Intrusive actions, feelings, emotions, thoughts and voices
There are intrusive actions, intrusive feelings, intrusive emotions and intrusive thoughts. They are all intrusive, as they are not wanted, but there is no indication of them being from someone else, or an external influence.
However, that lack of indication is often because they are inspired by “thought-forms” that are hidden in the unconscious mind. A lot of the time, when intrusive thoughts become persistent, then they may develop something more of a character that an individual will tend to not recognise as themselves, and that is where an Intrusive thought can become a voice. So there is, or can be, a relationship, and a cross-over.
Automatic, repeating intrusions
But there are also, highly repetitive intrusions, that are more like, a stuck record, and often that is what they are, they past coping techniques gone wrong, and simply the repeat button to an automatic response is stuck. Those help create our “disordered” mind, as they often distract us and put us off. Simply because they add to the cacophony.
Removal of repetitive thoughts
Behaviourism teaches us that we can learn by repetition, and this reminds us that this applies, most of all, to our thought processes. It is very possible to inadvertently teach yourself some thoughts, simply by repeating them enough times, and they can then become intrusive and unwanted.
Often, we can forget that if it takes repetition to learn, then that thought process will need repetition, to unlearn. This is the core concept of conditioning: If we respond to a situation and the outcome is positive, then the brain will tend to want to meet similar, future situations with the same response. If that then happens, and we do not challenge that “half” automated response, then often, that will be the response we automatically choose for all future occasions, until we determinedly and repetitively, stop that automated response, and choose a different way.
Quieting the mind
One method I tried, to stop as many automatic thoughts as possible, was the “no-thought meditation”. Here, you tell your mind, that you want silence, that any thoughts that need to be expressed, can do, later, after that silent meditation.
Removal of automatic thoughts is the first step to ordering your mind and taking control.
This can be difficult at first, though, my first “no-thought” meditation attempt lasted 30 seconds: But I stuck to it as a daily exercise, and eventually could sustain up to an hour of a very silent mind.
Voices
When thoughts come with a character, often they represent someone else, a neighbour, or similar. I don’t want to suggest that this is imaginary or certain, because, anyone that hears those voices, it’s better not to try to judge them or think you know what is happening enough to choose to “go to war”, even if it seems this is what is on offer.
I think voices are unique to the individual, and often they seem designed to be as frightening as possible, and this includes the element of believability, for that individual. However, those voices themselves, they have a tendency to morph, and therefore, fixed ideas and concepts are less helpful than “what is happening right now?”.
I have had voices, that introduced themselves as “Tank Girl”, for example, as my dissociated 17-year-old self. I have also had voices claiming to be God, then other voices telling me to ignore them as they were “distractor demons”, trying to lead me astray. One voice, one that often gets me out of trouble, is my brother, which is odd, as we hardly speak in real life. I also have a bunch of voices that do not speak English and are more akin to DID, only I am aware of what is happening when they chat.
Voices are interesting. In some cases society finds them acceptable, and of use, in other cases they are taboo. This has an impact on the voice hearers mental health, as their strangeness is either tolerated, or rejected. In a complex society, that societal toxicity can be multidimensional and highly nuanced. Many people have secret superstitions in regard to them, and often pretend to be friendly just long enough for them to decide you need to go.
Voices really can be good, or bad. Many people that go blind end up having a helper voice, for example, and society approves of that. Sometimes voices bring with them experiences that seem magical and deeply spiritual.
However, it is clear that many voice hearers have a terrible time with voices, and voices are not restricted to the Schizoid type disorders, they can also feature in personality disorders and obsessive and trauma disorders. Schizoid personalities, however, tend to have, shall we say, more imaginative personalities.
Terrible voices tend to lead to psychosis, hallucinations, as well as confused and delusional thinking. My own voices tell me that I can no longer hallucinate, as I’m no longer scared of them, and they can’t use them to manipulate me any more. They say this is because I accept them, and there is no need to force me to do things.
Compartmentalisation and Voices
I have this theory about voices. Something most are not taught about, is our automatic ability to “compartmentalise”. In order words, we collect information, and group in together in collections, that allow us to build a focussed understanding of a thing, such as a person. We can therefore have many rooms in our mind, dedicated to people and places, etc, that we think about, and, in some ways “animate” in our mind by that thinking, and also imagining haw that person might think about us?
As we have never been taught about this aspect of our mind, then it may be that some of us are doing it wrong? Maybe, when we hear a voice, and think it’s real, maybe it seems real, but the reality is, it’s a bunch of thoughts that something in our imagination is allowing to be animated, without us knowingly asking for that to happen?
Dissociations as triggers for Voices
If we bring in our childhood dissociations, and think of these as forgotten thought-forms hidden in the unconscious mind. And suggest that one day, this thought-form were able to venture into that semi-conscious imagination space, and decided to animate one of the compartments, perhaps that of the memories of a neighbour. Then they could use this as a mask, enabling that exile to claim a false identity and sneak past the guard of ego. It could then have some fun, getting its own back, pretending to be our next door neighbour hating on us.
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