Photo: K-J Millar/Shilo Stag News

Contributed to Shilo Stag Media 
Thomas Goenczi
Lookout contributor

After we’ve had an encounter with trauma, our mind tends to shoot up spontaneous reminders about the psychological damage into our awareness.
Our mind then begins to work overtime with the barrage of thoughts that draws our internal gaze towards the trauma and its enduring influence on our lives. These thoughts withhold our capacity to focus on the present moment, which inevitably strains our relationship with our minds.

Resentment and betrayal toward the mind are expected when the thoughts persist with little to no reprieve from the trauma. Although invasive thoughts can feel diabolical because of how they evoke rumination and dread, they can also be a gateway to healing from the trauma.

When anxiety emerges, our mind equates it to something negative. This may feel true through a subjective lens. We all know the raw personal feeling of anxiety as it consumes our consciousness. Our body begins to rattle, and our mind quickly reinforces the physiological effect through narrow-minded justification. However, the anxiety born out of intrusive thought also can be used as an indicator to go deeper within and confront the matter.

We must inevitably challenge intrusive thoughts, or they will continue to have their way with us. They will dictate how we think about ourselves and shift our moods on a whim, lowering our resilience and confidence and ultimately creating a distorted image of ourselves and who we would like to be. If we don’t confront the intrusive thoughts, then we will live a life of fear, seemingly afraid of every moment, anticipating the disturbing thoughts to come around the corner and disturb our reality.
To confront our intrusive thoughts doesn’t necessarily mean to push back on them. They tend to push back even harder when we are too forceful to resist these thoughts. This is a prevalent scenario where we try to suppress these thoughts by either feverishly thinking of other things or using all our psychic might to tell the thoughts to ‘leave us alone’. Sure, this is a type of psychological confrontation, but it is haphazard and often prolongs our capacity to move through and past the trauma.

So, what does genuine confrontation look like with trauma-based intrusive thoughts?

It is a surrendering to the thoughts and using the energy – the anxiety – that comes from the thoughts to express them tangibly. To surrender to these thoughts almost seems counterintuitive, but they seemingly get worse when we resist. In some sense, we must accept our fate and raise the white flag to the intrusive thoughts. This allows for an authentic inner dialogue, and most importantly, it sets the parameters for a negotiation with one’s mind. Once we relinquish the tension we’ve created, the power of these thoughts dials back. This gives us the space to work with the intrusive thoughts.

But how do we express and honour these thoughts?

One way to confront this is to externalize a written dialogue with these thoughts. A creative way to do so is to use our imagination to personify these thoughts and associate an image with them. When we do this, we create a relational element to the thoughts.

For example, envision your intrusive thoughts as a blazing fire and open up a dialogue with it. This might seem strange initially, but it is essential to remember that this is a creative form of confronting these intrusive thoughts. A great place to start is asking the anthropomorphized association, ‘What do you want?’ and waiting for a response. It is vital to let this process flow and see where it may take you. The point of this method is to create a way to interact with these thoughts that doesn’t push them away but engages them.

This, of course, is only one way we can express and honour our intrusive thoughts. We can draw, paint, dance, sculpt, or engage in any other creative format to confront these. What is vital is to find your way and commit to working alongside your intrusive thoughts to start moving through your trauma.

Thomas Goenczi is an RCN Veteran and MA Clinical Counsellor with Private Practice: Well Then Therapy.
The content is not intended to substitute professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your mental health professional or other qualified health provider with any questions regarding your condition.