Intrusive thoughts are an unwanted and reoccurring mental process that interrupts normal flow of thoughts and causes negative effects. In this mixed-methods study, my objective is to look for common themes of intrusive thoughts among college student and finding out if the intrusive thoughts cause distress because they go against a person’s religious or moral beliefs. This study is being done through an online survey. In previous studies, it has been shown that many intrusive thoughts cause distress because they do go against a person’s character or morals. Everyone has intrusive thoughts, but some thoughts cause more distress than others. The level of distress caused by the thoughts varies on a person to person level. In this study, I am asking participants to give their most distressing intrusive thought, why they believed that thought caused them distress, and what kind of repercussions arose from the distress. The participants were also asked to fill out a religiosity scale. Data will be analyzed by thematic content analysis to find themes of intrusive thoughts. The religiosity scale will be scored to show difference in distress levels. This study furthers our understanding of intrusive thoughts, their themes, and what makes them distressful to individuals.

Common Themes of Intrusive Thoughts Among College Students