I read somewhere, that many people with ADHD tend think a lot and I was wondering if that was true, and if so, how much do you guys think?

I know that I think a whooole lot, so, I'm gonna kind of demonstate right here, a little what of I'm thinking about when I'm at work (usually within an hour).

Please write down your typical thinking patterns as well!! (I hope it's just not me...)

First of all, I work on a tourist boat as a deckhand, and I usually do a lot of narration and just watching to see if everything is safe and alright (the passengers aren't doing anything dangerous).

Here I go:

I'm getting more and more used to these narrations.I thought I had to practice more, because ADD, but, all I need to do is sleep and the next day I'm better than the previous. But I don't feel like talking right now. I'm not that interesting anyway. I wish I was funny.. And i'm tired of talking about Daimond Head. We always say the same things over and over again. I wonder how many passengers have come back to our boat to be surprised to hear the exact same thing they heard the last time!! We should talk about other things. Someone should look up ocean terms to and teach them to the guests. Or even Hawaiian words! But maybe the guests would get bored? Some times they don't even listen when we're speaking to them. Or maybe they're never listening! But whenever I say Alooooha! they always repeat after that and I get their attention. But are they listening after that? No, they are, but they're usually looking at me, or they're not talking that much. But the staff don't like it when i say aloooha! They must think it's cheesy. But, all they do is babble on, on the mike, even when they know no one is listening. Shouldn't they try to get everyone's attention first before they start talking? What if there was a major saftey issue and the guests didn't know what to do because they weren't listening! I guess we'll have to settle them down somehow anyway... But I can't believe they said if someone fell over board they're just throw them a life presever. What if the person couldn't swim!! I'm sure someone would have to jump in after them.. One of the staff, of course. But then' our shoes would get all wet and i've never seen anyone swimming with tennis shoes on! well, if they can't, they'd have to take their shoes off, while swimming and then their shoes would be lost in the ocean blue forever while they're struggling to try to save the passenger that flew over board. I wonder how much it would cost them to buy new shoes...

:rolleyes:

That was so much fun to read. :D

I think like that too, it's annoying when i'm tyring to get to sleep at night when my head won't shut off.

I can relate to that too boone1 :) I do nightfill at a local supermarket as I need money to survive my uni course & if I finish at 11pm or midnight I often have so much running in my head that I just wish I had an "off" switch rather than take 2 hours or more to be able to sleep..... And don't get me started on what I am thinking about when I am at work - usually anything except what I am doing...

Let's see........

I'm always being told "you think to much" :D

sometimes i connect ovethinking with paranoia

lol...I'm just like that. I'm in science/engineering and I'm always thinking about an objects design, of the process of makng it or how I can make it better. I'm JUST LIKE YOU! LOL I'll be reading and then one word will take me to what I like to call "la-la land" and my eyes keep reading even though I'm nowhere NEAR that book in my mind.

too funny. I have to force myself to concentrate while driving for example, so I force my mind to think of escape routes in case the car next to me veers or visualizing the route with my imaginary compass/google map up on my head so that when I turn, I know which direction the "compass" is pointing.

man, it jsut does NOT SHUT OFF>

I am sure all of you know that those are called racing thoughts - not always connected, and hard to get shut off. If you want help (not medicine related), take up meditation, or look up progressive muscle relaxation online - if you can learn these techniques, you can get your mind to turn off...

I think a lot of us are like that.

Let's see........

I'm always being told "you think to much" :D


ME TOO!!!! ME TOO!!!! ME TOO!!!!

I read somewhere, that many people with ADHD tend think a lot and I was wondering if that was true, and if so, how much do you guys think?

Please write down your typical thinking patterns as well!! (I hope it's just not me...)

I think a lot - my brain runs ALL the time, on several channels at once.

I only have a minute now, but I will try to come back and write down an example of my thinking pattern like you did.

In the meantime, I find that I also talk a lot, and talk fast too, but I don't really talk about what I am thinking because it is just too hard to explain....

I hate it when someone says "What are you thinking about?" because I just don't have the physical energy to recite it all!

I'm always being told "you think to much" :D
I get told this about 6 times a day....

but yea, I think A LOT!!!!

My "pattren" is kind of like,

Topic A~topic B~Topic C~Topic A~Topic D~Topic B~Topic C~Topic Z~ Topic A

Etc, etc, etc.

