Mental Images and Intrusive Thoughts

[davidovergoliath]

Hi. How do you know the difference between mental images and real images?? I had some disturbing mental images about a year ago and I don’t know if they were real or not. The problem is, the more you ruminator on them the more real they seem to become and more mental images are added. Anyone help??

[ihopeimnotwasting]

I'm similar to you—the more I dwell on the disturbing intrusive images in my mind, the more "real" they become in my mind, so I try not to dwell on them and dismiss them immediately before I can even begin to dwell.