Intrusive thoughts and theory of mind

Abstract

Intrusive thoughts represent the cognitive construct which is manifested through internal, repetitive, unwanted and unacceptable thoughts, images or impulses. Intrusive thoughts may be present both in clinical and general population. Usual intrusive thoughts that occur in typical population can turn into pathological and lead to the occurrence of psychiatric disorders due to mistaken beliefs about an individual's intrusive thoughts, as well as due to the use of inappropriate strategies as a reaction to these thoughts. The aim of this paper is to emphasize the importance of the cohesion of theory of mind construct and the ability to understand the intrusive thoughts by reviewing the available literature. The theory of mind is the ability to understand and attribute different mental states to oneself and others - thoughts, wishes, desires intentions, etc. The research results show that the knowledge of thoughts is associated with the reporting on intrusive thoughts, and that people who have better results on theory of mind tasks at the same time effectively report on their own intrusive thoughts. Failure to report on intrusive thoughts and limited ability to understand the possibilities of consciousness control may adversely affect the therapeutic process.

Intruzivne misli predstavljaju kognitivni konstrukt koji se manifestuje kroz unutrašnje, ponavljajuće, nepoželjne i neprihvatljive misli, slike ili impulse. Nametljive misli mogu biti prisutne kako u kliničkim populacijama, tako i u opštoj populaciji. Uobičajene intruzivne misli koje se javljaju u tipičnoj populaciji mogu preći u patološke i dovesti do pojave psihijatrijskih poremećaja zahvaljujući pogrešnom razumevanju prirode intruzivnih misli, kao i usled upotrebe neadekvatnih strategija reagovanja na ove misli. Cilj ovog rada je da, pregledom dostupne literature, istakne značaj povezanosti konstrukta teorije uma i sposobnosti razumevanja intruzivnih misli. Teorija uma predstavlja sposobnost razumevanja i pripisivanja različitih mentalnih stanja sebi i drugima - misli, želja, htenja, namera itd. Rezultati istraživanja pokazuju da je znanje o mislima povezano sa izveštavanjem o intruzivnim mislima, odnosno da osobe koje imaju bolje rezultate na zadacima teorije uma ujedno uspešnije izveštavaju o sopstvenim nametljivim mislima. Neprijavljivanje intruzivnih misli, kao i ograničena sposobnost razumevanja mogućnosti kontrole svesti mogu negativno uticati na terapeustki proces.