Reddit reviews Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: 7 Ways to Freedom from Anxiety, Depression, and Intrusive Thoughts (Happiness is a trainable, attainable skill! Book 1)

Hey there!

This is a great question.

Mindfulness has been my greatest weapon to combat intrusive thoughts. (more so than medication and talk therapy)

When I first heard about Mindfulness, I sort of just brushed it off, because I thought the whole concept seemed superficial....Now, It has changed my life!

In mindfulness, you basically train your brain to respond differently to your negative thoughts.

When a thought comes, you try to evaluate it as a "third person." Try to become emotionally detached from the
situation. Don't try to push the thought out, or try to mask the thought with some kind of behavior.
When the thought comes, look at it and treat it like its just a thought, nothing more.

Ex: I sometimes have intrusive thoughts that a certain pain in my body is a fatal disease.

As I meditate, I evaluate the thought. I just look at it. I try to pretend I'm a third person looking at me, with the pain in my leg. I strip the fear out of it when I do it that way. Exposing myself to the thought also teaches my brain that the thought is not a threat, and therefore doesn't warrant feelings like "fear" or "disparity."

This is a really large concept to choke down all at once. One of the best resources is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy:7 Steps to Freedom from Anxiety, Depression, and Intrusive Thoughts. It is a very fast read, and its only $3.99! Totally worth it.

Please let me know if you have anymore questions!

You're welcome. I was actually in an Ni-Ti loop myself this morning. Writing thoughtfully about what I would recommend to another person going through the same thing helped me a lot as well.

In regards to my first point I'm glad you can relate. I believe us INFJs really shine when we feel there's something at stake for other people. It helps us get past the drama in our heads if we feel we can really help someone else or contribute to society.

I have the same kinds of friends, the ones who might hear me out, but might not give me what i really need when it comes to constructive feedback. I gravitate more towards other "feelers" in this regard. What I'm really looking for when trying to get out of my Ni-Ti loop are to have my emotions expressed and validated first, and to have the logic behind them dissected second. When I talk to my "thinker" type friends who give those black-and-white answers, they may technically be right in the logical sense, but they aren't able to provide the emotional solace I need to vent.

In regards to therapy, my experience is that I went to my primary care doctor first, through my work insurance. They gave me an assessment, and then recommended me to the psychiatry department. I did another assessment with psychiatry and they recommended me to an outpatient facility that accepts my work insurance. It took a while to get through that process, but I lucked out with the first therapist I found, and my copay is way lower than if I found a therapist outside of my insurance. This might not be suitable for everyone but it's an option.

In your self-help journey, I would also recommend working with a book that has specific exercises, like keeping a thought journal. Being able to re-assess your thoughts and feelings in your own words is really powerful, and is another way to get out of the Ni-Ti loop. This is the one I've been using and it has worksheets at the end you can use: https://www.amazon.com/Cognitive-Behavioral-Therapy-Depression-attainable-ebook/dp/B01BBCKHGM/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=cbt+7+steps&qid=1556654413&s=gateway&sr=8-3