For anxiety...should I accept that it's impossible to control my thoughts?

Of course you can control your mind. But I think you need psychiatric help.

no it means you are weak minded, strong minded people can control their thoughts.

There are things you can do about negative thoughts. I just wouldn't call it controlling your thoughts. It's not like you can do something that will make all your negative thoughts go away forever.

High anxiety generates negative thoughts. One thing you can do is reduce negative thinking with stress management.

People often make the mistake of struggling with their thoughts, which doesn't help. It's much better to take a deep breath or two to relax and let the thought go. Another good strategy is to replace every negative thought with two positive thoughts.

About catastrophic reactions, therapy teaches people to exercise their freedom to respond different ways in a stressful situation instead of getting upset. If the person calms down, that allows thinking about the different ways to respond and choosing the best. It's a matter of forming this habit. A good way to calm down quickly is just to breathe slowly through the nose. As few as 2 or 3 slow breaths can make a difference. With a little practice, you can do this so nobody notices.

The research on breathing therapy is amazing. It lowers blood pressure in 2 or 3 minutes. Its used to treat veterans with PTSD.

An answer with slow breathing and other stress advice, and a video on breathing therapy.

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20170...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvli7NBUfY4

That is true - the more you try and think of not doing something the more you think of doing it

Like if I tell you not to think of a unicorn, or Donald Trump naked on a trampoline

It's not an easy exercise, directing your thoughts. Anxieties direct a lot of what you think about, so your problem is kind of self-perpetuating.

When I'm not concentrating on something that actually requires concentration, I rely on audiobooks. They give me something to have going in the background that is neutral and non-threatening. If you've been going to see any therapists, you'll find at least a few of them prescribing distraction techniques; this is one I use.