Intrusive Thought Loops
Years ago, Nashville had a theme park, Opryland. For those of us who grew up here or in neighboring states, we have great memories of Opryland with rides like the Wabash Cannonball, Rockin Roller Coaster, Chaos, Old Mill Scream, and of course the Grizzly River Rampage. Every summer, I went two or three times, and one year I had this experience. I loved roller coasters, still do, and I always dreamed of this. What if we didn’t have to get off at the end? What if we could stay on? Well, one day, the park wasn’t very crowded. It was one of those days when it rained, most left, but then the rain stopped. We had the park mostly to ourselves. Riding the Rockin Roller Coaster with a friend, the teenager running the coaster just smiled at us and let the coaster keep going. We didn’t have to stop.
It was awesome. It really was, but eventually, you want the coaster to stop. It can be too much of a good thing. A few years back, our family got to go to Disney. One morning, as Animal Kingdom opened, we went over to ride Expedition Everest, a great roller coaster. Most everyone else was on the other side of the park doing the Pandora attractions. I rode Expedition Everest three times in a row. It was awesome, but my head hurt. It was almost too much of a good thing. Eventually, we want the coaster to stop.
Being stuck on an endless roller coaster would be a nightmare. Being stuck on an endless loop will wear you out. Some of us have that type of experience though in a very different way. Some of us get stuck on the roller coaster of our mind, our thoughts. We get stuck in thought loops. Many of these thought loops are intrusive. By intrusive I mean uninvited. Daydreaming about good things is not intrusive. Worrying about scaring things is intrusive. You don’t want to think about it, but it gets stuck in your mind. You feel helpless to think about anything else. A certain thought loop takes over.
Amidst this series on relational health and emotional health, I want to speak to something I’ve struggled with my entire life-intrusive thought loops. Perhaps, my favorite Scripture on this topic comes from the apostle Paul. Philippians 4:4-9 4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
The Scripture reminds us that God is with us amidst our thoughts. The Scripture reminds us that we are not powerless. We have power, from the Holy Spirit, to be proactive in what we think about. This doesn’t automatically make intrusive thoughts go away, but it can give us tools and hope.
Let’s describe more what we’re talking about. An intrusive thought loop is an unwanted thought topic that you can’t shake. You become preoccupied with it. It might be thinking about a conversation that took place recently. You replay the conversation in your head. You got your feelings hurt or you feel misunderstand. You replay it all trying to figure out what happened, what went wrong, and how to fix it. Before you know it, you’ve thought about it all day. You went through the day half paying attention to everything else. Intrusive thought loops are debilitating in this way. Another thought loop is like this. You lay awake every night trying to figure out what will happen the next day and next week. You struggle to fall asleep because you want to be prepared, you want to know exactly what will happen. It often hits the point where you don’t care anymore. You just want to sleep, but you can’t keep from thinking about it. Another example is this. You see a conflict on social media that troubles you. What is the perfect response to it? What’s the tweet that could solve everything? What’s the correct way to think about it? This can become an intrusive thought loop. It’s good to think about big, hard questions, but when these thought loops take over your brain, it’s hard to live your life.
Last week, we talked about the continuum from fear to worry to anxiety. There is often a connection between the worry spectrum and intrusive thoughts. You might be simply going through a difficult season. You might have an intense Type A personality. You might have obsessive compulsive disorder or struggle with panic attacks. This can take lots of different forms, and as always, if a continued problem, please consult a counselor and medical professional.
In a church setting, I want to mention this. Religion and anxiety can form a toxic blend. I’ve known so many over the years who have struggled with intrusive thought loops of a religious or spiritual nature. I had a friend who long battled obsessive-compulsive disorder. His attention to details made him highly successful in his job as an engineer, but it also paralyzed him at times. He had an intrusive thought loop that his baptism didn’t count. He worried that God did not accept his baptism, even though he’d been baptized several times. At the moment he went into the water, an intrusive thought of doubt would creep into his mind. Therefore, he agonized that God didn’t count the baptism. He fought this for years. Eventually, he begged to get baptized again, but another minister and I convinced him to hold off on that. We believed the continual baptisms were only giving into the problem. We talked for hours with him, and he sought professional help.
Some get caught in thought loops about their salvation. They wonder if they’ve committed an unforgivable sin. They wonder if God loves them. Some have paralyzing thought loops about various worship practices and ethical issues.
Throughout my life, I’ve seen religion and anxiety form a toxic blend in so many. I’ve seen so many have intrusive thought loops of a religious nature. I have experienced all of this in my life. For these reasons and more, many have distanced themselves from the Christian faith. For them faith carries more harm than help. But for me, the story went a different direction. Over time, faith lessened my fear, worry, and anxiety. Faith gave me freedom from intrusive thought loops. Yes, some people experience toxic blends of faith. But for me, healthy faith brought me out of unhealthy ways of thinking.
