The real meaning behind the viral trend of using the term intrusive thoughts

Scrolling endlessly (and mindlessly) through Instagram reels has become second nature to me and a lot of us, I believe. Our daily diet now includes a side of memes, hashtags, and reels that fills our feed every second of the day. Pardon my exaggeration, but today, nearly anything and everything becomes a trend to catch up with or hop onto—sometimes when it’s unnecessary, even inappropriate. For instance, phrases or terms that are misused by digital creators and influencers to make content that is perceived has humorous. One such term that has frequently popped up on my feed is ‘intrusive thoughts’. 

They’re 30-seconders and even static posts that begin with the phrase ‘Acting on my intrusive thoughts….’ It’s the latest buzzword surrounding mental health. But alas, more often than not, it is used for gimmicky purposes. Let us explain.

According to an article on Insider, a TikToker shared a video of him getting the word ‘horse’, tattooed on his leg, and captioned it “Letting my intrusive thoughts win.” Another video showed a boy climbing to the rooftop of his house, pulling out an icicle and smashing it between his feet. Yet another video making rounds on the Internet was a tweet (which got nearly 15 million views), where the user claimed that her intrusive thoughts included quitting her job, breaking her phone and disappearing. Simply put, it’s a term that is being thrown around loosely (even abusively). We give you the low-down on the real meaning of the term and how netizens can be more mindful while using it. 

What does it mean?

We decided to decode it further. According to psychologist Nisha Khanna, intrusive thoughts are faced by everyone, included you and me. But here’s the catch: they’re momentary. Harvard Health Publishing reported that not all intrusive thoughts are caused by mental health disorders—big life stressors and periods of intense anxiety can also trigger intrusive thoughts.

However, reducing the term to mean frivolous behaviour is definitely not cool. In psychology, the term intrusive thoughts are most often associated with mental health disorders such as OCD and anxiety disorders. “Intrusive thoughts are often symptoms of and lead to a psychiatric illness. These are thoughts which are not in one’s control. They keep disturbing your mind and coming to you, forcing you to act upon them. For example: I had a client who was excessively paranoid about the fan in his office falling on him.” 

According to the U.S.A-based Centre for Anxiety and OCD, “Intrusive thoughts can manifest as unwanted impulses or mental images often reoccurring. It may include disturbing thoughts about “harm/violence, sexuality/sexual behaviours/making mistakes/causing accidents”. “When such intrusive thoughts are associated with a disorder and harm your personal and professional life, you need to check yourself. Unwanted thoughts may be related to sex, aggression, and paranoia. It could be related to anything,” adds Khanna. 

Being more mindful 

Millions of videos have been made on TikTok and Instagram with the phrase 'Intrusive thoughts win', to show and share impulsive behaviour or experiences such as piercings, adventure, and sports that these creators might have indulged in. Andrew Lloyd writes, “One expert told Insider that not only is the term often misused, it also risks normalising dangerous behaviour.” In fact, according to the article, a Minnesota-based social media user shared a video of him climbing onto the roof of his house, detaching an icicle from the edge and smashing it between his feet with a caption that read: “sometimes you gotta let the intrusive thoughts win.” When asked about this, he confessed that he understood the term and his behaviour was more ‘impulsive than intrusive but the former was not as hard-hitting". Umm….? 

“Labels such as OCD or 'acting on your intrusive thoughts' cannot be used randomly,” says Khanna, “Influencers and content creators need to be aware of the consequences of using such terminology—it is offensive at the very least to those who may actually be suffering from mental health disorders.” 

Fortunately, much of this content has been met with reactions that are calling out the frivolous use of the term and some comments even include explainers of the concept. What we can do, is be mindful of the kind of content we create and consume and make informed decisions before reacting to and hopping onto trends that break the internet.
 
For those who are struggling with intrusive thoughts, OCD and anxiety, we urge you to seek help from a professional. It’s never too late!