Thought stopping techniques are simple ways to deal with unwanted thoughts and worries.

When you have an unwanted thought, tell yourself, in your mind, “STOP,” in a forceful way. Many find it helpful to picture a red light or a Stop Sign at the same time. You can repeat this as much as necessary until the thought is out of your mind. Many thoughts will revisit you and give you a chance to use thought stopping again.

Some people find it helpful to also snap a rubber band around their wrist at the same time they say “Stop.” If you try this, do it carefully, as it is very easy to give yourself a welt!

What probably works even better when you have a repetitive, negative thought is to answer it with a reality thought.

For example, let's say this thought crossed your mind: “If I touch the door knob, I'll get sick and die!” That thought isn't the most realistic, so replace it with a reality-based thought like one or more of the statements below.

• "Many people have used the doorknob and nobody has died!"
• "That is just another of my OCD thoughts!"
• "My fear of the door is irrational and I won't let irrational thoughts run my life today!"

If there are a few thoughts that have been disturbing you for some time, set aside 10 minutes (and preferably longer) a day and bring up the thought and practice using the thought stopping techniques.

"Wait a minute. I've tried this before and it didn't work."

Thought stopping techniques need some time to start working. The unwanted thought may come back and you'll need to use the thought stopping technique for a while. A frequent mistake is to stop using this technique.

Metaphorically, the negative thought is much stronger than the reality thoughts.

Thus, it is necessary for the reality thoughts to exercise and grow stronger. As this occurs, the negative thought becomes weaker.

The first step in changing most of these thoughts is to become more aware of them and react as quickly as possible to keep it from running your life unchallenged.