Only one thought at a Time........

[Lizard (aka, Butthead)]

........ this is a theme my psycologist worked with me on for a very long time and repeats every so often when I get on the hyper merry go round in my thoughts. I told him I feel like I have a 1000 thoughts that run through my head at times and he tells me that would be impossible? He said the brain is only capable of one thought at a time, they may switch around fast, but only one at a time.

For some reason that concept still boggles my brain when I think about it? It is like mult-tasking right now, I am typing and thinking of other stuff and watching this show on TV and I am aware of all of them at once.

He said that when you get in this place of all these negative or obsessive thoughts coming at you, you can take them and put them on this imaginery stage one at a time to look at them! I guess that is his way of trying to get me to slow the thoughts down and deal with one at a time!

What do you all think of this?

[Bryan Hutchinson]

On the stage one at a time?!? But, what are you going to about the in-fighting crowd of thoughts who want to go first?!? You know they are just going to push and shove at each other to get your attention. I have an idea, create a list of your most important and recurring thoughts - then put them in an imaginary single file line and make them take the stage one at a time to plead their case. The one at the head of the line is your new business, article or hobby or maybe it is the most ugly fear you have and it gets to tell you why and how it became so powerful... hrmmmmmm... Then you choose how relevant it will be in the future, how much power YOU decide to give it… I will be back later, got to get my ducks in a row!

[betsy davenport, phd]

I call this the one-burner stove problem. When you have only one burner, everything is clamoring to get on that burner at the same time. When one finally wins out, the others roll off the stove and out of the kitchen, even. Sometime later they may wander back in, hungry, or we leave the kitchen and there they are, but meanwhile we've forgotten all about them.

[NerdyMommy]

I agree with the concept of taking your thoughts and dealing with them one at a time, in theory, at least. In practice, I think this is nearly impossible, even with medication! I still have racing thoughts and I multi-task like crazy - but what I have found, is that I'm more able to decide which thoughts are the loudest - if that makes sense. Instead of the thoughts being in control, and as Bryan said, pushing to the front of the line... with my medication, I am more able to decide who gets to go first. The other thoughts fade out, and I can ignore them. For example, right now, I'm working from home, because my kids are sick. I am listening to them play a game, and I hear them... but it isn't registering with me or interrupting me, because I am concentrating on this. Without my medication, their game playing would drive me insane, because I would constantly focus on that instead of what I was trying to do.

[Lizard (aka, Butthead)]

Yeah that is funny bryan - I am kinda of a visual person when I hear something and the visual of a row of little ducklings is stuck in my head now, huhmmmm. I think that is a good way to think about that whole concept.

And yeah nerdymom, that is so true about the medications for me, my thoughts don't "hook" me(that is my pysc's favorite saying) into obsessing about them and interupting me like you say!

I am off to eat breakfast and start my day now! Quack, Quack!

[Rebecca fairclough]

Well i can totally relate. I also feel as if i have a million things going through my mind at once. Also, when i begin a discussion about one thing imparticular with my partner he gets really frustrated cos i flit from the discussion topic onto any number of things. I think it may be one thought on top of another, cos one thought may be coming out my mouth while the next one's already started in my head, and it comes out my mouth as soon as the first one's finished. This can be particularly irritating for another person if it's questions that are coming out thick and fast. Well i get frustated too. Why can't everyone else keep up right? Lol

[Kate (ADHD)]

I'm listening in to try to understand what's going on in my son's (age 14) head. He's not much for talking about it. He does the speed talking so quickly that he'll stutter trying to get a thought out. I try to get him to form a full thought before speaking.

It's helpful to get your perspective.

[Lizard (aka, Butthead)]

I am using the one thought at a time concept today. It is helping me be more analytical and look at issues that are hard to solve or that I cannot solve right now, it forces me to either say yes I can solve this by..............., or no I am not going to solve this problem today or ever maybe, so I put it on a shelf for later...........

It is hard to explain for me, but it is working and I am not getting sucked into a constant whirlwind of a bunch of unsolved issues that start to feel personal if I let them.

It was a trying night last night, but I did wake up feeling a few issues are resolved and the others are on hold until I get further facts or the timing is right!

