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So tonight I'm going to start out with a famous short story by Edgar Allan Poe.

I'm not going to recite the story, just summarize it.

I believe it was called the imp of the perverse. There was a man who carries out what was the perfect

murder and quite honestly I don't remember how he did it but it was a perfect murder and he would get away with it and

whenever he any thought of it appears he thinks I am safe just repeats that phrase I am safe, I am safe. Just repeats that phrase, I am safe.

And all's well until one day he changes the I am safe

to I'm safe so long as I don't confess.

This little subtle change leads to his complete undoing.

Essentially trying to suppress the thought of confessing actually drives him crazy. The thoughts

keep imparting him more and more constantly and the more he tries or extends effort to suppress the thought the more it intrudes.

Eventually he falls into a spiral of panic and anxiety and then does exactly what he was telling himself not to do, which is he confesses.

We're going to understand why this story by Poe is so psychologically insightful.

They underlying truth that it conveys

and why what it's informing us is so I think vital and maintaining emotional health and well-being.

Intrusive thoughts, memories, worries, images, ruminations,

can create debilitating symptoms, All anxiety disorders feature rampant

intrusive thoughts. A clinician at Harvard, a guy named Dan Wegener who was fascinated why it's so impossible to suppress thoughts.

...