The title of this song¹ is a common way many of us deal with adversity. However, it encompasses both halves of the “ironic effect” and the actual well-documented outcome of this approach to life is more worry and sadness.

What is “the ironic effect” and how does it work?

There two aspects of it.

First, it is well known that if you suppress unpleasant thoughts, not only will they become stronger, but there is also a trampoline effect where they become much stronger.² We often joke about it, but it is serious problem that disrupts your quality of life, drives fight or flight physiology, and causes many symptoms, illnesses, and diseases. “Don’t worry” is thought suppression.

Secondly, and less known, is that setting high ideals and standards for yourself  will take you down in the other direction. For example, if you strive for happiness, you will experience sadness. If you allow sadness, you will be happier.³ So, the higher your ideals and intentions, the higher your chances of being riddled by anxiety.

Why does this phenomenon occur? The answer lies in the massive impact of the unconscious survival brain compared to the limited power of the conscious brain. Your unconscious brain processes about 40 million bits of information per second compared to your conscious brain dealing with about 40 per second. It is a million times stronger. Let’s look at the problem of “being happy.”

The pursuit of happiness

“Happy” is a conscious construct. The problem is that your conscious brain is no match for your survival reactions that evolved to be so unpleasant as to compel us to take actions to survive. The data shows that by trying to outrun or compensate for your stresses by pursuing pleasure, you’ll cause a highly inflammatory reaction. Your DNA dictates the production of destructive inflammatory cells call, “warrior monocytes” that attack your own tissues in addition to bacteria, viruses, and other foreign invaders.⁴ The sensation generated by this inflammatory response is anxiety.

Another aspect of this ironic effect is that by pursuing happiness, you’ll worry about the ways you might not achieve it. You have set a largely unconscious standard of what happy is for you. As you monitor your happiness, you are in ongoing self-judgmental mode that wears you down.

Happy is also a label, which is a core cognitive distortion.⁵ What is it and how encompassing is it? What percent of the time do you have to be in a happy state to label yourself as “happy?” What activities and accomplishments are required to reach your criteria? How do you react when daily challenges interrupt this state of mind?

Philosophers and psychologists have viewed attachment as the root of suffering. Anthony DeMello has a concise definition of it.⁶ If something feels good you want more and if it is unpleasant, you want less. Being attached to “happy” will paradoxically increase your suffering. The most well-intentioned people are the most subject to the ironic effect in that the higher their ideals, the greater the chance they’ll be riddled with racing thoughts and anxiety.

“Don’t worry?”

We all know the problems that occur when you try not think about something. One classic paper was published in 1987,² The Paradoxical Effects of Thought Suppression.” Again, more well-intentioned people will suppress a higher percent of “unacceptable” thoughts and also give meaning to them. They are just thoughts but will become more powerful as they keep being interpreted as good or bad.

Repetitive Unpleasant Thoughts  (RUT’s) are universal. When you have a bizarre, even unspeakable thought, of course you would suppress it. Why wouldn’t you?  It has nothing to do with anything about you or your value system. As it arises again and again, it is instantly suppressed.  Eventually suppression becomes automatic, which is called repression. Seems pretty normal, right? Except what happens is that your nervous system inadvertently gave this random thought a tremendous amount of power. Every time that thought is suppressed/ repressed, that neurological circuit has been reinforced. These circuits become stronger and connected with more experiences.⁷ Eventually, you may end up spending a lot of mental energy dealing with these anxiety-producing, disruptive thought(s). As you feel trapped and frustrated, these circuits are driven even harder from your brain being inflamed.

These disruptive thoughts become your “demons.” They are not your demons. They are the opposite of who you are and who you are not. My term for these irrational, non-responsive neurological patterns are “robots”. You cannot deal with a robot. You cannot talk to it or reason with it. There is absolutely nothing that can be done from a rational standpoint to change an unresponsive neurological circuit. In fact, when you discuss your demons and try to figure out why they are there, you are firing up and adding even morecomplexity to the circuits. They become even stronger and you can’t unlearn them. How do you “unlearn” to ride a bike? You can’t. They really are RUT’s.

Allow worry?

No one wants to talk about the existence of RUT’s because they are so disruptive, and often feel shameful. The initial step is to understand the nature of the problem and realize that these thoughts are emanating from your unconscious brain. You must separate your identity from them. They are just thoughts, are also universal, and you don’t have to personally identify with them.

