Mind-blanking—when our minds are seemingly “nowhere”—is defined by a lack of conscious awareness. During periods of blankness, the individual is not focally aware of any stimuli, either internal or external.
The feeling of your mind going blank under stress happens when hormones, such as cortisol, flood our systems. These hormones “invade the brain's pre-frontal cortex and the hippocampus, disrupting neuronal activity and our normal brain patterns”, explain olwcation.com.
Mind blanking is a distinct mental state linked to a recurrent brain profile of globally positive connectivity during ongoing mentation.
During mind-wandering, attention may be directed to an engaging or important stimulus or train of thought; during mind-blanking, on the other hand, attention is directed nowhere.
The takeaway is that even though theres an intuitively appealing image of people with ADHD simply being distracted because they bounce from one idea to the next, its important to keep in mind that both mind wandering and blank thoughts are associated with ADHD.
Anxiety brain fog happens when a person feels anxious and has difficulty concentrating or thinking clearly. Many conditions may cause anxiety and brain fog, including mental health diagnoses and physical illnesses. It is normal to experience occasional brain fog and anxiety, especially during high stress.
Thought blocking occurs when someone is talking and suddenly stops for no clear reason. Losing one's train of thought now and then is common and not usually anything to worry about. However, it can also be a symptom of a mental health condition such as psychosis.
Everyone spaces out from time to time. While spacing out can simply be a sign that you are sleep deprived, stressed, or distracted, it can also be due to a transient ischemic attack, seizure, hypotension, hypoglycemia, migraine, transient global amnesia, fatigue, narcolepsy, or drug misuse.
While overthinking itself is not a mental illness, it is associated with conditions including depression, anxiety, eating disorders and substance use disorders. Rumination can be common in people who have chronic pain and chronic illness as well, taking the form of negative thoughts about that pain and healing from it.
Passing feelings of depersonalization or derealization are common and aren't necessarily a cause for concern. But ongoing or severe feelings of detachment and distortion of your surroundings can be a sign of depersonalization-derealization disorder or another physical or mental health disorder.
In other words, mind blanking is a normal neurocognitive phenomenon. Mind blanking can occur spontaneously (without clear reason) or when the brain is overloaded. In either case, performance is not necessarily affected in an adverse way (1). In other words, mind blanking doesn't have to be disastrous.
Depression causes the hippocampus to raise its cortisol levels, impeding the development of neurons in your brain. The shrinkage of brain circuits is closely connected to the reduction of the affected part's function. While other cerebral areas shrink due to high levels of cortisol, the amygdala enlarges.
Differences in emotions in people with ADHD can lead to 'shutdowns', where someone is so overwhelmed with emotions that they space out, may find it hard to speak or move and may struggle to articulate what they are feeling until they can process their emotions.
Overthinking is commonly associated with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), says Duke. GAD is characterized by the tendency to worry excessively about several things. “Someone can develop GAD due to their genes. Or it could be personality factors like the inability to tolerate uncertainty in life.
INFP and INFJ: The Overthinkers
When it comes to these types, their anxiety can stem from an inclination to overthinking. Psychology Today defines overthinking as “an excessive tendency to monitor, evaluate, and attempt to control all types of thought,” something this INFJ knows all too well.
Mind blanking and mind wandering often occurs without our knowledge or even will. These occur due to voluntary or involuntary attention lapses, and their consequences can vary. Lapses in attention can lead to a lack of responsiveness or reactions that are sluggish and slow.
What drives this is underlying anxiety. Common forms include worrying, perfectionism, struggle with making decisions, and excessive control over yourself and others. Keys to coping include getting your rational brain online, using your gut reactions as important information, and taking acceptable risks.