Why just trying not to think about a worry backfires
When you feel anxious, your thoughts become more focused on the things that make you feel that way. Its a natural reaction to try to push anxious or unpleasant thoughts out of your mind. This is known as thought suppression.
Thought suppression, trying not to think about something that causes anxiety or an unpleasant emotional reaction is understandable. Research has shown however, that thought suppression when you have an anxiety disorder like GAD or depression actually backfires. A good way to show how this happens is to do a quick exercise. The exercise is in two parts: Part 1: You have 5 minutes to think about anything you want to think about. You can plan a holiday, think about something lovely that happened to you recently, maybe your favourite memory or place. How you spend this five minutes is entirely up to you. You may think about a white polar bear. If the thought of a white polar bear comes into your mind, just make a note of how many times it does on a tally list. You can stay thinking about one for the entire five minutes if you want to, or just make a note and then go back to spending the rest of the time as you want to. At the end of the five minutes, answer the questions below: 1) Did you have any thoughts of a white polar bear? If so, how many are on your tally? 2) Were you able to think about what you wanted to during this time? 3) Did it use up all your energy and concentration when having the five minutes to think about what ever you wanted to? 4) Did you feel any different emotionally during the five minutes? If so, was this positive or negatively? Was the thought of the polar bear anxiety provoking in any way? Now, once you have completed part 1, it is time for the second part of the activity.
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© Marie Chellingsworth (2020). The CBT Resource.