This happened in two main ways. First, in my teen years, I discovered the grace of God. Paul writes this in Romans of Christians, “nothing can separate us from the love of God.” The psalmist says, “as far as the east is from the west has God removed us from our sins.” God loves you. Our sin separates us from God, and God alone bridges that gap. We’re not saved by anything we do. Many worry if they’ve done enough or done the right thing. Quit that because nothing you do saves you anyway. Also, remember that God holds us accountable for our behavior, not our thoughts. In my mind, I frequently have thoughts of bad words, retaliation, greed, and lust. But I pray to God to quench that and not let it flow into my actions. I don’t feel guilty for what pops into my head. I only feel guilty for what I intentionally dwell on and ultimately do. The God of the Bible is a God of love and mercy, slow to anger and abounding in love. If you struggle with worry of a religious nature, take a deep dive into the doctrine of grace.
Second, in addition to the reality of grace, faith gives us tools to combat fear, worry, anxiety, and intrusive thought loops. All tools begin with this. We have the Holy Spirit. Jesus has given you power. You are not powerless. You can fight against intrusive thought loops. Today’s Scripture shows us how.
After direct teaching on anxiety, Paul writes this.8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. Be proactive in thinking about positive things. Be proactive about spiritual practices. When I begin to experience worry, anxiety, and intrusive thoughts. I do this inventory. What type of thinking have I exposed myself to? What have my spiritual practices been like?
Hanging out with positive people is contagious. Reading positive literature will rub off on you. Certainly, we need to be informed, and due to human sin, being informed involves exposure to many negative things. But, be careful about that intake. I actively regulate how much news I expose myself to. I listen to a couple of weekly podcasts that summarize the news of the week. I don’t try to keep up with the latest thing of each day. I try to focus more on local news than national and global news, because my proximity to it fosters agency which decreases anxiety.
I regularly seek out positive encouragers. Certainly, we need to spend time with people who need encouragement, and negative people need our attention. Still, I make space for relationships that build me up. I try to laugh every day. When I think of lovely and noble things, as Paul mentions, I often think of nature and art. I carve out a space for those things. For me, this includes space for exercise and sleep. When I’m regularly exercising, spending time in nature, connecting with positive people, spending time in prayer and scripture reading, reading good books, and limiting my news intake, I rarely have intrusive thought loops. When I give myself a steady diet of dark news and entertainment amidst cynical people while minimizing my nature and exercise time, I get anxious. I begin to have intrusive thought loops. Be proactive. Just take a note card and sketch out the things that make you anxious and the things that alleviate anxiety. Begin to follow that.
The power of the Holy Spirit enables you to exercise control over your thought life. The worst part of intrusive thinking is feeling out of control. As you begin proactive practices, seek to reclaim control. Notice what Paul says here. 2 Corinthians 10:5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. What does “taking every thought captive” mean? I think it involves running your thoughts through a kingdom filter. What would Jesus think about what you’re considering? It also includes exercising spiritual control over your thoughts. You have power. You are not powerless to your thoughts. Take control.
There are two main ways to do this. The first is a hard boundary. If something pops into your head, you immediately put up a hard boundary. I will not think about that. Some people immediately begin to pray. Some change locations. Some begin to think about something good and positive. I’ve done all of these. I’ll say, “Lord please take this” over and over. I’ll pray the Jesus prayer. I’ll quote a scripture like Psalm 23. I close my computer and take a walk. I get up and get a drink of water. I go exercise. I think about something good that overshadows the bad-a past family memory or an upcoming trip.
The second way to handle this is a soft boundary. I will think about this but only for a few minutes. I set a timer. I will think about this for 10 minutes but no more. Sometimes, I set aside 20 minutes a day to think about something that’s been bothering me. Basically, I schedule time for intrusive thoughts as a time to manage them. When worry sets in, I just think-I’ll do that at 4:30 today but not now.
Some this involves knowing your triggers. What types of situations send you into anxiety and thought loops? Some of those should be avoided. Others should be faced so you can develop resiliency. If having lunch in the break room every day is a trigger for thought loops, maybe you should take a break from that. Of course, it taking a test is a trigger, you can’t avoid tests the rest of your life. Instead, prepare yourself. You know it’s coming. Surround yourself with encouragement. Don’t be to hard on yourself, but press on to develop resiliency.
Counselors and mental health experts have seen a vast rise in anxiety and intrusive thoughts. We know that some of the rise lies in screens and social media. Research shows that anything with a like or ranking can be very harmful for kids and teens. I don’t think that means we throw all our screens away. Instead, we need to practice discernment. Set a time limit on how much time you spend on your screens. Set a time limit on how much social media you consume. We don’t just think…we know screens and social media bear much of the blame for the rise in anxiety and intrusive thoughts. We need to make wise choices.
The pandemic, upcoming election, and conversations on racial justice have caused an increase in roller coaster thinking. I know this from personal experience and listening to you. We should think about hard things, but an endless roller coaster will wear you out, leaving you unable to love others well. If you experience intrusive thought loops, you can take steps today to make things better. God shows us how to do that. Let’s help each other get off the roller coaster. Spend time meditating on the grace of God. Spend time considering the tools of the Holy Spirit. You are not on your own. We are with you. God is with us.
