By Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.
Have you had a hard time concentrating on your studies? Have world events, the economy, family issues, and personal worries gotten in the way of your ability to focus on your online courses? The persistent intrusion of thoughts that come into your mind — unasked for and unwanted — can be terribly troubling. They may even make you doubt your ability to succeed in your classes. This is a time when studying online may make you feel relatively helpless in the face of your worries and troubling thoughts.
What can you do? The first step is to recognize that you are having intrusive thoughts. Don't criticize yourself for it. What you are experiencing is perfectly natural. In fact, you may be dispositionally inclined to experience intrusive thoughts. According to research on intrusive thoughts and cognitive interference in students working in laboratory situations, researchers Sarason et al. concluded that some individuals possessed personality traits that predisposed them to have intrusive thoughts, which caused cognitive interference (Sarason, 1986).
Do you always have to struggle with intrusive thoughts, or are they something new to you? Tending to have intrusive thoughts may be a part of one's disposition, and an aspect of one's personality which is not likely to change over time. However, having intrusive thoughts can be associated with depression or anxiety. The types of intrusive thoughts will vary. Researchers have found that if one is clinically depressed, the intrusive thoughts tend to be self-critical, and they tend to express the viewpoint that one is helpless and unable to influence one's situation (Sarason, 1986, p. 1017). For a depressed individual, apocalyptic and highly negative headlines will tend to trigger thoughts of helplessness, and lead to negative beliefs, leading to a tendency to withdraw and to stop working on projects.
In contrast, for individuals experiencing generalized anxiety, the intrusive thoughts may also be initially negative. However, the key difference is that with anxious individuals, the intrusive thoughts act as triggers, and they lead to a series of intrusive thoughts, which tend to go along established pathways of associations. The pathways and networks of associations are well-developed and well-traveled, which creates an almost predictable outcome. Studies have shown that anxious individuals tend to have a bias toward threatening information (Sarason, 1986, p. 1017). In times of economic crisis and apocalyptic headlines, the anxious individual may find it almost impossible to block out or resist the attraction of the cues that trigger the thoughts.
While some intrusive thoughts are task-related, many will not be. Researchers have found that athletes as well as students have issues with cognitive interference. For example, in a study of golfers, researchers Thill and Curry (2000) found that certain self-regulation strategies worked quite well when golfers had intrusive thoughts such as worry about competition, other golfers, the environment, etc. Social comparison intrusive thoughts were found to be more destructive than task-involvement, and learning and achievement thoughts (Thill & Curry, 2000, p. 104). Thus, the golfers were more successful when they were able to identify when intrusive thoughts were occurring and then to consciously turn the thoughts to those of task-accomplishment and process.
Task-accomplishment thoughts can be negative and destructive when they are associated with perfectionism (Flett & Madorsky, 2002). If the intrusive thoughts follow a pattern of making negative comparisons with others, or disparaging one's efforts because they do not achieve the highest ratings, there could be a problem of perfectionism. Flett and Madorsky found that perfectionist thinkers who had intrusive thoughts tended to ruminate on the thoughts, repeating them to the point of being incapacitated. One strategy for stopping the rumination and going on to productive thoughts could involve setting easily achieved goals, and then rewarding oneself for reaching them. Have you logged into your course today? Pat yourself on the back. Did you interact on the discussion board? Another reward. Avoid creating a reward system that depends on the evaluations of others (grades from instructors, positive feedback from students, etc.). Keep the locus of control on yourself.
It is possible that intrusive thoughts are associated with other behaviors, such as rituals, magical thinking, hoarding, excessive ordering and arranging. While one should not jump to pathologize natural responses to difficult times, it is also important to recognize that there could be an underlying issue, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psychiatrists Merlo and Storch (2006) have discussed the connection between intrusive thoughts, cognitive interference, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The key is to be open-minded rather than self-condemning if you recognize behavior patterns that correspond with obsessive-compulsive disorder. There is nothing wrong with seeking support.
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Useful References
Flett, Gordon L.; Madorsky, Dara; Hewitt, Paul L.; Heisel, Marnin J. (2002). Perfectionism Cognitions, Rumination, and Psychological Distress. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, Spring 2002, Vol. 20 Issue: Number 1 p33-47.
Ladouceur, Robert; Freeston, Mark H.; Rhéaume, Josée; Dugas, Michel J.; Gagnon, Fabien; Thibodeau, Nicole; Fournier, Sarah (2000) Strategies used with intrusive thoughts: A comparison of OCD patients with anxious and community controls. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Vol 109(2), May 2000. pp. 179-187.
Merlo, Lisa J.; Storch, Eric A. (2006) Obsessive-compulsive disorder: Tools for recognizing its many expressions. Journal of Family Practice, Mar2006, Vol. 55 Issue 3, p217-222.
Pierce, Gregory R.; Ptacek, J. T.; Taylor, Bruce; Yee, Penny L.; Henderson, Ciarda A.; Lauventi, Helene J.; Loffredo, Cynthia M. (1998) The role of dispositional and situational factors in cognitive interference. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 75(4), Oct 1998. pp. 1016-1031.
Sarason, I. G., Sarason, B. R., Keefe, D. E., Hayes, B. E., & Shearin, E. N. (1986). Cognitive interference: Situational determinants and traitlike characteristics. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 215-226.
Thill, Edgar E.; Cury, François. (2000). Learning to play golf under different goal conditions: their effects on irrelevant thoughts and on subsequent control strategies. European Journal of Social Psychology, Jan 2000, Vol. 30 Issue 1, p101-122