We know—playfulness and intrusive thoughts don’t usually go together. But hear us out. When intrusive thoughts show up, your brain sounds the alarm: “This is serious! Pay attention!” But what if instead of reacting with panic, you responded with a raised eyebrow, a chuckle, or even a little creativity?
Here’s the science:
Intrusive thoughts thrive on fear, urgency, and your emotional reaction. When you play with your thoughts—literally turning them into songs, cartoons, or clumsy characters—you shift them from center stage to comic relief. This rewires your brain to stop interpreting them as threats.
Your thoughts aren’t delicate. You can mess with them.
The goal isn’t to mock yourself—it’s to reduce the thought’s intensity. Think of your intrusive thought like a schoolyard bully. It only holds power when it can scare you. But if you start calling it “Captain Catastrophe” or sing its message to the tune of the SpongeBob theme song, your brain gets the message: This isn’t something I need to fear.
Laughter = defusion.
Laughter helps you step back. When you laugh at the absurdity of a thought like, “What if I scream something awful in this meeting?” you’re not being dismissive. You’re reminding your brain: “This is just a blip. I don’t need to treat it like a five-alarm fire.”
Give your thoughts a costume change.
The more you can experiment with thoughts—write them backwards, draw them, give them nicknames—the more mental flexibility you build. And the more flexible your brain becomes, the less likely it is to get stuck.
Let your creative brain lead your anxious brain.
When you’re in the grip of anxiety, logic often takes a back seat. That’s where creativity comes in. Creative play lets you gently bypass the emotional alarms and show your brain that it doesn’t need to sound the sirens every time an intrusive thought shows up.
This isn’t silly. This is science-based skill-building.
CBT, ACT, and other evidence-based treatments for OCD and anxiety all include versions of this strategy. Play is a powerful antidote to anxiety’s rigid seriousness. Your intrusive thoughts want you to freeze, hide, and spiral. But when you play, you unhook. You free yourself.
And no—you don’t need to be a “creative person” to do this.
If you can doodle, hum a tune, scribble in a notebook, or give a name to your mental gremlins, you’ve got all the tools you need. There’s no “right” way to play—just any act that breaks the script and helps you see the thought for what it is: a passing brain glitch, not a prophecy.
👉 Ready to test it out?
Download Play_With_Your_Thoughts_Worksheet_ for 10 creative ways to break the spell, reclaim your focus, and take the fear out of your brain spam.
Use this Tracking Form Your_Thoughts_to learn from this new vantage point.
How scary are you intrusive thoughts once you have hung out with them and played with them for a bit?
