'm so honored to have you with me. If you happen to be new to
0:56.5	your anxiety toolkit, I welcome you. And I welcome you to the CBT school community. We are a community
1:03.7	of amazing, strong, incredible human beings who are on a mission to face our fears and not let fear make our decisions and to lead
1:15.2	with love and values and joy. And that can be really difficult when you're managing anxiety
1:22.9	and depression or any other mental health issue that you may be having.
1:27.8	So please know that you're in the right place if you happen to be new.
1:32.5	And if you aren't new, if you're someone who's being a part of the CBT school family,
1:37.7	I welcome you back.
1:39.0	I am so grateful for your support.
1:42.3	And I really, really do get so much from hearing from you and getting feedback from you.
1:50.5	I love hearing what tools are helpful. I love hearing what is working for you and what hard
1:59.6	things you have been up to. I particularly love getting
2:04.3	stories and photos of you guys doing hard things. I just adore that. So if for any reason you feel
2:13.5	so inclined, please do reach out. Let us know what you're doing, what you're working hard at,
2:19.4	and I just admire you guys. Today, we are going to talk about thought suppression. I have a little
2:29.6	bit of exciting news before we talk about thought suppression. And that exciting news is that ERP school,
	...

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