Its not a "normal" day for me unless I think...A LOT!

that has always been a problem of mine that I think too much about a situation and I spend to much time obsesing over things. thank you for this post. Now I truly know I am not alone with the many many thoughts that race around in my brain.

About two years ago, perhaps a bit more, I worked for several months as a nanny. The girl I cared for was a delightful, if occasionally impossible to control, 4-year-old. One memory I have of her that's always stayed quite vivid in my mind is that when I'd give her lunch/dinner, she would sit and eat and not say anything, and just stare into space. Sometimes she'd do that when we were playing or watching TV or something. I used to ask her what she was thinking when she did that, and every single time her answer would be the same: "Nothing." I'd ask her in more detail, because 4-year-olds don't always know how to give you the right answer, whether she was thinking of colors or people or music or TV or stories or anything at all, but she always insisted to me that she was literally not thinking anything at all.

I used to envy her that ability. My mind never shuts off. Sometimes that's not a bad thing, but often it is, especially when I get stuck in patterns of thought that make me depressed or anxious, or continually distract myself with too many trains of thought at once. Sometimes, I wish it would just be quiet for a little while.

I used to envy her that ability. My mind never shuts off. Sometimes that's not a bad thing, but often it is, especially when I get stuck in patterns of thought that make me depressed or anxious, or continually distract myself with too many trains of thought at once. Sometimes, I wish it would just be quiet for a little while.


I feel the same way, some times I even give myself a head ache.

I think exactly like that too. I've always thought that my creativity comes from thinking a lot. My disorganisation also comes from thinking a lot. I think things that go from normal to completely absurd, but in the process I learn some really cool things and get neat ideas. Plus, if you practice moving from one idea to another very quickly, you can come up with really hilarious things to say very quickly. Some people call that 'wit'.

But sometimes though you just want to chill out and turn off the thoughts.

Not really. People who don't have ADD also think a lot. The two are not really realted.

Not really. People who don't have ADD also think a lot. The two are not really realted.

You come to this conclusion how?

It seems that because non-ADDers can turn their brains off when they want to simply because their stimuli filter valve works correctly then that would mean thier brain obviously work differently.How our brains work would effect how we think. . . so I disagree with your statement completely.

If ADDers could simply will their brain to focus on this or that, or if we could simply turn them off when we wanted we wouldn't have ADD. . . .ADD is being unable to control our direction of focus nor are we able to internally control the length of our attention span.

It seem like the fact we can't control our attention span consciously would probably create a problem of de-focusing or disengaging thus increasing the likelihood of "run away thoughts" .

I think the act of "thinking" in non-ADHD persons is more of a purposeful, habitual act (i.e. one starts to purposely think, at the right times, consistently). That doesn't mean that it's all black and white though.

A good example... I think extroverts in general have a tendency to drift off topic to a degree. However, the nature of the drifting is different, I think. From my ever-so-medicated experiences with NT-extrovert conversations, it does appear that the topic of the conversation does change, but it often converges to boring every-day things. The nature of the conversation is very predictable. In conversations of exclusively male subjects, I think more often than not, the conversation converges to females (females at the workplace, females seen in public, etc.) The topics are rarely "random", but simply those more interesting to the group. Then again, this is not always true, but I have questioned the Neuro-typicality of some that I've worked with (just a few).

I have also met individuals who change the topics in conversations in a very purposeful manner... It's almost like a "timer" has gone off in their brain, at the exact same time every time. Perhaps it's a "group conformance thing..." :rolleyes:

The true ADHD individuals I've met are fairly unpredictable, but then again, there is a logic to the way that their thoughts flow. So in a strict sense, those without ADHD might think quite a bit... but it's more about what they are thinking about. A non-ADHD individual might think extensively about drive, perhaps while........ driving.

i kind of have the same thing going on as you guys, but what i really hate is to loose my train of thought, you're tinking of A than B than C but what you really wanted to think about was A but you got side tracked by B and C, and then you forget A

that, i fint really really frustrating, somtimes afterwards i am looking for what i was thinking about for more than 5 minutes

I have a slightly different experience. At times I'll be fairly manic, my thoughts jump all over the place, from second to second. Often unrelated, almost as if my mind is desperately searching for something interesting. Then at other times, (most often the case), my mind is like a steam engine. That is; it'll be chugging along the tracks, (read: unstoppable), then switch tracks to something new, and related. chug chug chug... switch... chug chug.... switch.... chug chug chug chug...switch. My thoughts tend to often bear no resemblence to what's happening around me, although usually an external trigger sets me off on a new track, or it might bring me back to what's happening around me.

