I posted the following as a response to another topic and thought I'd start it as a topic because I found this very interesting...

I'd like to recommend a book by Neil Anderson, Victory Over The Darkness, A Battle For The Mind....

Basically, we are to take each thought captive as we begin to have these obsessive thoughts.  Initially, it is VERY hard because we often don't recognize we are continuing the same thought patterns.  However, as we become more conscious of our thoughts, it becomes easier and easier to recognize when we start obsessing over the thought.  Often times, these obsessions come from our learned behaviors.

A very interesting discovery I recently learned from an advanced Psychology professor I had in school, as well as a television program that was recently on is that our brain actually creates patterns that resemble ruts and that when a person dies if they look at the brain, they can actually see by the ruts in the brain which area the person mostly concentrated on in their life while they were alive.    

As I thought about this further, the analogy I thought of immediately was that of a car stuck in snow or mud... As the driver tries desparately to get the car out of that rut, the deeper the rut gets.  However, eventually as the driver gains different attempts at getting the car out of the rut, the tires begin to come out of the rut.  

I guess this would mean that all these thoughts we were taught in unhealthy dysfunctional relationships have developed deep thoughts in a certain part of our brains and it isn't until we utilize ALL resources and make the conscious attempt to change those thought patterns that we will be able to think in other areas of our brain.

I think it's cool to know how the brain works because knowing this we can actually visualize the effect many of our thoughts have on our mental, physical, and emotional health.

Take Care!