Repetitive Unpleasant Thoughts (RUTs) are a problem with being human. Although many people are not bothered much by them, others have a difficult time, and they markedly interfere with their quality of life. At some tipping point they can be severe enough to compromise the ability to function. The term for this extreme form is obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

You can’t outrun your mind

Although physical pain elicits and automatic avoidance or withdrawal response, there is no refuge from mental pain, which is processed in similar brain circuits. We only know to suppress them, which makes them even worse. The brain perceives these thoughts to be a threat and fires up the fight or flight response. A sustained threat physiology is the basis of chronic mental and physical disease.

It is my opinion that RUTs may be the most significant force in driving chronic mental and physical disease. Unpleasant thoughts are sensory input and emotions are the physiological reaction. They are solvable using research-based approaches. Possibly the one most overlooked factor in dealing with obsessive thought patterns is addressing the threat physiology component.

 

 

This section of the healing journey is focused on solving RUTs (Repetitive Unpleasant Thoughts). The learning sequence first focuses on solutions and then on the background as to why and how these disruptive thought patterns are so common. You can’t “fix” them or do battle with them. You must move through and rise abovethem.

Introduction – What Happens Behind Closed Doors

Section 1 – Overview of RUTs

Chapter 1 – RUTs – Defining the Problem

Section 2 – Solving RUTs

Chapter 2 –  Separating Your Identity from Your Physiology

Chapter 3 – Four Aspects of Solving RUTs

Chapter 4 – Thought Diversion

Chapter 5  – “Turn Down the Heat” – Anger

Chapter 6 – Nurturing Creativity

Chapter 7 – Dissolution of Ego

Section 3 – The Evolution of RUTs

Chapter 8 – The Need for Mental Control – The “Ironic Effect”

Chapter 9 – We are brainwashed by our life experiences

Chapter 10 – The Physiology/ Mental Mechanics

Section 4 – Consequences of RUTs

Chapter 11 – Clinical Manifestations/ illnesses/ Diseases

Chapter 12 – Behaviors Driven by RUTs

Chapter 13 – Punishment Can’t and Won’t Stop Destructive Behaviors

Section 5 – Healing Principles 

Chapter 14 – Addressing RUTs

Chapter 15 – Become a Professional at Living Life

Chapter 16 – “Letting Go” – Freedom from Mental and Physical Pain

 

 

 

This section on RUTs has been carved out of all of my materials including The DOC Journey course and app, Back in Control: A Surgeon’s Roadmap Out of Chronic Pain, Psychology Today blogs, and the backincontrol.com website. For many of you, this section will provide enough information to heal, and others will need to take a deep dive into either the course/ app, or considerother approaches.

There is little time spent looking backwards into your past traumas. You are actually reinforcing these neurological circuits. The focus is learning the skills to process adversity and shift onto circuits that are more functional and enjoyable. Many people have healed using these principles and the outcomes are consistent with engagement and repetition. Welcome to your new nervous system and life.

 

RUTs - Defining the Problem

“The Curse of Consciousness” – Trapped by Your Thoughts

“The Curse of Consciousness” – Trapped by Your Thoughts

Objectives: 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 ...
“Don’t Worry, Be Happy”

“Don’t Worry, Be Happy”

A way into “The Abyss” of chronic illness 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 ...
Am I Operating on Your Pain or Anxiety?

Am I Operating on Your Pain or Anxiety?

My surgical decision-making dramatically changed over the last five years of my practice. In spite of watching so many successes of people healing from chronic pain without surgery, I still had a surgical mindset and was always looking for a ...
My Descent Into The Abyss

My Descent Into The Abyss

Objectives There are many different physical and mental symptoms that are possible when you are in sustained flight or fight physiology. At my lowest point, I was experiencing 17 of them. No one could tell me what was happening despite ...

 

 

Separating Your Identity from Your Physiology

The Gift of Anxiety – Your Bodyguard or Prison Guard?

The Gift of Anxiety – Your Bodyguard or Prison Guard?

