Posted by badhaircut on May 17, 2005, at 15:15:16
In reply to Re: acceptance, posted by pedrito on May 17, 2005, at 8:18:15
>> He suggests you "invite the thought back in" as the only way to deal with it.
> - again, that sounds like big trouble to me. Intentionally and obsessively generating imagery was what got me into troublesville in the first place.
It's a subtle distinction in mental activity. Acceptance/inviting-back does NOT mean to deliberately invoke unwanted imagery. I've seen those suggestions in some of the OCD literature (like by Edna Foa, I think). If you're plagued with thoughts of, say, dead animals, they suggest forcing yourself to think of dead animals until the imagery is boring to you, for example. This technique has been found to have dangerous consequences, and ACT authors advise against it. It is an attempt at mental/emotional control, not acceptance of what occurs unchosen in the mind.
This can seem like an impossible distinction to make. They say mindful acceptance of thoughts is not hard-as-in-effortful but it is hard-as-in-tricky.
Wegner's "invite the thought back in" phrase is helpful when I find myself trying (and failing) to gain control over an obnoxious thought that's already there. It's a way to stop struggling against an existing intrusion. To stop struggling against ideas is not so obvious to get the hang of.
My picture is of a huge polar bear pushing himself into my tent. I'm straining to hold him out. Then I give up and say, "Okay, you can come back in," and I turn around and do something else in the tent and I don't really know if the bear comes in or goes away or just hangs around the doorway. Anyway, as soon as I've "said" to a thought, "Okay, come back in," an intensity of *strain* goes away, even if the thought doesn't.
> Last night, even when playing in a wicked game of soccer I could not stop picturing/thinking “I am utterly loathesome”. I finally gave up and agreed, in a slightly sarcastic manner, that I was wholly loathesome and felt a lot better within 30 minutes.
I can relate to this experience. I think that "slightly sarcastic manner" may be the key toward the mindful aspect of it. The sarcastic manner doesn't buy into the literal "truth" of being loathesome even as it doesn't directly challenge it, either. It seems to allow a little space between things that are usually cemented together, to have the thought without being ruled by it. It sounds like what I've sometimes done recently — though that doesn't mean it's safe or wise, LOL!
I might say the sarcasm is justified not because the thought is wrong or untrue... but because it's a thought. It's a thought trying to pass itself off as something way beyond its pay scale.
Hmm....
I'm glad you get to play soccer. Sounds great.
poster:badhaircut
thread:492810
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/books/20050501/msgs/499005.html