Using this technique and another one called thought stopping, I was able to stop this anger and irritable feeling that in the past would have easily sucked me under and taken days to recover from. I am learning coping skills at my old age!

I think it is good if teenagers are receptive to learning this stuff now, they would have the tools early and could perfect them into adulthood.

Kate, I have a book that has been most helpful to me in my 14 year olds issues and it is in my vehicle at the moment, I will get it and give you the title later. If you are interested, it is good and I am not a focused reader at times.

[betsy davenport, phd]

I think he doesn't get it. The difference between you and most people is the quality and permeability of the brain's filtering system. People have loads of thoughts, but most people have brains that just push one at a time forward into awareness and for action or expression, and after that, another one. Whereas we have a poor filter, so the thoughts break through into our awareness all the time.

Same with saying things impulsively. The only people who are told to "think before you speak" are the ones who cannot do it. Us. In fact, NO ONE thinks before they speak. They don't have to because their brains filter out the objectionable stuff before it ever reaches their mouth and usually before it reaches their mind.

So we get to walk around knowing the wicked thoughts we have and sometimes give voice to, and they don't even know they, too, have wicked thoughts.

At least we know ourselves better, huh?

[LateAgain]

I'm new at being aware of my thoughts being all over the place. I was on a football field stretching last weekend and found myself listening to birds flying overhead, whistles blowing 50 yards away, two different conversations and the person telling us when to change stretch positions. I tried to tune everything out by trying to focus on the enormous size of the person's butt in front of me. I don't remember if it worked. lol.

[blah]

So your psycologist thinks it's not possible to have simultanious thoughts? Perhaps you could do with a new psycologist...

For me, it was an eye opener only half a year ago that not everyone had simultanious thoughts. I thought that was the normal human state, and that the only factor that made me different from other people was the fact that soms of them are smarter, and other are less smart then I am. Boy, was I wrong...

Luckily, this was the first step in finding out I "have" ADHD. Now I understand why other people are often slower then me, and it enables me to adjust the way I approach people and communicate with them.

It is important to control your thoughts. I'd like to get some help doing that myself, and that is the main reason I will get myself diagnosed soon. Luckily I have been able to find some mind controlling tools of my own the past 10 years, like (trying to) focus on "nice things" instead of bad things. But, I have to say: I do not wish to think about just one thing a time. This divergent and simultanious thinking is what makes me me, and what makes me creative, and I'd rather die than lose this ability. Won't hurt to be (more) in control though.

[Gary]

Either your psychologist is confused or we don't understand what he means.

The brain is basically a whole pile of separate processors, each of which handles specific jobs. They all do their things at once. Some of them filter the results from other processors so that, for example, most people don't suddenly wonder what's on TV while being chased by a large predator.

There are a LOT of these processors. Quite a few are only active at specific times (like when recognising something specific visually) so you may not literally be having a 1000 thoughts at once. But you could easily be having a few dozen.

Only one thought at a time tends to make it as far as being "verbalised" internally into whatever language you speak -- perhaps that's what he means. But we can still "hear" the outputs of the various processors in what Steve Pinker calls "mentalese," the internal language of the brain itself. I think that's what you mean. And any of those thoughts can interrupt the internal monologue at any time.

At least, that's how the brain of every ADDer with whom I've spoken about this works. I suspect that the muggles' brains work the same way but they aren't as sensitive to the non-verbal thoughts in their heads. That's why there's the pervasive myth that humans can't watch their own minds at work.

Reality always wins over theory. If theory says you can't do something and you can then the theory is wrong.

[Miss K]

Well...I guess that's one way to practice slowing things down, lol. I don't think it's bad that he's asking you to try to strengthen your mental endurance...but it's possible you may butt up against frustration when you reach your limit. Your limit will be for you to discover, though I know for me, that's pretty much impossible without medication :) Every brain is different...maybe he just wants you to try something new. It does seem like you're at least intrigued by the idea!

As for how many thoughts a brain can hold...mine definitely does one at a time, but the problem is that they pop up in such rapid succession and with enough insistence that it's just not ignorable.