Brain won't stop analyzing everything!!!1

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emandeli
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19 Nov 2014, 1:04 pm

So, I'm starting to realize or understand almost for the same time that my brain is different than say my family, friends. Well, many things suggest that but I always try to blend in, not seem too quirky and strange, etc. But, my spouse summed it up perfectly one day how instead of me seeing what's going on on a tv show I'm narrowing in on small details that make up the picture and putting it together as so. For example: a person is talking about their relationship. He would see it as a person talking about the relationship first, and might notice things afterwards. I dart around the person taking in details like brown hair, curly, half smiling, eyes looking strange, is she mad? There is a cup in the background, and so and so. I am not sure if this explains but it's exhausting sometimes feeling like I am putting a spreadsheet of info together to come up with an interpretation of what is happening, for me to understand it.

I encounter this non-stop. It's like bits and pieces, and trying to understand it. I get overloaded in environments with lots of objects, colours, people, etc because I can't take in all the stuff. My brain reminds me of a zoom lens on a camera. I see a movement in an eyebrow, a tilt of the head, body posture change, trying to figure out why instead of just taking things in as they are to others.

Is this like everyone else? Is there a way to stop it? Is this an ASD thing or a personality (non-asd) thing? I am synesthetic as well but not sure that has anything to do with it.

I can tell you often what I noticed but not actually what happened (so when I visit my Dr for example I can tell you about his faicial reactions, body posture, the walls, the tone of voice (well, visual of it), etc and my interpretation that he thinks I "overthink" too much by some of his responses. What he was talking about though...no idea. The larger part of it is missed because my head is narrowing into details of everything. All the time. It feels exhausting.



eggheadjr
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19 Nov 2014, 3:32 pm

Maybe autism - but hard to say based on your posting. There's something called sensory intregration disorder (or something like that) which sounds more like what your experiencing.

How are your interpersonal skills? Are you often misunderstood? Do people seem ticked off and you don't know why? Do you avoid crowds / social events / public situations? Do you struggle to understand/communicate how you feel? Do you think you can read the body language of others? Do you have a large circle of friends or are you more of a lone wolf? Do you obsess about certain interests?


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ToughDiamond
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19 Nov 2014, 9:38 pm

Yes I analyse things to death, and then I analyse them some more, but I don't observe tons of external details like the OP does. Mostly I recall things from memory and make new deductions about whatever mystery I'm trying to solve. I seem to need to understand everything and to explain it perfectly. It's not associated with anxiety. I rather enjoy it, though I worry about what it might be doing to me when it gets really extreme. Often I can't sleep, just because my own thoughts feel so fascinating, it's like an addiction except that it eventually subsides. I've been going through just such a phase over the last week or so. Some part of my brain must be white hot.

I don't see any obvious link to any ASD in my case or in the OP's case, apart from the bit about "narrowing into details." Getting lost in the detail at the expense of the big picture, I have that in spades.



Gusman98
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19 Nov 2014, 9:43 pm

Your post hints towards Aspergers, because it is common for an aspie to have such a memory. Also, many sensory disorders are associated with Aspergers, mainly the one that makes us notice too much, I can't remember what it's called



andrethemoogle
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19 Nov 2014, 10:05 pm

My brain starts to over analyze things when I get really stressed out or begin to have a panic attack. Then I eventually realize that I'm okay and healthy (been to the doctors enough in the past year to say I'm perfectly healthy, body wise, not mind wise)



Orangez
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19 Nov 2014, 10:37 pm

I have trouble dealing with people as I usually assume that they think in a very rational way, so, when they don't follow my prediction I start to panic.



olympiadis
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20 Nov 2014, 12:14 am

What you are describing is reasoning things out within conscious thought rather than having it done intuitively/automatically.

