Or try box breathing, which requires even more attention on your breath: inhale for four seconds, hold for four seconds, exhale for four seconds, and hold for four seconds. To help you see them more like a passenger while you’re in the driver’s seat of your brain, take some deep breaths as you sit with those thoughts. Start by accepting that they’re happening and try not to judge your thoughts or feel angry or ashamed about whatever is on your mind, Shapiro says. “The more you try to suppress emotions and thoughts in general, they’ll come back stronger and with a vengeance,” Shapiro says.īecause you can’t turn your mind off, the goal is less about nipping racing thoughts in the bud and more about seeing them for what they are. When it comes to racing thoughts, simply avoiding them is counterproductive and can actually make matters worse, especially if your racing thoughts are rooted in anxiety, shame, anger, or sadness. You probably don’t need us to tell you this but trying to just stop thinking about something rarely works. So, how can you deal with this irritating yet inevitable thought pattern? We’re so glad you asked. Some mental health conditions, like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, are often associated with racing thoughts too, Dr. Basically your brain thinks it’s doing you a solid, but really, it’s a whole lot of noise. Feeling anxious can also add fuel to the fire, because anxiety tends to make you feel like you’ll have more control if you can think about every possible outcome of a particular situation, says Shapiro. (That could explain why these thoughts tend to pop up when you’re just trying to chill out.) Stress is another big trigger-whether you’re trying to process something that recently happened or you’re mentally prepping for something about to go down. So, why do racing thoughts happen in the first place? You might be more susceptible to these thought storms if you generally find it hard to manage your emotions or quiet your mind, says Shapiro. And all these types of thoughts can combine to make you feel distressed, Dr. Racing thoughts can also feel like your mind is stuck running on a treadmill that it can’t hop off of. Racing thoughts share similarities with other thought patterns, like intrusive thoughts (unwanted thoughts and images that come from nowhere) and rumination (when we chew over a past experience or repeatedly imagine a frightful event from the future), explains psychologist Ryan Howes, PhD. We all have thousands of thoughts daily, but racing thoughts make you feel incapable of doing anything other than being all up in your mind until they go away, adds licensed psychotherapist and Founder of Therapy In The City, Aliza Shapiro, LCSW. Racing thoughts are fast-moving, all-consuming thoughts that zip through your mind and make it super hard to live in the present moment (or get some sleep), says psychotherapist Liz Beecroft, LCSW. This certainly wasn’t my first experience with racing thoughts, and I know I’m not alone. Wait, where the hell is my social security card? Now, I’m stuck thinking about that and every other random thought that enters my mind like, What should I have for dinner tomorrow night? Maybe I should wear my cool new pantsuit to that wedding next year instead of my go-to ’ fit. About an hour ago I rolled over in bed, got up to use the bathroom, and haven’t been able to drift back to Dreamland since thanks to an unwelcome flashback to an embarrassing work moment earlier that day. Ready for a real-life nightmare? It’s 1:12 a.m.
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