Objectives: Since the body’s response to threats affects every cell in your body, it feels like part of who you are. We spend a lot of time attempting to avoid this intentionally unpleasant sensation when it is necessary for life ...

 

Four Aspects of Solving RUTs

Four Aspects of Solving RUT’s

Four Aspects of Solving RUT’s

Objectives Mental and physical pain are processed in similar regions of the brain. Our inability to escape from RUT’s relentlessly drives flight or fight physiology, and people may become ill. There is a healing sequence to solve them – separation ...
The Popcorn Machine – Healing RUTS

The Popcorn Machine – Healing RUTS

Objectives Repetitive Unpleasant Thoughts (RUTs) are solvable with a multi-pronged self-directed approach. Consider the four aspects in the metaphor of a popcorn machine. They are 1) the kernels 2) the cooking pot 3) the storage compartment 4) the power source ...

 

Thought Diversion

Write and Don't Stop!

Write and Don’t Stop!

  There are over 2200 research papers that document that expressive writing in some form is effective for improving both your mental and physical health. I have been adamant for a long time that you should write down just negative ...
Unhooking from the Train

Unhooking from the Train

Your body under chronic stress  There are multiple physical and mental manifestations of a chronically fired up nervous system. With engagement of the principles that calm it down, the improvements in my patients’ quality of life are consistent and frequently ...
The Three Column Technique

The Three Column Technique

After you have become comfortable with writing down and immediately destroying your thoughts, the next phase involves the “three-column technique that Dr. David Burns outlines in his book, Feeling Good. It provides an excellent format in which to apply the principles ...
Active Meditation

Active Meditation

A basic tenet of many Eastern philosophies is that worrying about the future and thinking about the past causes internal unrest. There is anxiety around the future and many regrets and frustrations about the past. By staying only in the ...

Expressive Writing Pamphlet

 

“Turn Down the Heat” – Anger

Anger Academy

Anger Academy

Objectives Processing anger is more doable if it is broken down into its components. Anger is a powerful, necessary, and hard wired survival reflex. You cannot tame it with the conscious brain. It is an acquired skill that requires ongoing ...
Directly Calming the Threat Response

Directly Calming the Threat Response

Your capacity to enjoy your life, feel safe and content is dependent on your body’s neurochemical profile. When you are stressed you don’t feel good. There are methods to regulate your body’s stress reaction and inflammatory response. The gift of ...
"5–3–2" - Processing Anger in Three Steps

“5–3–2” – Processing Anger in Three Steps

Objectives Anxiety is an unpleasant sensation generated by your body’s physiological response to real or perceived danger. It compels you to take action to resolve the threat and live another day. If you cannot escape or solve the threat, your ...

 

Nurturing Creativity

 Quit Fighting Darkness and Turn on the Light

 Quit Fighting Darkness and Turn on the Light

Objectives We are trained that if we can solve enough of our problems, we’ll have an “enjoyable life.” Life’s challenges never stop, and we may slowly sink into darkness, “The Abyss.” We become desperate trying to escape; especially from our ...

 

Dissolution of Ego

 

The Need for Mental Control – The “Ironic Effect”

The Seed of Our Undoing

Your Demons are Robots

Your Demons are Robots

It is critical to understand how deeply negative anxiety-producing thoughts are etched into your nervous system. A 1987 Harvard experiment (1) documented that when you suppress unpleasant thoughts, they become more powerful. Unfortunately, they documented a trampoline effect in that they ...

We are brainwashed by our life experiences

Your “Authentic Self”

Your “Authentic Self”

The only “authentic self” that exists is the one who is present today – right this very second. Your actions and reactions reflect your entire lifetime of programming. Much of our programming is less than ideal but it is what ...
Your Personal Brain Scanner

Your Personal Brain Scanner

Every second of your life depends on your brain scanning your surroundings for trouble. This unconscious process guides your behavior so as to avoid danger and maximize your chances of survival. You will become conscious of this ongoing interaction with ...
Mental Rigidity - A Core Trait of Many Mental Health Diagnoses

Mental Rigidity – A Core Trait of Many Mental Health Diagnoses

Objectives Mental rigidity is a transdiagnostic process that spans many mental health diagnoses Creating mental flexibility may be an important early intervention in successfully treating them. The need to suppress unpleasant thoughts is a driver of this process. Creating mental ...

