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MikeySama
Netherlands
55 Posts |
 Posted - 08/03/2010 : 00:25:32
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Hey all,
I've dealt with TMS symptoms for a while now and have had succes with pretty much eliminating any physical pains, but there is one thing i'm still have trouble with.
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Thoughts, concepts, mental images, melodies, or songs seemingly get “stuck” in your mind:
No matter what you do, you seemingly can’t stop your mind from thinking of them over and over again. In every undistracted moment you find your mind replaying the unwanted thought, concept, melody, or song.
These thoughts are like a hamster running on a squeaky hamster wheel in the background. No matter what you are doing, that squeaky wheel seems to be always turning.
Many become distraught and worry that their mind is “stuck” in a never-ending loop. Others fear that the loop could get worse and may never end.
This anxiety symptom is often referred to as “unwanted” and “repetitive” thoughts. Some refer to it as “obsessions” or “obsessional thinking.”
In my case the things that get stuck are things i have done in the past and either feel guilty or ashamed about. I've seen a therapist numerous times for it, but it hasn't helped me much.
I've read that these symptoms could be TMS related, but i really wouldn't know how to start applying TMS to this. It's not a physical manifestation of pain, how do you even repudiate this ...
I could use some help if the problem above is TMS related, because i wouldn't know where to start, at all.
Thanks in advance.
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Call me Mike :) |
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Darko
Australia
387 Posts |
Posted - 08/03/2010 : 03:23:50
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Mike,
there is a great book out called 'The Happiness Trap', worth a read. Anyway in there he suggests thanking the mind for such unwanted thoughts, or by saying "oh there's that blah blah thought again" this allows you to observe the thought thus making it an object instead of becoming identified with it. Helps me when I actually remember to do it, definitely one area I need to apply myself more in. Obsessing over thoughts you have and attempting to get rid of them might be a very difficult process........silly thoughts will always present themselves......eventually we need to learn to ignore them and they become like a radio in the background and fade away.
I have silly thoughts about money.....now matter how hard I try to eliminate them they seem to come back.....I now try not to resist them and instead allow them to be, but just observe them using the above technique. Resisting obsessive thoughts is a huge waste of energy in my opinion......just allow them but don't "buy into them", kinda like not getting emotionally involved when the girlfriend starts blabbing on and needs to "vent" and "be heard"....otherwise you end up having a argument that really doesn't make ANY sense nor follows reason. This alone can send you crazy! :-) Just nod, give yourself a little pat on the head and say "aw do you feel better now?......everything will be ok, thanks for sharing" Anyway have a read of it and see what you think.....hope this helps.
D |
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Fox
USA
496 Posts |
Posted - 08/03/2010 : 07:29:32
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| Claire Weeks says something similar to Darko...Accept the obsessive thoughts (don't fight them because this brings a "second fear") , observe them in a detached way, let them float away (use visual imagery), and let time pass. |
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Plantweed
USA
109 Posts |
Posted - 08/03/2010 : 09:46:37
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| Might be helpful to break your daily routine: do new things, take a different way to work, vacation in a new place, go for a drive and deliberately get lost, meet some new people. Your mind will be too busy absorbing new stimuli to get stuck in a hamster wheel. |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 08/03/2010 : 10:58:33
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OCD is a TMS affective symptom equivalent. Dr. Sarno is noted for "curing" Howard Stern of it. It is referenced in the Good Doctor's books. Find a therapist who is conversant with TMS.
Perhaps the OCD symptom is doing it's job of PROTECTION by distraction from overwhelming painful emotional thoughts that the subconscious has decided would be worse than the OCD behaviors.
Hit the books, (see page 30 of "THE DIVIDED MIND", or find a TMS therapist in the LINKS on the HOME PAGE.
TAKE THE HOLMES-RAHE STRESS TEST
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes_and_Rahe_stress_scale
Some of my favorite excerpts from _THE DIVIDED MIND_ :
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2605
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Edited by - tennis tom on 08/03/2010 11:38:20 |
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MikeySama
Netherlands
55 Posts |
Posted - 08/03/2010 : 11:52:18
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A TMS therapist just doesn't exist in the Netherlands. I would have definately gone there as my more conventional therapist hasn't been very succesful.
