Non-engagement is a beautiful skill to practice and integrate into your life if you struggle with either generalized anxiety disorder or obsessive compulsive disorder. It is a way to not engage with your intrusive thoughts, which may help lower your distress overall. It is a powerful skill to use and we will discuss how to use it more in this blog.
How Anxiety and OCD Affect Our Thoughts
We have many thoughts on any given day; a recent study showed we have 6,000 thoughts per day. Our brains are always consuming content and generating ideas and thoughts, and some of these thoughts about ourselves, and the world, and others are true and some are not.
What can happen if you struggle with an anxiety disorder or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is that you can become overly fused to your thoughts, meaning that you start to believe everything you think. The reason this is problematic is because not everything you think is true and you experience the world through your own biases and lived experiences. Oftentimes, anxiety and OCD also cause a mistrust in one’s ability to trust themselves.
Perceived Threat
Anxiety and OCD thrive when there is doubt, uncertainty, or what we call in the therapeutic space a “perceived threat”. So, there are actual threats, whether this is a threat to our emotional, physical, or mental safety. When you are in danger, it is important for you to keep yourself safe. However, if you are prone to anxiety, you may overestimate the likelihood that a perceived threat is actually a threat. Perceived threats often don’t consider the full picture and lead to a sense of urgency and hypervigilance.
Non-engagement responses are a wonderful way to teach your brain that not everything is an emergency. One helpful response during these perceived threats are, “I don’t know, I don’t have to figure that out right now.” It is a way to disengage from the intrusive thought and threat.
Awareness, Attention, and Engagement
Another way to practice non-engagement is through our three levels of thoughts.
- Awareness – You cannot control what is in your awareness or whether your thoughts are coming and going into and out of our brain. You are constantly aware of your thoughts.
- Attention – This is the active process of directing your attention to something specific, such as focusing on an object in a room.
- Engagement – This is where you are focused on something and actively thinking and engaging with your thoughts. For example, you may start to think about your upcoming job interview and the engagement part is worrying and ruminating on the interview. You have the ability to disengage from these thoughts.
By practicing non-engagement, it gives you permission to move back into awareness, and it gives you back your choicefulness of practicing skills and behaviors that are in line with your value system. A thought can be in your awareness without you picking it up and without you examining it.
I encourage you to practice these strategies if you struggle with anxiety and/or OCD. By practicing these strategies it gives you your time back, along with the ability to be present in your relationships.
Compassionate Affirmation: “I release the need to engage with my intrusive thoughts and receive peace.”
Additional Resource: Worrying Is Optional by Ben Eckstein. This book will show you how to break free from the unhelpful thinking habits that keep you stuck in a loop of rumination and anxiety. You’ll discover the science behind why you worry, and how to put the brakes on unhelpful rumination and anxious thoughts—before they kick your worry and anxiety into high gear. You can buy the book here.
Becoming Anchored in Hope,
Laura
LPC-MHSP, CEDS-C, ACS, NCC
Owner + Director
Laura is committed to guiding individuals along their path to mental wellness and has carefully gathered a team of skilled, knowledgeable, and committed therapists at Anchored Counseling Co. to assist in this mission.
The professionals here create an environment that is supportive and affirmed, informed by an understanding of trauma. At Anchored Counseling Co., there’s a shared belief in the fundamental worth of each person, and therapy is delivered with warmth and empathy. The therapeutic philosophy here is built on the premise that every client has the natural ability to enact meaningful and enduring change in their life.
To connect with a therapist who aligns with your unique needs, please contact our office at 615.510.3797 or contact us here.
