More thoughts than neurotypicals?

[Aneka]

I think that whole not being able to sleep because your brain won't shut up,...might be a female thing.

My wife,...good Lord,...takes her hours to get to sleep,...it's like a complete download of all the days events, conversations, and then,...all of tomorrow's plans. Drives me nuts,...just getting off to sleep,...then she wants my opinion on something and wants to talk. OMG! Close your eyes and go to sleep!

Going to sleep,...zero issues. If I am not being bothered,...I am sleeping like the dead in 2 minutes.

As far as my brain never shutting up,...that's definitely me when I am awake. My "inner monologue" is always on, conversations with myself, trying to sort out others communication, mental distractions with my special interests, talking myself through my sensory issues,...whatever. No wonder I am mentally trashed by the end of the day.

Oh god, yes! I thought that was normal. My mind tends to go from one issue to the next even when I do daily tasks. Daydreaming, internal monologues and an endless circle of overthinking and overanalyzing. I have trouble to stay in the here and now. My brain only shuts up when I sleep.

 

[Major Tom]

I honestly wouldn't know, but I suspect my ADD and autism leads me to have a VERY active mind. So much so, that I can't even sit down and watch a tv show for more than 10 minutes at a time.

I often envy people who can. A few things that slow my thinking down are: gardening, being in nature, photography, and splitting wood.

I can't say what a neurotypical person has going on in their heads and also not only neurology, but emotions like stress, excitement and other things also probably cause a lot of extra thoughts as well.

 

[Wolfsage]

How did you measure that?

Devoted part of my brain to observation and deduction of thought speed. Then continued as normal. Number came later as an answer.

 

[zurb]

The NT brain prunes neuro pathwways from a young age. Which is why we have a greater associative horizon. Which is why we think more. Which is why we’re often slower to form an answer.
Don’t know why we have to be PC about a name, though as we know it’s not new and is why Aspergers wasn’t recognised for a long time in the West.

 

[SusanLR]

My mind is never still and I don't even have to consciously think to think!
The internal chatter is ever present and can be several things at one time.
It just jumps from one thing to another and usually there is a song, could be any song as I don't
have to be thinking about a song. also playing in the constant jumble.

A couple of things I find interesting is although my thoughts are banging off continously, very quickly,
it seems difficult and slow to get things put into spoken words.
Like a lag time between the thought and the speech.

Something to focus on stills my mind. Music in real time for example.
I can concentrate on a game, tv, or guided meditation just fine.
I tend to wander when reading and sometimes must go back and re-read a few lines.

Once I took Prozac for a while and it slowed down those constant rapid fire thoughts.
It didn't feel right. It wasn't ME. So I stopped it.
The only time my mind isn't thinking is also when I sleep--sometimes.
Most of the time I have vivid and lucid dreams. They are just like being awake.
So sleep without dreams is a rest of peace.
I don't have trouble falling asleep. Out in seconds if the condition is right.
I must have soft ambient music playing or even the radio. That's what shuts down my own inner chatter.

I've asked several NTs if they are this way and they say NO.
They like it dark and quiet to go to sleep. That would just allow my mind to keep on going.
As for the constant songs in my head, I've developed a game I sometimes play with the man
I house share with.
I just suddenly ask him, "What's the song on your head?"
No song is usually the answer. But, it happens to him occasionally and he'll say hey, I've got
a song in my head!
So I guess most NTs don't have the constant thinking.

 

[SDRSpark]

My mind is never still and I don't even have to consciously think to think!
The internal chatter is ever present and can be several things at one time.
It just jumps from one thing to another and usually there is a song, could be any song as I don't
have to be thinking about a song. also playing in the constant jumble.

A couple of things I find interesting is although my thoughts are banging off continously, very quickly,
it seems difficult and slow to get things put into spoken words.
Like a lag time between the thought and the speech.

Something to focus on stills my mind. Music in real time for example.
I can concentrate on a game, tv, or guided meditation just fine.
I tend to wander when reading and sometimes must go back and re-read a few lines.