In conversations I will be attentive for the first couple of interactions, and then the rot sets in. chug chug chug...switch. I find myself switching back and forth to the conversation at hand, occasionally nodding my head and agreeing. If I'm in my manic state forget it.

If I'm reading then this gets annoying, (to say the least). If I have just sat down to read, I could get through 2 pages, then... chug chug chug chug chug...switch... Then after that I'll be able to get through half a page at a time before... chug chug chug switch... I avoid reading in my manic state.

This is all, I presume, because I'm inattentive. I still view inattentive and hyper to be different, (sorry meadd). I suspect that hyper, (bouncing bunny), tends to switch faster than inattentive, (unstoppable steam train).

Classic example of inattentive ADHD (http://youtube.com/watch?v=hELet5ISWTg) on youtube. Very accurate, even though it's hammed up a bit.

I believe I've also gotten the 'you think too much' or 'you're over analyzing' statement as well!

Sometimes for me, it depends on the situation. Usually, figuring out people's personalities is the one that sets my mind into overdrive. I have to come to some kind of 'conclusion' before I can let it go.

Classic example of inattentive ADHD (http://youtube.com/watch?v=hELet5ISWTg) on youtube. Very accurate, even though it's hammed up a bit.

Good one... the cell phone and grocery store parts were good. Though, I'm not sure what was more significant in the grocery store portion... his forgetfulness or the fact that he was buying only cereal and bananas (and perhaps a couple of other things) during that trip (something I noticed as it's something that I've been known to do quite a bit, very much the same "grocery list"..)

Thinking too much....thats why I had so much difficulty meditating!

Good one... the cell phone and grocery store parts were good.I tend to be not too bad at the groceries, as long as I have list. :) (Of course I'm saying that, my wife would say something else.) I do find it very frustrating that I have to walk all the way through the whole store to find what I want regardless of the size of the list I have.

My wife has gotten quite good at telling when I'm attentive or not, so conversations like the cell phone don't happen that often, (at least not with her). I've found it good to write key words down as I'm listening to someone on the phone to keep me focussed.

The true ADHD individuals I've met are fairly unpredictable, but then again, there is a logic to the way that their thoughts flow. So in a strict sense, those without ADHD might think quite a bit... but it's more about what they are thinking about. A non-ADHD individual might think extensively about drive, perhaps while........ driving.


I have found this to be true in debates. I I feel NTers are more predictable then ADDers. In debating NTers it is normally an agreement or disagreement and the disagreeing parts are pretty predictable where as ADD can go any number of directions which makes preparing for rebuttal a lot more umm interesting to say the least.




This is all, I presume, because I'm inattentive. I still view inattentive and hyper to be different, (sorry meadd). I suspect that hyper, (bouncing bunny), tends to switch faster than inattentive, (unstoppable steam train).


That is only because you have never reared a hyperactive ADD child who wants some thing really really really badly!!!! They can have a one track mind that goes on forever. . . .yes we have hyperfocus here in Texas too. . . .no we do not all ride horses :p {sorry left over sarcasm= :rolleyes: }

We hyperactives do tend to have racing thought but we can hyperfocus. . . . . or obsess.. . . . .I do not think it is as common but it does happen and we never know what is going to trigger it. . . . .normally some thing stupid like I should have worn the blue shirt instead of the brown. . . . or we simply do not want to stop playing basketball. . . . . . .or posting responses on forums. . . . . I assure you it happens for us as well.

Due to all the different ADD types expressions and such I spent a great deal of time looking for a common dominator. . . . I found one in John Ratey's book "Shadow Syndromes" ADD is the inability to consciously control the attention span. . . the rest with the faulty filtering valve I have stumbled across as a result of reading what is probably close to a million post by now. . . .okay it feels like a million right this minute.

I think I shall take my neurodiverse smart a** to bed before I really get myself in trouble. :o

I am joking and I do not have a problem with the fact that the entire world refuses to always agree with me, After 40+ years I have grown accustom to it and when done politely {as is the case here}I honestly feel it is one of the things that makes life more interesting.

