How can I stop them? In My Head: When you find yourself in one of these imaginary conversations, try to disrupt it with a task that distracts you — like a crossword puzzle, meditation, or listening to a podcast. You want to take your brain in a different direction and prevent yourself from sinking deeper.
Immerse yourself in the conversation
Instead of getting sucked into your overthinking, pull back and focus on the conversation instead. In other words, treat your thoughts as background noise. This is just like having a conversation in a noisy restaurant.
Be compassionate towards yourself
Excessive mental rehearsal doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with you! It's just a tactic employed by your logical brain, i.e. the prefrontal cortex, to help cope with your anxiety.
Most people talk to themselves regularly. This may happen when thinking through ideas, when debating decisions, or when in need of a pep talk. Some people feel that self-talk creates a “presence” around them that makes them feel better. This can help with loneliness.
Instead, it is a sign of a number of different illnesses such as anxiety, sadness, and post-traumatic stress disorder. People who don't have mental health problems can also sometimes think of worst-case scenarios.
Dawn Baxter, certified positive psychology coach, says this is likely. She says creating fake scenarios can bring us comfort and make us feel more prepared to face the real world. 'In order for us to feel prepared for any eventuality we can sometimes “fantasise” about things that have not happened yet,' says Dawn.
It's not abnormal, although not everyone does it. It's just the way your mind sorts information. I'd say you're probably a creative individual who is good at visualization. I always imagine myself having a conversation with someone about a certain topic, and I talk and act like it's really happening.
"Frequent racing thoughts may be related to anxiety disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), trauma, or other mental health issues that need exploring," says Fabrett.
Social anxiety can cause you to overthink and take desperate actions to avoid or get through social situations with severe distress. It interferes with your ability to learn how to handle difficult interactions and read and react appropriately to verbal and non-verbal social cues.
Reasons that someone may talk excessively include mental health disorders, personality characteristics, and personality disorders. Excessive talking can create a social burden for both the talking person and their listeners.
It's also known as "catastrophising," and it happens to many people at some point in their lives. It might be a result of your previous bad experiences that you can't shake, or it could be linked to mental health issues like anxiety or chronic depression.
If a person self-talks as part of a hallucination, they should seek help from a healthcare professional. Self-talk and hallucinations may indicate a mental health condition, such as schizophrenia. A person with schizophrenia may experience changes in their behavior and thoughts, such as hallucinations or delusions.
In fact, "thought-chatter" is completely normal for human beings. Usually, whenever our attention isn't occupied, a stream of mental associations flows through our minds — thoughts about the future or the past, fragments of songs or conversations, daydreams about alternative realities or friends or celebrities.
Factitious disorder is a mental disorder in which a person acts as if they have a physical or psychological illness when they themselves have created the symptoms.
Delusional disorder is a type of mental health condition in which a person can't tell what's real from what's imagined. There are many types, including persecutory, jealous and grandiose types. It's treatable with psychotherapy and medication.
Why does imagining a fake scenario or story help you sleep? Using your imagination to think about yourself in a desirable situation is a great way of distracting you from day-to-day worries or concerns. It is also a good way of stopping you from getting frustrated at how difficult you're finding falling asleep.
Some people constantly create negative scenarios about the potential for terrible things to happen to themselves or people they care about. And, again, it's normal to have some fears and periodically worry about something bad happening.
Over-talking often arises from social anxiety, which creates a troubling feedback loop. The more people talk, the more anxious they become about their social selves, and the more they talk. At that point, over-talking can feel like an uncontrollable habit.
In psychology, logorrhea or logorrhoea (from Ancient Greek λόγος logos "word" and ῥέω rheo "to flow") is a communication disorder that causes excessive wordiness and repetitiveness, which can cause incoherency.
Adults with ADHD frequently think being sociable with others is an all-or-nothing part of their lives. Either they're oversharing and talking too much, or they're withdrawn and staying home alone. Hyperactivity in adults is often expressed as being overly talkative and boisterous.