Milder forms of intrusive thoughts come in the form of our own critical voice: the one in our heads that tells us things like ‘You’ll never get that job, you’re not good enough’, ‘You’re going to look stupid if you do that’, or ‘They don’t like you and they’re talking about you behind your back’. Equally common are blasphemous thoughts or inappropriate thoughts about sex. New mothers often think about their baby coming to harm. These types of thoughts often come in the form of images where a person might imagine driving their car through a crowd of people, harming or killing another person or imagining a loved one fatally injured or dead. One of the most common types of intrusive thought relates to concerns about safety or risk. The unwelcome thoughts we have can be in the form of images, sounds, or statements. While harmless in themselves, they can have a negative effect on our quality of life, and sometimes affect the way we behave. People who have symptoms of anxiety or depression are most likely to have intrusive thoughts, but they can happen to anyone. They’re often repetitive – with the same kind of thought cropping up again and again – and they can be disturbing or even distressing. Intrusive thoughts are unwanted thoughts that can pop into our heads without warning, at any time.