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Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts

A CBT-Based Guide to Getting over Frightening, Obsessive, or Disturbing Thoughts

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Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts

By: Sally M. Winston PsyD, Martin N. Seif PhD
Narrated by: Senn Annis
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You are not your thoughts! In this powerful book, two anxiety experts offer proven-effective cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) skills to help you get unstuck from disturbing thoughts, overcome the shame these thoughts can bring, and reduce your anxiety.

If you suffer from unwanted, intrusive, frightening, or even disturbing thoughts, you might worry about what these thoughts mean about you. Thoughts can seem like messages - are they trying to tell you something? But the truth is that they are just thoughts, and don’t necessarily mean anything. Sane and good people have them. If you are someone who is plagued by thoughts you don’t want - thoughts that scare you, or thoughts you can’t tell anyone about - this book may change your life.

In this compassionate guide, you’ll discover the different kinds of disturbing thoughts, myths that surround your thoughts, and how your brain has a tendency to get “stuck” in a cycle of unwanted rumination. You’ll also learn why common techniques to get rid of these thoughts can backfire. And finally, you’ll learn powerful cognitive behavioral skills to help you cope with and move beyond your thoughts, so you can focus on living the life you want. Your thoughts will still occur, but you will be better able to cope with them - without dread, guilt, or shame.

If you have unwanted thoughts, you should remember that you aren’t alone. In fact, there are millions of people just like you -good people who have awful thoughts, gentle people with violent thoughts, and sane people with “crazy” thoughts. This book will show you how to move past your thoughts so you can reclaim your life!

This book has been selected as an Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Self-Help Book Recommendation - an honor bestowed on outstanding self-help books that are consistent with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) principles and that incorporate scientifically tested strategies for overcoming mental health difficulties. Used alone or in conjunction with therapy, our books offer powerful tools listeners can use to jump-start changes in their lives.

©2017 Sally M. Winston, PsyD and Martin N. Seif, PhD (P)2020 New Harbinger Publications Anxiety Disorders Compulsive Disorders Mental Health Neuroscience & Neuropsychology Personal Development Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Health Obsessive Thoughts
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Critic reviews

“This important book is essential and mandatory reading for anyone affected by unwanted and intrusive thoughts, and their health providers. The authors crystallize decades of experience into a perfectly clear and readable guide. The solution to this misunderstood problem is in this book.” (Joseph A. Adams, MD, medical director at Baltimore Health Systems and Step By Step of Maryland, LLC, and past president at Smoke Free Maryland)

“I wish I would have had access to this book twenty years ago! Sally Winston and Martin Seif have put all the pieces of the puzzle together to help people understand and overcome unwanted intrusive thoughts. This is a must-read book, packed with information to help people suffering with anxiety-provoking intrusive thoughts, as well as clinicians who are trying to help them.” (Kimberly J. Morrow, LCSW, maintains a private practice in Erie, PA; specializes in the treatment of anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD); provides training and case consultation for clinicians through www.anxietytraining.com; and is author of Face It and Feel It)

“It turns out that commonsense approaches to stopping our worries, such as pushing thoughts away, arguing with them, or seeking reassurance, actually feed these worries and help them grow. Sally Winston and Martin Seif—two of the brightest minds in our field - deliver a simple yet powerful two-step process for change.” (Reid Wilson, PhD, author of Stopping the Noise in Your Head)
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Having struggled with OCD thinking and intrusive thoughts for as long as I can remember, making my life a misery, despite having lots in my life that I love and lots of therapy, this has been life changing. I would recommend this to anyone but especially ‘over-thinkers’. I have also reduced my alcohol intake at the same time so I think this has a part to play.

Life changing

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highly recommended to sufferers and to anyone who would like to learn more about this awful condition. the relief felt is life changing

changed my life

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Great book with real world examples and techniques. It Will be hard to listen to in places, but push on the rewards are worth it.

If you are thinking if reading, then do.

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This is amazing book. Not too long and practical. If you know, you know. Unwinding Anxiety and Easy Ways to Control Alcohol have similar methods and are two other titles I would recommend. This is a shorter, concise straightforward, practical guide. Really useful. If I could give it 10 stars I would.

Brilliant!

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I found this book during one of the most desperate periods of my life. I was living with terrifying intrusive thoughts that left me unable to sleep, care for my children, or function at work. After reading the book and practising the CBT techniques it teaches, things began to improve surprisingly quickly. Since then, whenever I experience periods of unwanted thoughts, I return to the methods I learned from this book and they genuinely help. I searched everywhere online for resources at the time, and if you’re in a really frightening place mentally, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. There truly isn’t anything else like it, especially if you struggle with harm OCD and intrusive thoughts.I’m very happy to say that I now live a full and happy life, which is a stark contrast to how unwell I felt before reading this. I had never written a review before, but I felt compelled to for this book because it had such a profound positive impact on my life.Even my therapist read it and agreed that it’s unique in how it first helps you understand the thoughts, and then guides you in learning how to work your way out of them. I haven’t found anything else quite like it.

The only resource I found that helps with terrifying intrusive thoughts

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