Thought overload?

[the frog in the fog]

I often hear of sensory overload in autistic people, but never of thought overload.

There is something called cognitive overload I can see on the internet, but it is not quite the same as what I mean.

I often feel overwhelmed, but not directly by external stimuli as much as my own thoughts.

I think of literally everything at once, it feels like.

Ok, maybe this is just anxiety and doesn't have to do with autism at all.

It would be interesting to hear, though, if others experience the same.

 

[Rodafina]

I think I can understand what you are experiencing. I wonder if it's a processing issue. For me, any thoughts that I haven't really made sense of yet tend to kind of circle around my mind, seeking resolution. If I have too many thoughts and feelings that I have not yet made sense of, they can all start to sort of talk over each other and I feel overwhelmed and lacking in focus.

When I understand my thoughts and feelings and they start to make more sense to me, I can sort of catalog them away and have much more focus. Then, they can take turns popping into my mind rather than competing for my attention. Writing about those thoughts and feelings helps me to fully process them and quiet the noise in my head.

 

[Xinyta]

I have to agree with @Rodafina here.

I have found that writing down thoughts and feelings does help. It can also help make sense of the mess of deeper problems too. Taking those problems apart piece by piece.

Though this is what I have found with myself.

 

[SusanLR]

I've heard other autists say their mind is never still. This is true for me too.
It isn't even conscious thoughts most of the time. Just random things in my head and a background of songs/music. It isn't such a bother since it's always been that way. In fact, I once took Prozac, and it did something that quieted the constant brain chatter.
I didn't feel like myself. It was like my brain had been given a shot of lidocaine.

To quiet it naturally, I have meditative music playing throughout the house all day.
And I have to have music or some sort of noise to go to sleep.