Impulsive vs. Intrusive Thoughts: Difference Between the Two
A lot of wisdom brings many sorrows, people say. Yet, what to do if there are too many unwanted thoughts in your head? It’s not a rare thing even in people with stable psych and often, unwanted thoughts looping in your mind are related to some mental health disorders. Often, but not always. For example, the research detected that 83% of adults experienced health-related intrusive thoughts while waiting for their appointment at the hospital [1]. Similar studies held at USU proved that 95% of the population at least once detected unwanted thoughts [2].
Yet, these thoughts occurring unwillingly in someone’s mind, are not similar. Typically, they are divided into impulsive thoughts and intrusive ones. What is the core difference between impulsive vs intrusive thoughts? This article may bring you some important information about the essence and the differences between impulsive versus intrusive thoughts.
Thoughts are not hazardous themselves. In their essence, they are the results of cognitive processes that are characteristic of Homo Sapience, namely us. Thoughts reflect our opinions, experiences, concerns, and our imagination at last. You may recall thinking about something pleasing brings pleasure too. Yet, when thoughts become disturbing and make a person anxious, nervous, and aggressive, they are unwanted. Typically, the person wants to understand what’s going on with them when these thoughts become repeating and obsessive. Or when they strike the head abruptly. Sometimes, these thoughts are characteristic of Obsessive-Compulsive disorder. Sometimes, they can be signs of other mental disorders. In any case, the main two types of such unwanted and repeating thoughts are called intrusive and impulsive.
First, before we compare intrusive thoughts vs impulsive thoughts, let’s define each of them.
What are Intrusive Thoughts? The Definition and Main Features
Intrusive thoughts are recurring thoughts often focusing on self-harm or bringing harm to someone else. A person may think about doing harm to their loved ones or someone they know. Sometimes, these thoughts are directed at damaging or ruining something. They are not triggered by anything. They are unpredictable. Yet, they repeat and often can lead to constant anxiety and obsession.
The distinctive feature of intrusive thoughts is that they do not lead to the realization of disrupting ideas. They remain unrealized although a person may wonder if they are truly capable of doing the things they think about.
So, the core features of intrusive thoughts are as follows:
- They are unwanted and unintended
- They occur without any trigger
- They are stressful and lead to anxiety and sometimes, obsession
- They are persistent and recurring
- They don’t result in the implementation of the idea they bring
- They are mostly negative and disturbing
The main factors which can trigger intrusive thoughts are diverse. Scientists name sleep deprivation and hormonal imbalances among them. Besides, intrusive thoughts are typical for OCD and PTSD manifestations.
So, here is the main difference between intrusive and impulsive thoughts: intrusive thoughts, although they make a person distressed, do not result in deviant or destructive behavior. Instead, they bring a person suffering from them into a tailspin and make an individual foster these thoughts and emotions they evoke.
What are Impulsive Thoughts? The Definition and Main Features
Like intrusive thoughts, impulsive thoughts also are unpredictable and unintended. Yet, they are sudden like a flash of light and they make a person act in some way without any logic, consideration of consequences, or deliberation.
You may analyze your own thoughts and probably you find a couple of examples of impulsive thoughts in your past. For example, when you suddenly see an item in a store, you like it and decide to buy it immediately although you didn’t plan to purchase something and it’s your last money. It’s a light version of impulsive thoughts which occur in lots of people regularly.
Quite another thing is when an individual behaves aggressively or does harm due to impulsive thoughts.
Why are these thoughts occurring? There is no clear answer but specialists bound them with a disability to identify, differentiate, and regulate emotions and the constant willingness to be praised immediately. That’s why impulsive thoughts often make people act dangerously and destructively. Besides, impulsive thoughts are often related to mental health disorders like ADHD, bipolar disorder, and panic disorder [3].
If listing the core features of impulsive thoughts, they are as follows:
- They are spontaneous
- They are rapid and urgent
- They are unwanted and unintended
- They bring immediate action with them
- They are related to various mental state conditions
- They can be both positive and negative.
In any case, the most dramatic thing about impulsive thoughts is that after they result in some behavioral patterns, an individual may feel distracted and cannot understand why they did some things.
What’s the Difference Between Intrusive and Impulsive Thoughts
So, it’s time to define what is the difference between intrusive and impulsive thoughts. Here are 5 main distinctive features to decide what kind of thoughts you suffer from.
- Regularity. Intrusive thoughts are recurring and they occur suddenly but they are looping. Impulsive thoughts are not recurring but they are also sudden.
- Action. Intrusive thoughts do not lead to some behavior. They simply torture the mind without any active results. Impulsive thoughts trigger some behavioral patterns and trigger them momentarily.
- Connotation. Intrusive thoughts are annoying and they are mostly negative. Impulsive thoughts can be both positive and negative. For example, if you suddenly are struck by the idea of confessing in love to someone and you do that, it’s a kind of positive impulsive thought.
- Relation to mental state. Typically intrusive thoughts are related to OCD or PTSD while impulsive thoughts are related to behavioral disorders like ADHD, and BPD.
- Consequences. Intrusive thoughts don’t result in immediate consequences while impulsive thoughts do result.
So, you can consider these two types of thoughts to be opposite but they also have something in common.
Are There Similarities Between Impulsive vs Intrusive Thoughts?
As for the similarities in the comparison between impulsive versus intrusive thoughts, they are as follows:
- Both these types of thoughts are unintended, unpredictable and unwanted.
- They both are stressful and concerning.
- They can be distinctive symptoms of mental health disorders.
- They can lead to damaging or disrupting behavior patterns.
So, if you face these thoughts regularly or you notice your loved ones face them, it’s not a good idea to wait for them to pass by themselves.
Some Thoughts to Recap
To summarize all the things indicated in this article, let’s list the facts.
- Unpredictable and unwanted thoughts are typical for most of the population.
- Two types of them, impulsive and intrusive thoughts, make a person distressed and anxious.
- While intrusive thoughts are recurring and make people anxious, they are less harmful to their keeper and surrounding people while impulsive thoughts lead to immediate and unpredictable action.
- Impulsive thoughts are less disturbing because they are sudden and quickly result in some kinds of behavioral patterns. Sometimes, these patterns can do harm. Sometimes, they are harmless.
- Although mild issues of intrusive and impulsive thoughts can occur in healthy people, often they are signs of some kinds of mental disorders. Intrusive thoughts, if they are intense and regular, can lead to obsession and they are typical for obsessive compulsive disorder and some forms of post-traumatic stress disorder. As for impulsive thoughts, they relate to disability to control emotions and deeds and thus, they can occur in people with low emotional control and behavioral disorders like BPD, ADHD, or bipolar disorder.
What can be the remedy for both these unwanted thoughts? In case of the occurrence of impulsive thoughts, DBT methods (Dialectical behavioral therapy) may come in handy. Besides, you can try to fight them using relaxation and meditation techniques, deep breathing or spontaneous writing techniques.
In case of repeating intrusive thoughts, methods of Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) combined with antidepressant intake can be helpful.
The choice of the treatment method for both impulsive and intrusive thoughts should be made by a professional. Thus, the best idea is to apply for the help of specialists from URP Behavioral Health. Under the guidance of a licensed specialist, you can get rid of the issues of intrusive and impulsive thoughts that are annoying and ruining your everyday life.
