Why Do I Have "Bad" Thoughts? Understanding Intrusive Thoughts and The "Pink Elephant" Effect
One of the most distressing reasons people seek therapy—yet the one they are most afraid to talk about—is the presence of Intrusive Sexual Thoughts.
These are sudden, unwanted, and often shocking images or urges that pop into your mind. They might involve taboo subjects, people you shouldn't be thinking about, or scenarios that go completely against your moral values.
The immediate reaction is often horror: “What does this mean about me? Am I a monster? Do I secretly want to do this?”
The Truth: It Means You Are Anxious, Not "Bad"
In psychology, there is a clear distinction between a Fantasy (something you desire and enjoy thinking about) and an Intrusive Thought (something you loathe and feel distressed by).
If the thought causes you panic, guilt, or disgust, it is not a secret desire. It is a symptom of high anxiety, often associated with a form of OCD known as "Pure O."
The Pink Elephant Effect
Why won't they go away? Because of how the brain works.
If I tell you, "Do not think of a pink elephant," the first thing your brain generates is a pink elephant. When you have a shocking thought, your brain’s fear centre (the Amygdala) lights up. It labels the thought as a THREAT.
Because your brain thinks the thought is dangerous, it keeps checking: "Is that thought still there? I'd better check to make sure I'm not thinking it." By constantly checking, you keep the neural pathway alive. It is a vicious cycle of fear and monitoring.
How Hypnotherapy Breaks the Loop
You cannot "force" these thoughts to stop. You have to remove the fear attached to them.
Using hypnotherapy and specific NLP dissociation techniques, we teach your brain to re-categorise these images. We move them from the "Threat" folder to the "Junk Mail" folder.
When you stop reacting to the thought with fear, your brain realises it is irrelevant "noise" and simply stops sending it.
You are not your thoughts.
If you are tortured by unwanted imagery, please know that you are not alone, and you are not broken. This is a mechanical issue of the anxiety system, and it can be fixed.
Book a strictly confidential online chat, and let’s turn down the volume on that internal noise.
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About the author
Paul Matthews is a Clinical Hypnotherapist specialising in PTSD/CPTSD, anxiety, and performance. With 20+ years’ frontline & clinical experience, Paul works online only across Ireland, the UK & Europe.
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Based in Dublin, providing confidential online hypnotherapy worldwide via Google Meet.
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Clinical Hypnotherapist & Nutritional
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Therapist specialising in PTSD, anxiety, addictions, and medical hypnotherapy for pain & IBS.
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Mission: help 20,000 people reclaim calm, confidence, and control with structured, outcome-tracked programmes.
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