How Do I Stop Intrusive Memories?

How to Stop Intrusive Memories: Effective Management Strategies

There are various ways to manage and stop intrusive memories, including labelling them properly, using mindfulness and seeking professional help such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) or exposure and response prevention therapy.

Certain Strategies for Managing Intrusive Memories

These are some common strategies to manage intrusive memories, which we will discuss in detail:

Labelling and Acknowledging

Identify the intrusive thoughts and reduce their power and impact. This happens because identifying the thoughts as intrusive memories can create distance and prevent them from spiralling into distress. Acknowledging these thoughts as normal thoughts can lessen their significance and emotional charge, making them easier to manage.  

Mindfulness

Mindfulness helps with intrusive thoughts, as it fosters present moment awareness, and allows thoughts to pass without judgment. You can practise mindfulness to observe intrusive thoughts and memories without getting caught up in them, which helps in breaking unhealthy thought patterns. It can also disrupt the cycle of dwelling on intrusive thoughts and memories, allowing them to fade naturally.  

Healthy Distraction

It helps in temporarily shifting attention away from disturbing thoughts, preventing them from escalating. Engagement in activities that require focus and attention helps to disrupt the cycle of rumination and reduce the frequency and intensity of unwanted thoughts. Intrusive thoughts usually create a feedback loop which leads to increased anxiety or distress.     

Grounding

It helps them to shift temporarily from reality or to the present, which eventually reduces the intensity of these experiences and potentially prevents them from escalating. Establishing a connection to the sensory world helps them to create a mental distance from those intrusive thoughts or memories, which reduces their control over the mind.

Acceptance

Accepting the intrusive memories can help individuals reduce their distress and power. If they acknowledge them as passing thoughts or images without judgment, then they can lose their ability to control their behaviour and emotions. This approach can gradually decrease the frequency of these memories over the period.

Sleep

Sufficient sleep properly regulates the REM, reducing the invasion of intrusive memories in your subconscious mind. It helps in restoring the prefrontal control mechanisms that prevent unwanted memories from entering conscious thoughts. Recent studies suggest that sleep deprivation impairs the ability of the prefrontal cortex to suppress unwanted thoughts. Thus, getting proper sleep prevents the entry of these unwanted memories.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

CBT helps individuals recognise and question the accuracy of intrusive thoughts, which often stem from false beliefs or assumptions. Additionally, it helps individuals to identify and challenge negative thought patterns and beliefs. Then, patients can easily replace these with more balanced and rational perspectives. CBT also teaches coping mechanisms, such as distraction and response prevention, to manage distress, ultimately reducing its intensity.  

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) Therapy

ERP is also a form of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which plays a key role in reducing distress. It gradually exposes individuals to the triggering cues and prevents them from engaging in compulsion, which might alleviate anxiety. This therapy helps rewire the brain, diminishing the link between intrusive thoughts and the urge to perform compulsive behaviours.

These therapeutic approaches can reduce anxiety and reliance on compulsions. It also helps the patient to develop various coping strategies to manage their anxieties and depression.