I too have had intrusive thoughts for quite a while now. Mine were often stress and anxiety induced. I am really trying hard to think of strategies and ideas to help... but they are failing me.
Fight them, fight them harder than you ever thought possible- because they will progressively get worse if you act on even the tiniest detail of your thoughts (from my experience). They will get less strong, try to work on reducing your anxiety if you can- it worked for me (with meds and doing things I find relaxing etc). It got to the point where even if the thoughts came- I would settle down, make myself comfortable and ride them out- because I knew that nothing was making me do the actions other than myself- but this isn't easy and it took a lot of time and mistakes (serious mistakes) before I came to this realisation.
Don't be afraid to talk to someone if you need to in order to keep you safe- thats the most important thing. Please don't hold back because you think that they will put you in a psych ward- they haven't for me yet- even though I told them when I was in hospital (medical hosp) that I could see a man (in a female only ward) hanging some of the patients on the other side of the ward or that the canular in my hand was controling my brain.
Sorry- ramble over.
Take care, Stay safe xRolix