I do it. I call it the continuous rolodex of problems to solve. As a result I've never experienced boredom. Also as a result I experience great anxiety.



rugulach
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20 Nov 2014, 3:07 am

olympiadis wrote:
What you are describing is reasoning things out within conscious thought rather than having it done intuitively/automatically.

I do it. I call it the continuous rolodex of problems to solve. As a result I've never experienced boredom. Also as a result I experience great anxiety.


What causes this anxiety? Is it due to the nature of the problems , the complexity of problems or the amount of problems to solve?



olympiadis
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20 Nov 2014, 11:51 am

rugulach wrote:
olympiadis wrote:
What you are describing is reasoning things out within conscious thought rather than having it done intuitively/automatically.

I do it. I call it the continuous rolodex of problems to solve. As a result I've never experienced boredom. Also as a result I experience great anxiety.


What causes this anxiety? Is it due to the nature of the problems , the complexity of problems or the amount of problems to solve?


All. The overwhelming amount, and the nature of the possible consequences.



rugulach
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20 Nov 2014, 12:36 pm

olympiadis wrote:
rugulach wrote:
olympiadis wrote:
What you are describing is reasoning things out within conscious thought rather than having it done intuitively/automatically.

I do it. I call it the continuous rolodex of problems to solve. As a result I've never experienced boredom. Also as a result I experience great anxiety.


What causes this anxiety? Is it due to the nature of the problems , the complexity of problems or the amount of problems to solve?


All. The overwhelming amount, and the nature of the possible consequences.


That brings up an interesting thought. Do NTs agonize over the possible consequences of their actions? Could it be possible that it's not as much as ASDers do?



ToughDiamond
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20 Nov 2014, 1:58 pm

rugulach wrote:
Do NTs agonize over the possible consequences of their actions? Could it be possible that it's not as much as ASDers do?

Have you heard of defensive pessimism?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defensive_pessimism
I scored strongly positive on a test for that. I then felt a lot better about the fact that I can't buy a can of beans without planning it like it was a bank robbery.



rugulach
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20 Nov 2014, 2:45 pm

ToughDiamond wrote:
rugulach wrote:
Do NTs agonize over the possible consequences of their actions? Could it be possible that it's not as much as ASDers do?

Have you heard of defensive pessimism?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defensive_pessimism
I scored strongly positive on a test for that. I then felt a lot better about the fact that I can't buy a can of beans without planning it like it was a bank robbery.


Interesting link. Thanks.



emandeli
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21 Nov 2014, 3:18 pm

olympiadis wrote:
rugulach wrote:
olympiadis wrote:
What you are describing is reasoning things out within conscious thought rather than having it done intuitively/automatically.

I do it. I call it the continuous rolodex of problems to solve. As a result I've never experienced boredom. Also as a result I experience great anxiety.


What causes this anxiety? Is it due to the nature of the problems , the complexity of problems or the amount of problems to solve?


All. The overwhelming amount, and the nature of the possible consequences.



Well this is very interesting. I have never become bored as well. I understand it in pictures so my descriptions might not be that great. It's like understanding the world and making sense form it, and trying to come up with "conclusions" about things. Linkages, patterns, what is happening. I don't intuitively understand what someone is saying but I "read" it by pulling info that I have stored in my head. Body language is one. Its broken into many pieces that I know I just have to figure out what the end result means.



ToughDiamond
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23 Nov 2014, 11:00 am

emandeli wrote:
I have never become bored as well. I understand it in pictures so my descriptions might not be that great.

Yes it helps stop me from getting bored too, that fascination with the in-depth processing.



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23 Nov 2014, 5:22 pm

Image

My thoughts are just like this. Besides, I play the Spy in TF2 and Sudoku, I have to overthink things.



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23 Nov 2014, 6:02 pm

Over-focusing on details is an ASD thing. Could be an OCD thing, but since you are getting sensory overload, having to work hard to understand stuff that is supposed to be intuitive (like body language), and doing it all the time (instead of in a specific situation) seems more ASD to me.