The Physiology / Mental Mechanics

Threat versus Safety Physiology

Threat versus Safety Physiology

Lesson Objectives Consider ongoing environmental input separately from your body’s responses. Understand the essence of illness/ disease is sustained exposure to real or perceived threats. It creates an adverse chemical profile that increases metabolism (your rate of fuel consumption) and ...
Common Links to Chronic Disease - RUTs are Relentless

Common Links to Chronic Disease – RUTs are Relentless

Objectives: Understanding the nature of chronic disease and the principles behind the solutions, allows you to fully engage in your care. Characteristics that keep us alive are what also create disease states. Chronic pain is a neurological diagnosis that has ...
We have no protection from mental pain

We have no protection from mental pain

Objectives: Pain from any body part is a protective danger signal that guides our behavior and physical responses to avoid danger and remain safe. This system is called the nociceptive system, which guides behaviors to not exceed the limits of ...

 

 

 

Clinical Manifestations / illnesses/ Diseases

Extreme Mental Pain - OCD

Extreme Mental Pain – OCD

Neil Hilborn – “OCD” Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is an extreme of form of anxiety. It is characterized by a relentless assault of unwelcome intrusive thoughts. I suffered from OCD for several decades well before I knew what OCD meant ...
School or Prison - What's the Difference?

School or Prison – What’s the Difference?

Bullying bothers me–a lot. When I was in middle school and high school, I was very fortunate in that I was not a target of bullying. However, I have watched dozens of friends and family come under attack from bullies ...
Threat Physiology Can’t be Controlled with Behavioral Approaches

Threat Physiology Can’t be Controlled with Behavioral Approaches

Objectives Many people are focused on controlling anger and anxiety with behavioural approaches. These powerful reactions are not controllable and suppressing them increases threat physiology. We all need to be heard, supported, and taught methods to regulate and lower these ...

Behaviors Driven by RUTs

School or Prison - What's the Difference?

School or Prison – What’s the Difference?

Bullying bothers me–a lot. When I was in middle school and high school, I was very fortunate in that I was not a target of bullying. However, I have watched dozens of friends and family come under attack from bullies ...

Punishment Can’t and Won’t Stop Destructive Behaviors

Threat Physiology Can’t be Controlled with Behavioral Approaches

Threat Physiology Can’t be Controlled with Behavioral Approaches

Objectives Many people are focused on controlling anger and anxiety with behavioural approaches. These powerful reactions are not controllable and suppressing them increases threat physiology. We all need to be heard, supported, and taught methods to regulate and lower these ...

Addressing RUTs

Your “Authentic Self”

Your “Authentic Self”

The only “authentic self” that exists is the one who is present today – right this very second. Your actions and reactions reflect your entire lifetime of programming. Much of our programming is less than ideal but it is what ...

 

Becoming a Professional at Living Life

Become a Genius at Solving Pain

Become a Genius at Solving Pain

I always wanted to play golf at a level where I could consistently shoot in the 70’s. I began to play when I was 14 but I never took lessons and didn’t practice much. Then in college I subscribed to ...
Repetition and Healing

Repetition and Healing

Objectives Learning any new material or skill is an active process than can only be acquired through repetition. There are few people with a photographic memory and even they need repetition to embed a skill. Living your life in the ...

 

“Letting Go” – Freedom from Mental and Physical Pain

"She Just Let Go"

“She Just Let Go”

My migraine headaches began on the Fourth of July when I was five years old. By age fifty, I had over fifteen physical and mental symptoms from being in a state of sustained threat physiology. They became extreme and intolerable ...
A Bunch of Balloons

A Bunch of Balloons

Much, if not most, of what the DOC project presents about creating a central nervous shift is 180 degrees different than how most of us are taught to deal with our conscious mind. One of the most important paradoxes to ...