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🇸🇪 Sweden /Health & Science

Psychology professor: “Everyone has disturbing thoughts”

From Dagens Nyheter · () Swedish

Translated from Swedish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Interview Named sources Context piece
  • Psychology professor Erik Andersson says people can experience forbidden thoughts, including thoughts of harming a child or partner.
  • He says the danger begins when someone starts believing they are defined by their thoughts.

Have you ever thought about harming your child or partner? Psychology professor Erik Andersson says forbidden thoughts form part of being human.

He draws a distinction between having a disturbing thought and believing that the thought defines you. “The dangerous thing is when you start to believe that you are your thoughts,” Andersson says.

Everyone has disturbing thoughts.

· Erik AnderssonThe psychology professor says forbidden thoughts are part of being human.

The excerpt presents the issue as a psychological question about how people relate to unwanted thoughts, rather than as evidence of an intention to act on them.

The dangerous thing is when you start to believe that you are your thoughts.

· Erik AnderssonHe warns against identifying completely with unwanted thoughts.
About this summary

Originally published by Dagens Nyheter in Swedish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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