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Obsessive thoughts are not merely repetitious. They typically feel very intrusive, even distressing; we seem to have no control over their comings and goings. For many people, obsessive thinking is strongly linked to the desire to feel in control.

Feeling out of control can happen when our sense of security is gone and our beliefs about the world and/or people have been shaken. The future feels shaky and as a result, the present seems untrustworthy. In such situations, obsessive thoughts become a sort of magic mantra. We reduce our lives to the level of our obsessions as if in this way we can achieve complete certainty and hold all possible dangers at bay.

It has become fashionable to refer to it as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and a growing number of people are labeled (or have labeled themselves) as such. But labels carry a certain risk in this situation. They encourage us to think of this coping mechanism as a disease, and this can make us feel all the more helpless in the face of our compulsive thoughts. They should not always be taken so seriously. Treating obsessive thoughts as more of an annoyance than a medical condition can help us to disarm them. After all, the determination to fight obsession at all costs can become an obsession in itself.

Reducing obsessive thoughts to the level of annoyances also allows us to play with them a little rather than struggling against them all the time. Oftentimes, it is easier to redirect ourselves to other thoughts or activities after we have given an obsession a few seconds of our time rather than refusing to think of it at all. We can then tell ourselves that such thinking is temporary and distract ourselves with something new.

We can also expose ourselves to the object of an obsession a little bit at a time. This could involve listening to a particular song or viewing a particular image that evokes the idea that is plaguing us. Sometimes thoughts have more power over us than the reality ttheyrepresentespeciallyifweare esentespecial that they represent, especially if we are in a fearful or insecure state.

Sometimes people repeat thoughts endlessly in a misguided effort to reduce stress or to “prevent” some outcome of which they are afraid. Obsessive thoughts are intimately tied in with our deepest hopes and fears. Viewed in this light, they may have things to teach us — things we can only learn if we stop fighting them directly and instead, arrive at some kind of truce. This could lead to a direct confrontation with our underlying sources of anxiety and fear.

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A variety of activities, such as meditation, yoga, tai chi, and exercise can help to reduce stress and heighten our focus as we move through this process. Focusing on the problem only feeds our anxiety, stress, and sense of helplessness. To work through obsessive thoughts, we acknowledge the problem in a non-dramatic way. Then we set about redirecting our thinking in hopes of changing our perspective. Along the way, we may learn more about why we are afraid and what the picture of our fears really looks like. This can restore our sense of personal power and insulate us against further intrusions from thoughts that we feel are “beyond our control.”