Thoughts: Healthy or Unhealthy?

Thoughts can be very powerful. Thoughts can be creative, conceptual, inventive, imaginative, positive, projective, rational and enjoyable. Yet there is also a dark side to thoughts. Thoughts can be depressing, habitual, intrusive, negative, painful, traumatic, stressful or unhealthy such as obsessive and suicidal thoughts. Thoughts can also become addicting.

Anyone can form an addiction to a thought or set of thoughts and it is much more prevalent than many of us may think. The concept of thought addiction is rarely affirmed so it remains in the shadows and we often fear what we cannot see. The definition of thought addiction is the development of a habitual pattern, an unhealthy relationship with a thought or set of thoughts. It is important to understand the difference between everyday continuous thought and a full-blown thought addiction. With a continuous thought it is where the repetitiveness of the thought achieves a goal. But in contrast an addictive involvement with a thought is where the thought becomes toxic and depletes every aspect of the person’s life, inside and out. Throughout our lives, most of us get caught up in a thought addiction at one time or another. For example: the processes of depressive, obsessive or suicidal thoughts are considered to be habitual patterns that if not broken or stopped can result in personal damage or death. A thought addiction when a person’s thought becomes so pervasive that the person is locked out of reality and it affects how they live every day.

Ignoring a thought addiction is a real threat to your relationship with yourself, relationships with others and your connection with reality. Thought addiction is a real addiction and has merit and is the forerunner of an impending addiction to a substance or behavior. This means a thought addiction is a phenomenon that serves as a sign or warning of some future destructive relationship yet to be fostered.

Let’s face it. We all get addicted to negative, habitual or obsessive thoughts from time to time. Some people become so fixated on thoughts that an addiction to those thoughts develops into an unhealthy relationship. When a thought process becomes unhealthy an individual will spend so much time mentally focused on their emotional pain that he or she feel trapped in habitual thought cycle and rarely is able to enjoy themselves in anything they do. A person may get so deep into a thought addiction that all other relationships are ignored.

Yet that is why it is important is to recognize when a thought or set of thoughts have become unhealthy or even addictive.How does one know that they might be suffering from a thought addiction?

1. When the thought in your head consumes your time

2. When you are focus on the thought and not experiencing reality

3. When you find yourself returning to a thought you promised you would not think again

4. Spending more time in thought than with others in your life

5. When eating, and sleeping patterns are severely disrupted due to constant thinking

6. Experiencing increased anxiety

7. Being in fear of what you are thinking

The thought addiction is a debilitating condition that can seriously deplete one’s mental, emotional, physical and spiritual life. If you or someone you know suffers from a thought addiction, seeking help is very important and will be extremely beneficial. There is a new wave called Life Coaching that can help people suffering from all forms of addictions. Master coaching can teach and support one through all the difficult stages of recovery.

For more information on master coaching or how you shift out of a thought addiction in the Southwest Florida area or across the country, please contact Dr. Bill Tollefson at 239-349-2209 or email him today.