# Cant stop thinking



## Rasputin (Dec 1, 2003)

Ive never told anyone about this problem because it seems to weird, but does anyone have the problem where they cant stop thinking. 

Example. Ill go through stages where I cant stop thinking about breathing, like I have to think breath in breath out, and every time I do it it just reminds me to think about it. And if I stop thinking about it I stop breathing. 

Also ill think something horrible everytime i see a person, like a family member, something I know im not suppose to think but I just cant help it. 

Is there a name for this or am I so messed up they dont have a name for it yet


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## niceperson (Nov 18, 2005)

i think i have the same problem as you. I really can't stop thinking. I think that is is called obsessive compulsive. I don't know how much progress you have made in beating your anxiety, but often i feel when we do get over this problem, it is kind of a blessing. Like when i am not anxious around others, i can always think of something to talk about, or a good joke. Also, it is very enjoyable to always thing when you are walking around. You notice a lot more about things and find even normal things interesting. You start to see the world better and the way it works. So i think thinking a lot is a blessing once you get over social anxiety.


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## perfectlycalm (Nov 15, 2005)

I used to have constant thoughts, for me it was related to depression. Now my thinking was non-stop and I couldn't relax, I got headaches almost everyday. I have been told that I have OCD, that was a couple years ago. But I looked at the priorities. I have severe SA, and I had rather mild OCD. And I had severe depression. obsessive compulsive disorder or depression will effect SA. So I worked at the OCD cause I was fed up with being told that i had it and I have nearly cured it. I have worked on my depression and I have that in my control now. The only thing I have left is the SA. The better I can deal with secondary disorders the less confusing SA is. If you work at healing your secondary disorders then you make it easier on yourself to overcome the SA.


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## pixiedust (Aug 11, 2005)

Does it matter if there's a name for it? :stu 

Have you tried meditation? Meditation helps a lot of people out that can't quiet their mind. If you practice meditation enough, supposedly it becomes second nature and you will stop thinking without, well, even thinking about it.


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

Rasputin,

It's called...are you ready for this? obsessive worrying! It's one of the leading symptoms of anxiety. You can't turn the mind off! Mine got so bad, I had to take antipsychotic medication to go to sleep. Fortunately, I don't have to do that anymore.

It does get better, but it takes time and patience. Once you get your mind focus on things you need to do, it doesn't allow you to think about other things.


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## Farren (Jan 5, 2006)

I don't know if this is the same thing, but I tend to over analyze things quite a bit. For example, my mind tends to go off on its own tangents that begin with a thought about the future or X event/meeting/etc., and pretty soon, I am projecting what will happen next, and I almost develop these whole imaginary interactions. This invariably leads to my imagining what negative thing someone will say to me and how I will react. It's not like I have many negative interactions in real life, so I don't understand why my imaginary thought riffs go off in this direction.


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## niceperson (Nov 18, 2005)

I had the same thing where i could not stop thinking, and when i told my therapist about it, he put me on resperdal. It is an anti-psychotic, and it definitely helps you calm your thoughts down. If you are seeing a therapist, i would recommend you ask him/her about it.


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## Melusine (Jun 19, 2004)

My thoughts are always running, i rarely have any mind clarity, often stressing about abstracts, circumstances, past incidents that are meaningless, you get the idea, i need to get lots of fresh air and exercise to be able to gain some peace of mind.


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## LUEshi (Dec 21, 2005)

Like others in this topic, I'm always contantly thinking. I can have imaginary conversations with people, thinking about what could happen next. My mind can't shut up =\.


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## Dante3214 (Jan 16, 2006)

I still have mini-conversations with people in my head also.. but I've somehow learned to just not worry about it.


I mean.. I'm not sure how.. I just stopped moving, stood still, and slowed my breathing (from what I remember) and that was enough for me to START to go to sleep (which takes about 2 hours).




But a lot of you have had it worse than me


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## Richieboy (Feb 19, 2006)

man I'm in the same boat, my mind wont just shut off sometimes. It's always negative crap that I'm thinking about too, never something positive. Just constant worrying, almost always about my future.

btw


> Also ill think something horrible everytime i see a person, like a family member, something I know im not suppose to think but I just cant help it.


is a hallmark of OCD.[/quote]


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

Yep, that kind of thinking is anxiety, but can become obsessive! You "freak yourself out" because you thought such a thing and then that makes you a bad person because you thought it, and then you hope that they didn't think what you were thinking, and if they were thinking what you were thinking, what do they think about that and you as a person .....breathe, Millenniumman, breathe!.....That's OCD, mild as it is!


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## living in darkness (Apr 17, 2005)

I take it you mean scary, racing thoughts? Horrible, recurring thoughts about harming family members- things you would never actually do, that kind of thing? That's anxiety, man. Sure, you may have a mild case of OCD as well, and you may be experiencing what is none as harm fantasies(I believe that's the name for it), but it all stems from anxiety. When your anxiety is reduced, these problems will go away automaticaly.

I no longer have that particular problem now that my anxiety is much better, but I still think constantly. My mind is always working pretty much from the moment I wake up until I sleep. This, I believe, is pretty normal for most people. Buddhists talked about this thousands of years ago, and why meditation is so important. Meditation is the only thing I've found that slows down my thoughts. Sometimes, for very brief moments, I can stop thought all together while deep in meditation. This is much harder then it sounds, especialy for somebody with anxiety, but soooo good for you and your mental health. 

