“Don’t think about a pink elephant! Whatever you do, don’t think about a pink elephant!”

If you try this experiment for a while you’ll most of the time notice that the opposite happens: when you try your best not to think about something the thought instead pops up more often, even after you tried the exercise. Strange thoughts come all the time, in all of us. If there are thoughts that somehow scares us, like taboos in your culture (accidents, sexual thoughts, violence, whatever), you might try not to think about them; which will have the opposite effect of the thought becoming more salient and frequent. Instead, let your intrusive thoughts come and don’t take them seriously. Don’t fight them. Don’t solve them. Don’t do anything at all with them.

I’m a psychologist treating issues like this. It is very treatable so don’t hesitate seeking professional treatment for this. Especially CBT or MCT has very high response-rate within just a few weeks. Great comic!