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Call me Mike :) |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
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MikeySama
Netherlands
55 Posts |
Posted - 08/07/2010 : 09:44:19
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The divided mind focusses mostly on physical symptoms, and acknowledges that OCD might be a TMS equivalent. It doesn't specifically mention stuck thoughts(or i haven't come across is yet).
I just find it difficult to apply TMS to something that isn't physical. I know what to do when my hands flair up again, but not when i get stuck thoughts/memories. It's even more confusing when my hands flair up and i also have stuck thoughts.
I'm confuzzled =/
Edit: Thought i'd try that rahe test thingy it puts me on 180
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Call me Mike :) |
Edited by - MikeySama on 08/07/2010 09:48:55 |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 08/07/2010 : 11:21:50
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quote:
Originally posted by MikeySama
It doesn't specifically mention stuck thoughts(or i haven't come across is yet).
I just find it difficult to apply TMS to something that isn't physical.
I'm confuzzled =/
Your TMS is what's "confuzzling" you. It doesn't want you to face your underlying emotional issues head-on. So, it keeps you distracted by blocking your conscious with the same old thinking pattern. You can't really blame it, it's just doing the job your subconscious wants it to do--protecting you from situations it doesn't want you to have to deal with.
I don't know the psychiatric definition for "stuck thoughts", I would think it may be OCD but you're PERFECTIONISM is preventing you from progressing until you find it in print. Ask your therapist what your DX is, then look it up in the TMS books.
Your use of the word "applying" is telling to your inability to accept TMS as a DX. "ACCEPTANCE" is what you need to do. "Applying" suggests that TMS is something you apply as a you would a "band-aid", and voila you're "cured". TMS is not a band-aid approach. It's about changing your old thinking patterns with new, healthier and more accurate ones.
Ask your therapist what your DX is, so you have something substantive to find in the index of the TMS books.
TAKE THE HOLMES-RAHE STRESS TEST
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes_and_Rahe_stress_scale
Some of my favorite excerpts from _THE DIVIDED MIND_ :
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2605
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MikeySama
Netherlands
55 Posts |
Posted - 08/07/2010 : 14:33:49
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Obsessive/Racing/Stuck thoughts. It's a form of anxiety and ocd. It's not really listed in a TMS book. Can't really find anything on the forum about it either.
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Call me Mike :) |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 08/07/2010 : 23:14:58
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quote:
Originally posted by MikeySama
Obsessive/Racing/Stuck thoughts. It's a form of anxiety and ocd. It's not really listed in a TMS book. Can't really find anything on the forum about it either.
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Call me Mike :)
Oh, yes they are, all you have to do is go to the index of any TMS book and anxiety and OCD are listed and thoroughly discussed in all of them. Or, search on this site and there will be hundreds of posts about anxiety. You've posted here before and we are just going around in circles. TMS is not for everyone and I don't think it's for you.
I'm not a psychotherapist. It would take one at least a dozen sessions to get to know you even superficially. It's not my job, if your therapist isn't helping, how can I or anyone else here do any better.
I've spent a lot of effort making suggestions and you reply in the most minimal fashion. YOU have to do the work here. This is your life and not a dress rehersal.
Read the books. All your questions will be answered in them. If your shrink isn't doing the job, look at the links and find a TMS therapist you can do phone sessions with. Fly to England, there's a TMS therapist there. It's only a couple of hours from the Netherlands. Call up Schiphol and find out what a ticket costs.
There are meany TMS resources, books, videos, books on tape, the Wiki, this site, etc. The resources are there. Only you can change your mind and your thought patterns.
The more I learn about TMS/psychsomatic pain, the more I come to the conclusion, as the Good Doctor has, that it is not a punishment, as Freud theorized. It is a social Darwinian defense mechanism. It is protector from feeling and experiencing painful emotions. So why not accept it as that, and quit fighting it?
My estimate is 80% of people in Western industrialized cultures need and want their "pains". I talked to a woman in the hot-tub who took out a disability policy years ago, promptly "had" to quit working and started having operation, after operation and talks about almost nothing but her latest "pain" site. Yet, she lives a very active and luxurious lifestyle and is not at all unhappy. This is an obvious example of primary gain--but it sure beats working.