The unpleasant emotions connected with them are your body’s physiology responding to the perceived threats. Remember, they are actually the opposite of who you are as a well-meaning person.

Fortunately, there are solutions that have been known for centuries, but don’t seem to be readily apparent in our modern world. The principles revolve around allowing yourself to be with your painful emotions, use strategies to calm down your threat physiology, and then choose joy. With repetition you’ll reprogram your survival reactions into more pleasant alternatives. As emotional pain is processed in similar regions of the brain as physical pain, it hurts.⁸ Professional support and direction are often needed.

Joy

Choosing joy is different than positive thinking, which is another form of thought suppression. It entails having a positive outlook, “taking the hits,” and consistently making positive choices. But you can’t make the positive choices without knowing where you are at in the moment. “What you can feel, you can heal.”⁹ As you learn to be with your mental pain instead of fighting it, these unpleasant circuits will become less active. It is similar to any skill that fades without practice.

Be with worry and choose happy. Learning skills to accomplish this allows you rise above your “RUT’s” and live a more enjoyable life.

References:

1. McFerrin, Bobby. Released 1988; Number 1 single from album Simple Pleasures.

1. Wegener, D.M., et al. “Paradoxical effects of thought suppression.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (1987); 53: 5-13.
2. Wegner D. The Seed of Our Undoing. Psychological Science Agenda, January/February, 1999, 10-11.
3. Cole SW, et al. Social regulation of gene expression in human leukocytes. Genome Biology (2007); 8:R189. doi:10.1186/gb-2007/8/9/R189
4. Burns, David. Feeling Good. Avon Books, Harper Collins, New York, NY, 1999.

6. DeMello, Anthony, The Way to Love. Double Day, New York, NY, 1992.
7. Mansour AR, et al. Chronic pain: The role of learning and brain plasticity. Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience (2014); 32:129-139. DOI 10.3233/RNN-139003
8. Eisenberger NI, et al An experimental study of shared sensitivity to physical pain and social rejection. Pain (2006); 126:132-138.
9. John Gray, author of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. Harper Collins, New York, NY, 1992.

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• Unpleasant thoughts are impossible to avoid and can significantly impact your quality of life.
• They are a “neurological trick” created by your unconscious brain. They are not subject to rational interventions.
• The root cause of the problem is the human need for mental control. It sets off two different reactions.
  • One is that suppressing unpleasant thoughts causes them to become more frequent and stronger.
  • The other one is that when you try to think about something, you’ll think about it less.
• The final outcome is obsessive thought patterns that fire up your nervous system, which causes you to be in a sustained flight or fight response. This state compromises your mental and physical health.
• The DOC Journey teaches you recognize the nature of these thoughts, and you can move past them into the life that you want.

The inability to escape from unpleasant thoughts has a major impact on many people’s quality of life. Much energy is spent in attempting to control or suppress them. It turns out that they arise from the unconscious brain as a reflex, and they are much more powerful than your conscious brain. Rational interventions cannot and do not work.

The problem arises because these disruptive thoughts become stronger with time and repetition, are memorized, and evolve into obsessive patterns. A historical research term for them is, “URT’s” (Unpleasant Repetitive Thoughts). (1) My description is “RUTs” (Repetitive Unpleasant Thoughts). I refer to this phenomenon as “Phantom Brain Pain.”

Then there even a bigger issue in that they are processed in a similar manner as physical threats and stimulate your body into a flight or fight response (threat physiology). It is important to have this survival response, but it is deadly when it is prolonged. Your body is in high gear and your inflammatory cells are attacking your own body’s tissues. However, thought suppression is only part of this story.

The Ironic Effect

A significant obstacle to health and well-being is the “ironic effect.” We all know that when you suppress thoughts and emotions that they become more powerful and disruptive. (2) But a lesser known, and even more deadly problem is that when you try to think of something, you’ll think about it less. (3) Your conscious intention is overwhelmed by your unconscious brain focusing on ways you may not achieve this goal. Since the unconscious brain is so powerful, it is a huge mismatch.

The problem is that the more well-intentioned you are, the more likely this universal process will kick in. If your intention is to be out of pain, inadvertently, you’ll think about the pain more and reinforce it. The research shows that if you seek happiness, you’ll end up sad. If you try to be sad, you’ll end up buoyantly happy. If you try not to stereotype people, you’ll end up being more prejudiced. It is a major human existence problem in that many people who want to contribute to the world’s well-being, end up being crippled by overwhelming unpleasant thoughts and crippling anxiety. People with few scruples are not as bothered by this ironic effect and perhaps why many people in power run over people that are more conscientious.