Once I took Prozac for a while and it slowed down those constant rapid fire thoughts.
It didn't feel right. It wasn't ME. So I stopped it.
The only time my mind isn't thinking is also when I sleep--sometimes.
Most of the time I have vivid and lucid dreams. They are just like being awake.
So sleep without dreams is a rest of peace.
I don't have trouble falling asleep. Out in seconds if the condition is right.
I must have soft ambient music playing or even the radio. That's what shuts down my own inner chatter.

I've asked several NTs if they are this way and they say NO.
They like it dark and quiet to go to sleep. That would just allow my mind to keep on going.
As for the constant songs in my head, I've developed a game I sometimes play with the man
I house share with.
I just suddenly ask him, "What's the song on your head?"
No song is usually the answer. But, it happens to him occasionally and he'll say hey, I've got
a song in my head!
So I guess most NTs don't have the constant thinking.

This sounds like me. And the psych community talks about "racing thoughts" like it's some different thing that I would notice. I have no idea if I have "racing thoughts" or not (unless I'm thinking about racing, that is. ) I just have thoughts, I have no idea how they compare to an objective "normal".

 

[Booknerd515]

I always, always think a lot. Most times I have multiple trains of thought going. I never ever stop thinking unless I am falling asleep and even when asleep I think a lot even subconscious so I end up having vivid dreams as my brain never seems to ever want to quiet down.

Even now, when I have a migraine, I still am thinking of multiple things at one time and I have no clue why.

 

[Trophonius]

My opinion is that people on the spectrum don't have more thoughts than neurotypicals, but different kind of thoughts of more introspective nature. If you're having a conversation with someone, you're still having thoughts even if they are different in kind of the brooding many of us fall into.

I also believe that having more introspective thoughts doesn't occur necessarily because of a preference for these thoughts, but for many of us because they are easy to process. NT thinking occurs in parallel, NT seem to be able to process multiple sources at the same time, while I can feel easily overwhelmed to the point it can lead to a shutdown or a panic attack if I cannot get away. This lead to being alone, and replace the in-parallel thinking from multiple sources for a single line continuous thoughts (in my case, pessimistic in nature). This may seem like "more thinking" because it's easier to be aware of them, but it's not really having more thoughts.

 

[bluelily]

I was thinking about this today, watching my mind chatter away, constant multiple thoughts all the time. The few people I have felt comfortable enough to talk with this about don't experience the constant inner chatter that I do, so it does seem that I have more thoughts than others as far as I can tell.

Weirdly, though, I remember a conversation with college dorm-mates some 30 years ago, in which we were discussing our inner experience. I described my mind at that time as dark, empty, quiet, with nothing going on unless I was deliberately working on something. No one else experienced that, they all had thoughts flowing through at all times. Now it seems I am in the opposite state, but I have no idea why this changed.

 

[Raggamuffin]

My ex told me numerous times when I explained my thoughts that "Nobody thinks like that."

She often wondered why I struggled to open up to her - it was usually because she was so blunt when it came to responding to my opinions.

Ed

 

[Nervous Rex]

My brain never shuts up. Never ever. I don't have much of an idea at all of what it's like to "rest"...it happens for me occasionally but usually, I'm completely unable to relax. I remember being a young child and telling my mom "I can't sleep, my brain won't shut up!" Of course now as an adult I have bigger issues to lie awake thinking about at night.

As a teenager, I told my mother that, "You don't know what it's like to always have to be thinking all the time!" She said, "You don't have to." and I shot back, "I can't stop!"

It was a revelation to me to realize that many other people around me don't like to think and are capable of just not thinking.

 

[Beach]

Im pretty much always thinking about something.

 

[Soleil]

My mind tends to be constantly thinking about one thing and another. When I'm in bed, this usually turns into dreams, unless I'm too focused on my thoughts and can't go to sleep. I don't have insomnia often, but it pops up sometimes (maybe twice so far this year).