Now if I just had the discipline to pratice meditation everyday!


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## Swiftwind (Feb 5, 2005)

Sometimes I think SO much that I can't get to sleep for hours and hours (even if I am extremely tired). It's really frustrating. I also think about breathing sometimes - in a technical way - and I really hate it.


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## missnat84 (Dec 31, 2004)

I'm more of a thinker than a talker. I also have trouble getting to sleep sometimes because i've got so much on my mind.


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## Rasputin (Dec 1, 2003)

I talked to my psychiartist about this and he showed me a technique that really helped me fall asleep at night. 

Its kinda like meditation, there is a name for it but i forget what its called. Anyway, he gave me a CD and its really calm relaxing music.

What you do is like breath in slow and count to 4 in your head, hold it for four seconds nad let it out for four seconds. and you go through ur different body parts and tence them up as hard as you can then relax them. Any way it works very well. 

And the last one you do is tense up ur whole face and like bite down as hard as you can. And after I do that one i always feel like a WAVE of relaxation and it almost feels like im in another place im so relaxed, like it doesnt feel like im high, but its weird, kinda like that feeling. Like detached from my body. 

Anyway, the whole time you are just concentating on thinking 1,2,3,4 which is so your mind doesnt wonder I guess. But this works very well for me when trying to go to sleep.
He also said it would work for relaxing in stressful situations and such, but i havent tried that yet. 

Hope it helps/


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## Mr 47 (Jun 27, 2005)

missnat84 said:


> I'm more of a thinker than a talker. I also have trouble getting to sleep sometimes because i've got so much on my mind.


Yep, can take me anything from 45 mins - 3 hours to get to sleep, depends on the amount of thinking, its visual, linguistic and auditory so its almost impossible to just "clear your mind"


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## moon37 (Feb 27, 2006)

Yeah I have had days where my mind focuses on certain thoughts... my mind can't stop thinking...I try breathing but the thoughts keep coming back over and over and over...

I tell myself that everything will be ok...but then the thoughts come back...

They usually happen in epidsodes and last around an hour or 2...and then I am relaxed...

Its sooo frustrating...

I find that napping really helps me, since I get exhausted trying not to give power to these thoughts...


Sometimes I go to my room and just let things out without thinking...anything that comes to my mind...I say...most of it doesnt make sense..but this way I am not thinking and just letting my subconscious or my soul do the talking and not my mind...


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## suppressed (Apr 19, 2005)

I'm that same way with thinking .. I will start thinking about things and then I just can't get my head to shut up .. no matter what I do to block it out.... as far as the breathing thing I kind of have the opposite effect .. If I start being conscious about my breathing , I will start breathing irregular .. and I can't breath normal again until I stop thinking about breathing .. and alot of the times I can't stop thinking about breathing once I started !!! ugh messed up huh? :lol


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## nyxi (Mar 11, 2006)

Oh do I ever have that. Right now I can't stop thinking I'm going to get a terrible mental illness and ANYTHING that seems weird (probably cause I'm all stressed out) makes me think its a symptom. I have managed to calm down about 80% about it over the last few days. I just need to stop beating myself up about actually letting it get the better of me.

There are a few things I did that helped me that would probably help anyone going through the same thing. Its obsessive worrying alright. First thing I did was become aware of when I was thinking it and saying STOP really loud to myself in my head whenever I became aware. It is actually amusing to realize how easily your brain gets on the track of the thought and to see how often you say STOP. That is a good way to get it in the butt.

Another thing I did was progressive relaxation before I went to bed, and I went to the gym in the morning(or still am doing really). Here you can find it for free from a reliable source: http://caps.unc.edu/content/view/95/71/1/3/

I know how you feel! I hope those help you.


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## brokenlight (Mar 10, 2004)

I sometimes have obsessive thoughts. If I think something that is disturbing, it's like my mind wants to correct the thought by thinking about it and analyzing it. If it's at night and I am trying to sleep, I do relaxation exercises, too. One thing that helps is counting backwards from 500 by 3s. What I really read was count back from 300, but that wasn't enough, as my mind was always still going by the time I got to one.


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## Georgiasbrighteyes (Mar 5, 2006)

I agree with missnat84... I am more of a thinker than a talker... Getting to sleep is hard for me sometimes also. Mine ranges from upcoming events to past memories. I analyze things all the time. Everybody says that I 'think too much'! LOL Really want to tell them 'buddy, you have no idea!' I have to watch myself or I will analyze things to death! Especially with people... like down to little bitty things that they do... Which only leads me to comparing what they are doing in relation to me... such as... what are they doing? why are they doing that? do they not want me around? are they just 'putting up with me'? and so on... It is a vicious cycle. Very frustrating... and can throw me into a cycle of depression. Anyone else do this??


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## Veggie1 (Jan 12, 2006)

Almost all of the time my mind feels like it's racing with a 1000 different thoughts going through it in different directions at once. I've been on meds for insomnia and essential tremor (and SA) for years, and I think it's gotten worse over time due to SA. Never been diagnosed with OCD. I can rarely stop thinking enough to do anything such as reading a book, which I used to love to do. I can barely organize my thoughts enough to post on here. Of course, now my life is the ****s more so than its been in a long time lately. :fall


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