Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts: A CBT-Based Guide to Getting Over Frightening, Obsessive, or Disturbing Thoughts

by Sally M. Winston PsyD

Intrusive Visual Images We can think in two different ways. One type of thinking is in the form of words, sort of talking to yourself inside your head. Another way is to have images or pictures in your mind. Although many intrusive thoughts are experienced as disturbing “self-talk,” there are a number that are almost exclusively visual images (Brewin et al. 2010). You may have noticed this yourself. Here are some of the most common kinds of intrusive visual images. Intrusive images can be static pictures or short “videos.” They may incorporate actual memories or be completely made up. Crazy or Humiliating Actions Many people think they are hallucinating when they have a visual image of themselves doing something crazy or humiliating in a social setting, but they are not. These visual images often happen during socially anxious situations, and they are simply imaginative products of stuck thoughts translated into images instead of words. I keep having an image of myself vomiting all over myself and other people—you know, like President Bush—whenever I am at a formal event. Whenever I am being interviewed and whenever I’m at a party, I imagine myself freezing or yelling out something that makes no sense,