The “seed” of this ironic process is the need for mental control – any control. (3)  The effect varies considerably from individual to individual, but it is consistently present. As bad as it sounds, and it is problematic, the solution is incredibly simple. Just write down your thoughts on a piece of paper and destroy it. The act is that of giving up mental control and it is without risk. It is the reason The DOC Journey has you begin this exercise before you get into the substance of the course. Every human being should do this daily like brushing your teeth. Look at it as cleaning out the lint trap of your dryer. Even a few minutes a day interrupts this reactive process. It is also the reason why expressing writing is the one “mandatory” step without an alternative.

Moving past these obsessive thought patterns

Understanding the powerful irrational nature of these inner critical voices will change your life in several ways. First, they are a neurological mechanism intended to protect you. You cannot take them personally. This realization allows you to learn to separate your identity from this reflex and access who you are and want to be. Your “demons” are actually suppressed thoughts and who you are NOT. Again, the more of a well-intentioned person you are, the more intense the thoughts. It really isn’t fair.

The other mechanism of trying to think noble and positive thoughts creates the opposite effect in that you think about them less. It creates disruptive thought patterns such as, “not good enough”, “just work harder,” “I’m a loser,” and “why does this always happen to me?” It is also problematic in that they push you to become “successful”, but you may not be able to feel it. A common scenario is the “imposter syndrome.” It seems many highly successful people feel like frauds even though there is abundant evidence to the contrary.

Where is your attention?

Whatever the reason, the end result is the same. You spend a significant amount of your life energy trying to squelch these voices and they won’t respond because they can’t. In fact, they will become stronger in that you are paying attention to them and stimulating neuroplastic changes in brain. It is similar to spinning a basketball ball on the tip of your finger. It will keep spinning as you put more energy into it. Also consider these thoughts as “dust devils” that are mini-tornadoes that occur in the prairie. They spin extremely fast, they cannot be stopped, or even penetrated.

So, the second way your life will be impacted is that once you understand the problem and realize you are wasting your energy trying to assuage this noise, you can move past them. The energy is now available to turn towards the future and construct the life you desire. Going back to the basketball comparison, as you stop paying attention to these circuits, they will slow down and may stop spinning almost completely. You cannot “fix” these thought patterns. The key is to first separate from them (expressive writing), and then create circuits in your brain that are much more enjoyable. You can also shift onto the part of your brain that already knows how to play. All of this can happen quickly with practice. The energy now available to go this direction will amaze you. You’ll quit trying to solve the unsolvable.

Begin with your disbelief

Your success with this course is not about generating belief in David Hanscom, The DOC Journey, or any other set of resources. That would be a form of thought suppression. Positive thinking generates the same thought pattens through the ironic effect. Your journey must begin and continue by connecting with what is happening at the moment. As you begin this course, that would be acknowledging your disbelief and downright cynicism. You have tried almost everything presented in this course at least once. Why should this experience be any different? Like trying to be happy ends up being sad, wanting to be free of pain causes you to be in more pain. If you can’t seem to get past positive thinking, keep trying. We all want to believe and experience happiness but living in chronic pain is tough.

The DOC Journey presents deeply researched tools that will allow you to calm and down re-route your nervous system as well as ways to regulate your body’s chemical state. It begins where you are and sequentially teaches you tools to accomplish this one step at a time. The way out of pain is truly paradoxical and why The DOC Journey is presented in a planned sequence. It also reflects the journey taken by many successful patients.

Recap:

Unpleasant repetitive thoughts are the “curse of consciousness.” They are unique to being human in that we possess language and can create abstract thoughts and concepts. They become our version of reality and identity. (4) We may spend a lot of time trying to fix or escape from them, but it isn’t possible. They are relentless and irrational.

Understanding the neurological mechanism of how they occur allows you to recognize them for what they are, connect to your own value system, and move past them into a much more enjoyable life experience.

References

1. Makovac E, et al. Can’t get it off my brain: Meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies on perseverative cognition. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging (2020); 295:111020. doi.org/10.1016/j/psychresns.2019.111020
2. Wegener DM, et al. “Paradoxical effects of thought suppression.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (1987); 53: 5-13.
3. Wegener DM. The Seed of Our Undoing. Psychological Science Agenda (1999)/ 10-11.
4. Feldman-Barrett. How Emotions are Made. Mariner Books; Main Market Ed. 2018.

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