I wish more people understood what intrusive thoughts actually are.

A lot of people have this weird misconception that intrusive thought are just “hnnnnnggg thoughts go brrrrr” but in reality it’s so much worse

Like intrusive thoughts are awful and very dangerous. I’ll randomly get the urge to jump out of a car or crash it or sometimes my brain will just drop HORRIBLE bigoted thoughts and words into my head it and makes me feel AWFUL

And it doesn’t just like stop after the thought leaves, the memory of that thought stays with for a while and you keep feeling constantly gross about yourself

The worst part arguably tho is people’s reaction

The way people’s reactions usually end up is a re-enforcement of those thoughts you have about yourself

Pretty much everyone I’ve even just offhandedly mentioned it to has gotten either really quiet and uncomfortable or have just straight up said “that’s not normal” or “whats wrong with you”

Anyway, there wasn’t really a purpose to this thread other than I wish people could separate people’s thoughts and actions

Especially growing up in a religious community that believes that someone’s thoughts are just as sinful as their actions I felt extremely demonized for literally just existing

And just to tie into my lrt, the thoughts that matter about a person are not their immediate knee jerk reaction to something, it’s the conscious thoughts that they fully think through in their mind because that’s an actual representation of their real thought process