Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts: A CBT-Based Guide to Getting Over Frightening, Obsessive, or Disturbing Thoughts Paperback – Illustrated, 27 April 2017

During a very tough time, this book was a lifeline for a family member diagnosed with harm related OCD - some very useful tips and reassuring paragraphs. Really relied on this prior to the medication kicking in (which often takes 3 months or so)

I've been meaning to write a review for this book for a long time, and this is the first amazon review I have ever written. But I stronhly felt the authors needed to be thanked and congratulated for writing such a wise, yet simple and evidence based book.This advice in this book is practical, deceptively simple and yet somehow profoundly wise. I strongly feel the advice offered to embrace uncertainty and avoid reassurance, helps to being the mind naturally back into the present moment and back to a more natural allignment, more free from the general clutter which preoccupies us.I have enjoyed the freedom of escaping the power of the constant battle between my "reassurances" and my constant picking of holes in these "reassurances", uncertainty is after all inescapable, so the advice to embrace it, though counterintuitive at first, is wise and almost spiritual. I actually found this to be a deeply spiritual book.Thank you so much for producing such a practical guide to escaping from reassurance and the negative spiral of thinking this can produce. I personally have a long road to recovery but now I have a map.Thank you.

I have suffered episodes of this affliction for a few decades, the last episode was absolute torture. I'm glad I was brave enough to search the internet, as I found this book which changed everything. The only other option would have been therapy; costly and with no guarantees. You have to really trust the information and put it into practice, which I did. An amazing byproduct of reading this book was being conscious of how much mental noise I had in general, and discovering a window to inner peace.

The focus of this book is a particular kind of 'intrusive thought'; one where the person is shocked or ashamed by violent/sexual or other content. However, it contains valuable insights, methods and reassurance for dealing with all kinds of annoying internal monologue or stuck emotions. Recommended.

Yes it does work and that is great for me.I recommend this book to anyone needing advice on intrusive thoughts.

Fantastic book, guide in understanding and more importantly accepting these thoughts. This has helped me massively through my recent struggles with OCD and anxiety. The way that intrusive thoughts are explained, I found to be Extraordinarily accurate in relation to my recent experience. I honestly thought I was alone but reading through this book was extremely interesting and reassuring to me, instead of feeling shame and guilt over these things I thought I would hide forever I have now opened up to my family and friends about this and feel I am finally starting to accept this part of me and move forward with my life. It will take time but having a book like this available to me makes me feel so much better about my own recovery. Please, anyone who is struggling with this, you are certainly not alone and there are people who understand and can help more than you know. Also if you are lucky enough to have a good support network around you... Use it!! It will be a load off your mind just not having to hide this from people. Remember, we are much more judgmental of ourselves than others will be and any good, loving person will understand and help you on your road to recovery.

I would whole-heartedly recommend this book to anyone getting stuck and weighed down by upsetting unwanted thoughts and the downward spirals that often follow - or a loved one trying to understand more about the condition and how to help someone who is experiencing it.For context. I have, since my teenage years - and on and off over the decade since - struggled with unwanted intrusive thoughts, from the bizarre to the truly harrowing. I really do know how devastating this condition feels when you’re in it, but I want to share that I have gotten better and continue to get better - so of course I want as many people as possible to know that they can too. Discovering this book, and discovering from it the work of Dr Steven Phillipson about different subsets of OCD (lots of videos from him on YouTube via the Made of Millions channel), have together been a real turning point in my mental health.This book firstly makes clear that you are absolutely NOT alone, insane or a bad person, and that these thoughts are no reflection of your character whatsoever. It explains how this condition presents itself in different people and why we get “stuck” on certain topics (examples including violence, sex, peadophilia, insanity, ill-health, existential questions and religion etc). It shows scientifically what’s happening in the brain when we’re experiencing the condition, and goes on to provide techniques for how to disempower it.Huge thanks to the authors. This book has given me a lot of compassion for my younger self, and helped provide me with the tools to break the cycle.