Mental hyperactivity and detail-orientated?

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Hello, I have a question regarding if anyone else on WrongPlanet experiences mental hyperactivity, and a question regarding what the phrased detail-orientated means.

Before I got my diagnosis, my counselor at my college, who is diagnosed with ADD, noted that I see to display signs of mental hyperactivity through my speech, and the way I describe my thought process. I just want to know if it is common among people on the spectrum, or is it more common among people with ADD/ADHD?

Here is the best way to describe it: It feels like there are thousands of little plastic bouncing balls (thoughts) whooshing around in my mind, and caffeine seems to slow them down long enough, so that I can focus on a thought and go through with it.

I am just curious if it is a byproduct of my AS, or that it could me that I might have AD(H)D as well. ( I have looked at the DSM criteria for AD(H)D, and I do not seem to fit much of the criteria.)

Another question that is completely unrelated. I have always been confused what the phrase 'detail orientated' meant. I have tried to look up definitions, but they do not seem to clear anything up.

I thank everyone in advanced for their responses.

Sincerely,
LilAsimov

My mind is like this as well- always chatter going on inside my head. I have not been diagnosed with anything besides bi-polar disorder though. I know that is not helpful.

Detail-oriented: the basic idea is that people with autism are better than average at picking out specific details than other people, but worse at seeing the context in which those details are embedded. Some examples (this is incomplete because it's just based on papers saved on my computer):

* People with autism are supposed to be better at visual search (same idea as "where's Waldo"). This study is one example: O'Riordan, Michelle A., Plaisted, Kate C., Driver, Jon, Baron-Cohen, S. Superior visual search in autism. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 0096-1523, 2001, Vol. 27, Issue 3.

* Autistic adults are also less susceptible to "false memory" effects based on context. For instance, a list of words might be presented related to the word "summer," but the word "summer" never actually appears in the list. Many NTs will falsely remember "summer" as being in the list; autistic adults are less likely to do that.

* People with autism are less likely to see a bunch of dots moving in the same direction as one coherent movement (this is from a 2002 Trends in Cognitive Sciences paper).

* Autistic people have particularly good pitch perception, and are more likely than NTs to have absolute pitch.

For me, the big ADD symptom is actually the opposite, brain fog. Imagine going through every day feeling like you just pulled an all nighter. Mental hyperactivity is what happens when my brain is working well (if I'm well fed, well rested, and/or have taken a stimulant). It lets me crunch a lot of information fast, and it's fun. If it works for you, I wouldn't worry about it. If it doesn't, your counselor could probably help you figure out ways to cope with it.

Hoy, wow - hah!

Things said here in remind me of my wife's "brain fog" - her term - and our son's "out of this world", which included unrelenting mental activity. I am going to have to put these posts before them, get some reactions, see what comes. Both tings - IF THEY ARE DIFFERENT - are outside my experience, I have been trying to gety to understanding them for ages.

I know people with ADHD that describe their thoughts being liked many TV's tuned in at once. My thoughts aren't that hyper. I can sometimes think of two or three things but most of the time I just think constantly. I can only go a few seconds withoutout a thought. The more I analyze and go into descriptions the more burnt out I can become. I have a high attention to detail too.

Try living everyday as though you've had an allnighter? Already do. I thought it was what I ate that caused me to be tired. But it does feel like I've stayed up all night. Probably because when I go to bed my brain 'wakes up' and it's time to analyze 5 things before I fall asleep.

I'm the opposite. It takes me a great deal of effort to have that kind of thought. A lot of the time all I think about is just whatever my senses are perceiving, and sometimes I can't even do that.

So I checked with the family.

A. Number One Son relates to the Brain Chatter / Whirling Lottery Balls in the head descriptors. He has off and on had the brain chatter, level varying at different times, he thinks that it intenmnsified into the disconnected feeling [Out of the World] that he had a long time.

He was interested in the note on caffeine relieviung it - he is a sound guy [professionally that is] who has been playing arounbd with brain waves; he thinks the chatter may occur oin the cusp between alpha and beta, hypothesizes caffeine moves the brain firmly into alpha thus getting out of the racing engine zone.

B. La esposa says Mosaicofminds' Brain Fog" is likely NOT the same as what she knows and calls by that name. Not so mmuch the allnighter feeling, she says, as a sense of pressure so that working the mind is like driving through a fogbank.

That is it at preent from here - I will be watching further posts with intersst.

I know I have mental hyperactivity, and I don't completely understand the detail oriented either. People tell me I'm extremely detail oriented though. I related to the mental hyperactivity because I just think all the time, and I think hard and fast. For example, yesterday my dad asked about a hypothetical scenario and I answered with 14 questions about said hypothetical scenario

I have many thoughts going through my head, as I type this. It's quite annoying.:notcool:

You'll have to excue me. I'm typing my replies on my Wii, right now.

Philologos, it'd be interesting to learn more about your wife's brain fog...then we could compare notes.

Ah... Mental hyperactivity.

Is there any way to dull this out, temporarily even? Caffiene (Pepsi, coffee) tends to level out the intensity a bit, but doesn't allow for "clearing of the mind". I'm in a perpetual state of "got a million things on the mind". While this is, to me, normal--- there comes times when there's just SO MUCH going on at once I can't seem to keep track of myself.

Suggestions?

It sounds like it could be a combination of AS and ADHD. The way you describe it is exactly how my 8yo daughter tries to explain it - shes juggling all those thought but can't latch onto any one for very long. She is now medicated - low dose Concerta - and now she still has lots of thoughts constantly in her head but she is now able to latch onto a single one and run with it.

For example, she loves video games but she has never been able to finish one. She'd start over repeatedly, get frustrated and quit. Now, she can follow the story through and has finished 6 or 7 games and wants to go back and get the games she traded in without finishing. She's able to focus.

I also have the constant mental chatter and, in fact, get quite nervous when it isn't there. Some medications shut the running commentary off and it pains me to think that that is how most of the population lives. No wonder they rely on chatter with each other!

Caffiene is a stimulant which is what those with ADHD need to improve their attention span. It might be worthwhile to explore medications. It won't quiet the million thoughts but it may enable you to control your focus on which you want to address. A little bit of control may go a long way.

It isn't so much I can't "latch on" to any one thing, (though with the video game issue-- I admit that sometimes I do lose interest but the bigger problem is in deciding WHICH game to play as I have literally thousands of emulator ROMS-- one of my obsessions is the collection of vintage video game ROMS). What I guess I'm trying to address is "muting" some of the internal chaos without having to deal with the "mental fog" that comes with medication. I have had extremely bad experience due to side effects of ADHD medication, and to be honest-- while it is expected for psychotropic medications to literally "change who you are", the "new me" I became on several RX's was rather uncomfortable.