ONE Psychologist has shared a handy trick that may help you combat intrusive thoughts.
The mental health expert, Dr. Julie Smith, took to TikTok to break down how the mind works when it comes to avoiding certain thoughts.
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Dr. Smith shared her expertise in a 38-second reel that was captioned with several self-help and psychology hashtags.
She began the video by prompting her viewers to not think about sex for the next 20 seconds.
“I’m a psychologist and I want to show you something about how your mind works,” she said.
“All you have to do is just not think about sex,” Dr. Smith continued.
A few seconds later, she asked her viewers if they were indeed thinking about sex.
“That’s because your mind doesn’t deal with negatives that well,” she explained.
“As soon as you try to not think about something, you’re already thinking about it.”
Dr. Smith noted that this is part of the reason why so many people struggle with addiction, dieting, and intrusive thoughts.
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She then shared that the trick to tackling this issue is to simply let the thoughts pass.
“Actively fill your attention with the things you want to be thinking about instead,” the psychologist concluded.
The reel went live a few months ago and has garnered nearly 40,000 likes.
Hundreds of users also commented underneath the post to express their thoughts on the so-called ‘brain hack’.
“Thank you so much, intrusive thoughts have been getting to me lately,” one user wrote.
“Well, I thought about it because you kept saying it. I was trying to think about tacos,” a second TikToker joked.
“I thought about it when you said not to,” a third user admitted.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