I have found this to be true in debates. I I feel NTers are more predictable then ADDers. In debating NTers it is normally an agreement or disagreement and the disagreeing parts are pretty predictable where as ADD can go any number of directions which makes preparing for rebuttal a lot more umm interesting to say the least.
Oh, yes. I tend to avoid verbal debates, because I either get lost, or I cause the other person to get lost. I have gotten better over time, but I can see my son struggle. He will argue one point, and my wife will counter. Then it manages to twist around to him either talking about something else, or taking on board my wife's point of view and still arguing. Then he'll forget what he has said and eventually forget what he's arguing about. But still arguing ever so fervently.


That is only because you have never reared a hyperactive ADD child who wants some thing really really really badly!!!! They can have a one track mind that goes on forever. . . .yes we have hyperfocus here in Texas too. . . .no we do not all ride horses :p {sorry left over sarcasm= :rolleyes: }
Yes, well. I don't think I understand ADD fully at all. So my perspective isn't worth much, but at least you get to hone up your side of the debate?! :)
I've only been recently introduced to the label, and haven't had 40 years to figure out my brain and the way it works.


I found one in John Ratey's book "Shadow Syndromes" ADD is the inability to consciously control the attention span
Mmmm, might be another book to add to my reading list.

Oh, yes. I tend to avoid verbal debates, because I either get lost, or I cause the other person to get lost. I have gotten better over time, but I can see my son struggle. He will argue one point, and my wife will counter. Then it manages to twist around to him either talking about something else, or taking on board my wife's point of view and still arguing. Then he'll forget what he has said and eventually forget what he's arguing about. But still arguing ever so fervently.

I began with on-line debates, it eliminates all of those problems you have described and in the end it does enhance ones ability to do so in person.


I've only been recently introduced to the label, and haven't had 40 years to figure out my brain and the way it works.

Oh poop then I had better not forget to include this little experience. . . . .

By the time I figure out how my brain works it changes. My brain has a mind of it's own , just to keep my life interesting. . . . :D

Classic example of inattentive ADHD (http://youtube.com/watch?v=hELet5ISWTg) on youtube. Very accurate, even though it's hammed up a bit.And another one from youtube (http://youtube.com/watch?v=cHKxX5jtV8U). Not as funny but quite accurate. Good to have around to show people if/when the ask what it's like to have ADHD.

I have something to ask about the intensity of concentration problems and the massive flow of thought that goes through your heads. Are all people pretty much on the same level of these problems? Do they have the same characteristics, or will atleast someone with ADD not be able to relate 100% with the videos posted in this thread?

How often does the "tune out" occur and to what extent? Is it the same for everybody? Can ADD:ers have just a couple of thoughts going around in the head, and not the full scaled jumble?

I do not experience it the same way, when people like this guy ( http://youtube.com/watch?v=A82YDBKJYC4 ) explain they have 20 television channels mixed together. I often dream away unintentionally and eventually "wake up" without know what I've been thinking about. I can barely speak in real life because my thoughts get messed up. I do not believe I have the same intensity of the symptoms, and therefor I might not have ADD.

I have a few states of thinking. I never stop, and I'm always thinking about something.

1. Free flowing jumbled thoughts. This is the classic ADD description of thoughts jumping from one subject to another. It's a very creative state, and I don't mind it so much since I've developed an ability over the years to "rewind" my thoughts to remember what I was thinking about earlier. This usually happens when I'm in a boring position. Driving calmly (but not when I'm driving fast. That's a highly focused state.), bicycling to work, taking a walk, sitting in the park, or anything else low-stim. This one is sort of a default state, and if I'm not actively thinking about something, this is the place that I go.

2. Visualization. If I'm having a present tense conversation with someone and need to think about a problem or recall a memory, I will purposefully space out to build a picture of what I'm thinking about in my mind. With that picture, I can walk around it, poke at it, and remember what components fit where. It looks like I'm thinking very hard, but in reality I'm really just playing around with my imagination. Sometimes I can visualize what I need. Sometimes I can't.

3. Research thought. I guess this is really just an externalization of the first state. Browsing the net for info, sometimes before I even know what the info I'm looking for is, for example. Heading to a library, going to a section with some info I want, and pulling promising books off the shelf, and wandering through them in no particular order. It's a little like thinking by absorbing information around you. Put yourself in a place where the info you want lives, and start soaking it in. This works nearly every time.

I have no "thinker" type states. Sitting around with my fist on my chin, pondering a great mystery or difficult problem. I can't even imagine what that would be like.