What causes unwanted negative thoughts and how to stop them?

I really don’t think that is unusual. It is simply empathy where we put ourselves in the situation of others and feel what they feel. These aren’t negative thoughts unless you start to obsess about them. That wouldn’t be healthy.

I just googled this and it’s brand new to me but very interesting!

http://brainblogger.com/2009/12/09/white-bears-the-paradox-of-mental-suppression/

It’s not at all unusual. It’s really hard but you can train your mind not to do it, or to cut the thoughts off when they start.

The great Jungian analyst Marian Woodman believed that the images that we allow into our brains through books and movies settle in our body and cause such thoughts. She suggested watching carefully what you read or see. After that, I stopped reading true crime books and eschewed violent and scary movies. I feel like I’m the better for it.

We’re not the author of any of our thoughts, so it’s not surprising that we’re surprised when our experience is filled with unpleasant thoughts. If we are under the assumption that we are authoring these thoughts, it would be difficult to make sense of a perpetual onslaught of negative and terrifying thoughts.

The good news is that this is completely normal. One suggestion might be to try to pay close attention to the thoughts themselves as they arise. Think of a movie theater screen. Image after image is projected on the screen. They may be pleasant or completely terrifying images. And the beauty of cinema – how it works – is that it requires us to temporarily suspend our knowledge that we’re staring at a wall of light. We get carried along by the content of these images, often evoking strong emotions.

But what happens if you are watching a movie, and turn your attention to the fact that you are observing images displayed on a blank screen. At first, you may notice that certain images result in physical and emotional reactions within you. But if you pay even closer attention, it’s difficult to become invested in the content of the images on the screen. What’s clear is that the images just appear and disappear into a perpetual flow of light (and sound).

It’s possible to witness our thoughts in a similar way, as they play upon the “screen” of our mind. Once you catch a glimpse of what your mind is up to, it’s difficult to become too invested in these thoughts. And you may find that this takes most of the horror out of terrible thoughts.

Just to be clear – you’re going to find it difficult to stop thoughts that you are not choosing to be there in the first place. Your efforts will likely be met by more of what you are trying to avoid. But you might find that turning your attention to the occurrence of thoughts and their effects on you, rather than the content of the thoughts themselves, might make them much less interesting, certainly less terrifying, and may break the rumination.

Are you an empath? You might, as @trailsillustrated said train yourself to be different but would you still be you, or rather, the person you want to be?

The White Bear Paradox you linked to was interesting reading. It reminds me of when I try to clear my mind of thought and the more I do it the more frenetic the thoughts become. So, to try to clear my mind I try to focus on a single thought or thing and as I notice the mind begin to stray bring it back to that one thing repeatedly. It is so much easier than a complete clearing.

Perhaps something like that would work for you. When those thoughts that concern you come knocking, find some other thing to focus your attention on.

I agree completely with above posters who bear witness that this is a normal experience in those situation, unless you are literally a sociopath, and then you don’t care.

To stop them the only sure way is to replace them. As with any addiction or habit, if you simply stop the <trouble> behavior there is a <trouble> size hole in your perceived experience and it’s only too easy for it to park there again.
A simple and reliable method is to repeat a mantra or affirmation.
There are plenty of other mental routines you could do, and they will work as long as you take the action to fill that <trouble> space with whatever you chose.

There are your thoughts, there’s the you who is being molested by the thoughts, and if you look, there is a “higher” you who is aware of the molesting happening but is not affected by it. If you turn your attention to the “higher” you and remain seated there, the thoughts will eventually diminish for lack of attention
and interest, just as any thought or observation would without your giving it attention.

Unreliable, dishonest, uncaring, inconsiderate, stupid, moronic people.

That use to happen to me when I was younger. Now I think there are so many things that can happen at any given time, that it seems like a big waste of time to give into my concerns. So I go read or do something fun and Poof, it is all gone.

I just try to be cautious but what is going to happen is going to happen. No sense in losing sleep or time over it. I think it really dawned on me when I read a story of a young man on a morning jog like he always did. Obviously someone who cared about his health. And in a moment he was killed. Not by a killer, or ghosts, or car, or dog or slipping down some stairs or lightning. An old tree that had been in the neighborhood for years, snapped a branch and killed him in an instant. Bet he didn’t see that coming.

After reading that, I figured, what the heck. I’ll just keep jogging along till my time is up. Not going to worry about it. Control of our life is an illusion we give ourselves. I’m not saying we can’t prevent some things or even delay death maybe. But I think death sneaks up like a mugger in the night and we never know how or when. So why worry.

Do the thoughts only pop into your head immediately after you’ve watched something, or do they also pop into your head at other, random times? Like a week or two later when you’re doing the dishes, or maybe a month later when you’re going to bed?

As others have suggested, it’s absolutely normal to a certain degree. However, if you find that the thoughts are intruding a while after you’ve seen or read something disturbing and you can’t stop thinking about them and they cause you significant distress, there’s a chance that you might be OCD. Typically, however, most people with OCD have odd compulsions (some much more severe than others), such as touching things, counting syllables, etc. I don’t necessarily think that you are, but I am throwing it out there as a possibility.

There can be many reasons for negative thoughts our insecurity, doubts, less patience.
And to stop these negative thoughts we can divert our mind to something else do things which you like to do whenever such thoughts comes in your mind. You can do anything watch TV, listen music, read newspaper or book, etc. Initially it can be hard to do so but keep trying and soon you will be free from negative thoughts.

Hmm…I would say right after and maybe if I see something that triggers the thought it is in my head. Doesn’t last too long but of course when it does pop up it’s annoying.

Having empathy for victims is being sensitive and empathic, and is not craziness.

However, if it is bothering you and you would like more control over it, then I expect you have that way of being as a habit (what some people who study such things call “diffuse energy habits”), and you might like the results of studying techniques for developing skills for controlling your boundaries and energy habits.

BTW, sensitivity can seem like craziness to insensitive people, also referred to as people with dense-field energy habits.

Taming Your Gremlin: A Surprisingly Simple Method for Getting Out of Your Own Way by Rick Carson