{"id":16058,"date":"2022-08-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-14T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=16058"},"modified":"2022-08-22T11:35:28","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T09:35:28","slug":"scientists-may-have-figured-out-how-to-control-intrusive-thoughts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/2022\/08\/15\/scientists-may-have-figured-out-how-to-control-intrusive-thoughts\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists may have figured out how to control intrusive thoughts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCIENTISTS MAY HAVE FIGURED OUT HOW TO CONTROL INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS<\/h3>\n\n

The technique could help with unwanted symptoms of conditions like OCD and anxiety <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Most people experience unwanted thoughts from time to time. These internal intrusions can be as harmless as the urge to touch a button that reads \u2018DO NOT PRESS\u2019, or as debilitating as the thought that you can\u2019t step outside or you\u2019ll be immediately judged \u2013 an experience some people with social anxiety might be familiar with. <\/p>\n\n

When we notice an intrusive thought, we will usually react by trying to replace it quickly with something else, something happier. But research from psychologists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem suggests that distracting ourselves in this reactive way might actually be making the thought stronger. Instead, we should overcome unwanted thoughts using proactive thinking. <\/p>\n\n

For the study, Dr Isaac Fradkin and Dr Eran Eldar asked 80 participants to play a word game. They were shown a series of cue words, and for each they were asked to quickly give an associated word. <\/p>\n\n

For example, they may have been shown the cue word \u2018table\u2019, and come up with the response \u2018chair\u2019. <\/p>\n\n

Each cue was shown five different times throughout the experiment. All 80 people were told they would get paid for their participation, but half the volunteers, called the \u2018suppression group\u2019, were told that they would get an additional bonus only if they did not repeat any words \u2013 if they used the response \u2018chair\u2019 for the cue \u2018table\u2019 more than once, they\u2019d lose out. The game\u2019s short time limit meant the participants that did best would be the ones who could suppress the thoughts of words they\u2019d already said. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cSuppressing unwanted thoughts could help reduce them happening\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

The researchers found that in the participants who were not given the bonus rule, any repeated responses would come faster and faster each time they were said. So, the \u2018chair\u2019 response to the word \u2018table\u2019 was given quicker the second time they saw it compared to the first, and so on. This, the psychologists say, suggested the association in their mind strengthened each time, and the thought took less and less time to arrive in their minds. <\/p>\n\n

People in the suppression group still reported a repeated association. But when they did, they took more time to think of it than the people in the group without the incentive to suppress repeated words. So if a person ensured that an unwanted thought \u2013 in this case, the word \u2018chair\u2019 \u2013 was not given any strength after its first appearance, they could actually reduce the chance of it popping up in their mind a second time. <\/p>\n\n

The findings suggest that proactively suppressing an unwanted thought could help us reduce them happening in the first place. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cPeople are usually aware of their attempts to distract themselves from unwanted thoughts, or maybe suppress them in some other way, although they can rarely judge how well these attempts work,\u201d said Fradkin. \u201cWe tried to examine whether there are additional mechanisms allowing people to reduce the probability of thinking unwanted thoughts in the first place.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCIENTISTS MAY HAVE FIGURED OUT HOW TO CONTROL INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS The technique could help with unwanted symptoms of conditions like OCD and anxiety Most people experience unwanted thoughts from time to time. These internal intrusions can be as harmless as the urge to touch a button that reads \u2018DO NOT PRESS\u2019, or as debilitating as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":16057,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"19","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"19","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_19-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_19-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"August-2022","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"August-2022","purple_external_id":"August-2022-19-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"August-2022-19-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000089657||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000089657||","purple_android_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue381","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue381","purple_ios_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue381","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue381","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"0f422ad1-c939-476d-9f82-a410052ad4c3","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2022-08-15T15:38:01Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"ebef0bb0-616f-4148-ba4d-750ee75cea61","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2022-08-22T09:35:34Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A6-8LsGFvQUi6TXUO51zqYQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[25],"tags":[15],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/7ea0a603-38b9-4d33-8da7-8813af4d0892.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/7ea0a603-38b9-4d33-8da7-8813af4d0892.jpg",1268,1086,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/7ea0a603-38b9-4d33-8da7-8813af4d0892-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/7ea0a603-38b9-4d33-8da7-8813af4d0892-300x257.jpg",300,257,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/7ea0a603-38b9-4d33-8da7-8813af4d0892-768x658.jpg",768,658,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/7ea0a603-38b9-4d33-8da7-8813af4d0892-1024x877.jpg",800,685,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/7ea0a603-38b9-4d33-8da7-8813af4d0892.jpg",1268,1086,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/7ea0a603-38b9-4d33-8da7-8813af4d0892.jpg",1268,1086,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"SCIENTISTS MAY HAVE FIGURED OUT HOW TO CONTROL INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS The technique could help with unwanted symptoms of conditions like OCD and anxiety Most people experience unwanted thoughts from time to time. These internal intrusions can be as harmless as the urge to touch a button that reads \u2018DO NOT PRESS\u2019, or as debilitating as…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16058"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16058"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16818,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16058\/revisions\/16818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}