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Imagine a pink elephant. Is it big or small? Bright or pastel shade? Happy, sad, tired or inspired? Draw it in your imagination in all the details.
Now stop thinking about him. Reflect for half a minute on any other topic and observe where your thoughts will take you. How long have you managed not to think about the pink elephant? Most people begin to imagine him again after just a few seconds. The same goes for annoying uninvited thoughts: the more we suppress them, the more they bother us. This is called the pink elephant paradox.
In 1987, the American journal of Personality and Social Psychology published an article D. M. Wegner, D. J. Schneider, et al. Paradoxical effects of thought suppression / Journal of Personality and Social Psychology under the title "Paradoxical effects of thought suppression". It described a study consisting of two experiments. During both sessions, the subjects were asked to speak their thoughts aloud for 5 minutes. But only in the first experiment, the participants were asked not to think about the polar bear, and in the second, on the contrary, they had to think about him.
As a result, in the first case, the participants remembered the polar bear much more often, despite the fact that they were asked to the contrary. Scientists have suggested that attempts to suppress a certain thought have the paradoxical opposite effect and can lead to obsession with this thought, despite all efforts to ignore it. Dostoevsky wrote about a similar phenomenon.
Try to set yourself a task: not to remember the polar bear, and you will see that he, damn, will be remembered every minute.
It doesn't matter if it's thoughts of a polar bear, a pink elephant, or something else. Attempts to suppress them, on the contrary, increase the likelihood that they will firmly settle in our head. Scientists also describe D. M. Wegner. Ironic processes of mental control / Psychological Review this is a phenomenon using the "theory of ironic processes".
For example, when we have problems, family and friends can give advice in the style of "Just stop thinking about it." But instead, on the contrary, we only cling to negative thoughts even more.
The pink elephant paradox affects how we think, feel, and make decisions. You have probably experienced the effect of this phenomenon on yourself when you could not concentrate because of an annoying thought that did not want to leave your head. But there are other consequences.
Obsessive thoughts include repetitive reflections, pictures, and impulses. Unfortunately, they are often associated with depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress and obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, even mentally and physically healthy people can notice the influence of obsessive thoughts and emotions comparable to obsession.
There is evidence D. E. Gustavson, A. du Pont, et al. Evidence for transdiagnostic repetitive negative thinking and its association with rumination, worry, and depression and anxiety symptoms: A commonality analysis / Collabra: Psychology that annoying thoughts and accompanying emotions are associated with negative thinking patterns. All this is more common in those who do not practice mindfulness — they do not focus on images, sounds, thoughts and emotions, but suppress them.
Without mindfulness practices, it is more difficult for us to find an opportunity to cope with our feelings, and we begin to displace them. This feeds our "pink elephant" and turns ordinary thoughts into obsessive ones.
One small study showed E. Fox, K. Dutton, et al. Attentional control and suppressing negative thought intrusions in pathological worry / Clinical Psychological Science: A Journal of The Association for Psychological Science that people who have negative thoughts, as well as those who tend to worry often, find it much more difficult to focus on a specific task. This means that the more often we are visited by obsessive thoughts, the easier it is for us to get distracted.
Social networks, e-mail and other available forms of communication and entertainment can distract even the most diligent person from work. Add to this the unwanted intrusive thoughts — and it becomes even more difficult to concentrate.
Distracted attention forces our brain to try to work in multitasking mode. This affects not only creativity and productivity, but also personal and professional relationships.
It's hard to focus on anything when the same thought is constantly spinning in your head. This also affects the ability to make decisions — rationality and reasonableness fade into the background, and obsessive reflections take their place. As a result, we are unable to form a correct, objective opinion about the situation, and we make wrong decisions.
It will not be possible to completely avoid obsessive thoughts. But there are several techniques that will help you pay less attention to them.
Introspection is guaranteed L. Emerson, C. Heapy, et al. Which facets of mindfulness protect individuals from the negative experiences of obsessive intrusive thoughts? / Mindfulness protects against the negative effects of obsessive thoughts. And it especially helps to accept unwanted painful thoughts and feelings — it reduces the level of anxiety.
Mindfulness shifts our attention to the present moment. It helps to get rid of the fear and worries associated with endless thinking. Try to accept any of your thoughts and not treat them negatively.
The next time another obsessive thought enters your head, try to switch to some task. This way you will help the brain to rebuild itself.
Choose an activity that will completely absorb your attention, for example, read a book, talk to a friend, go for a jog in the park at home, draw or watch a movie.
Take a piece of paper and divide it into two parts. In the first column, write down all your negative thoughts, and in the second replace them with positive ones.
For example, after a failure at work, you are haunted by the thought "I am a loser." It can be changed to this: "I made a mistake, but I learned a lesson from it." This exercise "sucks" the energy out of obsessive thoughts, and they lose all power over you.
