Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts ─ A CBT-based Guide to Getting over Frightening, Obsessive, or Disturbing Thoughts

You are not your thoughts! In this powerful book, two anxiety experts offer proven-effective cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) skills to help you get unstuck from disturbing thoughts, overcome the shame these thoughts can bring, and reduce your anxiety.

If you suffer from unwanted, intrusive, frightening, or even disturbing thoughts, you might worry about what these thoughts mean about you. Thoughts can seem like messages—are they trying to tell you something? But the truth is that they are just thoughts, and don’t necessarily mean anything. Sane and good people have them. If you are someone who is plagued by thoughts you don’t want—thoughts that scare you, or thoughts you can’t tell anyone about—this book may change your life.

In this compassionate guide, you’ll discover the different kinds of disturbing thoughts, myths that surround your thoughts, and how your brain has a tendency to get “stuck” in a cycle of unwanted rumination. You’ll also learn why common techniques to get rid of these thoughts can backfire. And finally, you’ll learn powerful cognitive behavioral skills to help you cope with and move beyond your thoughts, so you can focus on living the life you want. Your thoughts will still occur, but you will be better able to cope with them—without dread, guilt, or shame.

If you have unwanted thoughts, you should remember that you aren’t alone. In fact, there are millions of people just like you—good people who have awful thoughts, gentle people with violent thoughts, and sane people with “crazy” thoughts. This book will show you how to move past your thoughts so you can reclaim your life!

Sally M. Winston, PsyD, founded and directed the anxiety disorders treatment program at The Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital in Towson, MD. She served as the first chair of the Clinical Advisory Board of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA), and received their inaugural Jerilyn Ross Clinician Advocate Award. She is coauthor of What Every Therapist Needs to Know about Anxiety Disorders.

Martin N. Seif, PhD, cofounded the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, and was a member of its Board of Directors from 1977 through 1991. Seif is associate director of the Anxiety and Phobia Treatment Center at White Plains Hospital, a faculty member of New York Presbyterian Hospital-Cornell Medical School, and is board-certified in cognitive behavioral psychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology. He maintains a private practice in Manhattan and Greenwich, and is coauthor of What Every Therapist Needs to Know about Anxiety Disorders.