TAKE THE HOLMES-RAHE STRESS TEST
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes_and_Rahe_stress_scale
Some of my favorite excerpts from _THE DIVIDED MIND_ :
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2605
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Edited by - tennis tom on 08/08/2010 00:08:02 |
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MikeySama
Netherlands
55 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2010 : 00:28:24
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If TMS weren't for me then i'd still be having physical pains in my body, all over. I don't.
I'm sorry to say Tom, but you have always acted rather high and mighty on these forums, claiming to be some kind of TMS god. In the divided mind there is like 5 passing references to anxiety and ocd being a possible equivalent.
For physical pain there's a step by step plan to get through it, it's time consuming, but i did it and am PAINFREE.
I can't help it that for me that my ocd problem is more difficult to get through, geez. Get off your high horse, please. I also don't like the way you make assumptions and assault my character, because i'm having some difficulties with a new TMS symptom.
You left these forums once because people accused you of basically the same thing. The way you talk to people sometimes is wrong, plain and simple. You know a lot about TMS and i think you're an asset on these forums, but i was hoping your attitude towards others and their difficulties with TMS would have changed since your 'sabbatical'.
I'm probably going to get another essay of a response from you making me out to be some kind of bad person, but i deal with one symptom at a time. I got through my physical pains with a TMS approach, i can get through this as well.
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Call me Mike :) |
Edited by - MikeySama on 08/08/2010 00:50:22 |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
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MikeySama
Netherlands
55 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2010 : 07:58:12
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I'm fine. I started seeing a therapist because i had stuck mental images in my mind that just wouldn't go away. For months he's been teaching me methods of dealing with it and that it's something called pure o, a form of OCD and Anxiety.
It didn't help and then i realised i had been through this once before when i had pain in my hands and Sarno's theories got me through that. I started reading the divided mind again, this time keeping in mind that the ocd is in fact TMS.
I'm starting now with repudiating the diagnosis and seeing it for what it really is. I tossed my OCD book and all my little methods of dealing with the stuck thoughtd; i'm trying not to use anymore. I don't need them.
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Call me Mike :) |
Edited by - MikeySama on 08/08/2010 08:04:33 |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2010 : 08:09:21
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quote:
Originally posted by MikeySama
I'm fine. I started seeing a therapist because i had stuck mental images in my mind that just wouldn't go away. For months he's been teaching me methods of dealing with it and that it's something called pure o, a form of OCD and Anxiety.
It didn't help and then i realised i had been through this once before when i had pain in my hands and Sarno's theories got me through that. I started reading the divided mind again, this time keeping in mind that the ocd is in fact TMS.
I'm starting now with repudiating the diagnosis and seeing it for what it really is. I tossed my OCD book and all my little methods of dealing with the stuck thoughtd; i'm trying not to use anymore. I don't need them.
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Call me Mike :)
!!! MOST EXCELLENT MIKEY !!!
TAKE THE HOLMES-RAHE STRESS TEST
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes_and_Rahe_stress_scale
Some of my favorite excerpts from _THE DIVIDED MIND_ :
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2605
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scd1833
USA
124 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2010 : 13:03:49
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Ive had a lot of trouble with this too, thanks for the comments
Steve |
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MikeySama
Netherlands
55 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2010 : 15:46:25
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I've been reading the divided mind on a daily basis again and using journalling techniques to figure out what has triggered the TMS symptom, but it's been difficult to get to the root of it, because these stuck memories have been there for nearly a year now, but they seem to switch to the memory that has the most impact on me.
I no longer doubt that this is TMS, but i'm actually kinda stuck on how to repudiate this. When you have physical pains you know the brain is using mild oxygen deprivation to start the symptoms and that whatever diagnosis you've had is to be considered moot. I think i may still have some issues doing this when it comes to stuck memories.
I'm guessing it doesn't really matter, though. My brain is altering something in my brain chemistry that allows for the memories to stick as a distraction. That should be all i need to know. I just can't seem to really figure what triggered it.
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Call me Mike :) |
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Obsessive/Stuck thoughts
