How Does Your Brain Process?
Whether you are Neurodivergent, Autistic, Allistic, ADHD, Dyslexic, Gifted, etc. or Neurotypical, we all can experience relentless negative thoughts in our heads. But not all brains are the same in how they process them.
From Aphantasia to Hyperphantasia, all brains exist along a spectrum of experiencing their internal world. Aphantasia is the inability to voluntarily create mental images, when you try to picture something, you get little to no visual, sensory information at all. Hyperphantasia sits at the opposite end: mental imagery so vivid it can feel almost as real as seeing with your eyes open. I have found that it matters to tailor things to fit the mind.
If you experience Aphantasia and I push you to visualize, this will likely produce a very frustrating experience that is not as helpful. Telling a Neurodivergent gifted profile with Hyperphantasia that they are just catastrophizing can be downright insulting.
So how does this play out for negative thought loops specifically? For many of us, it comes down to two main channels: an inner voice, or an inner picture show.
The Internal Narrator: Court is in Session
Some may hear a literal voice inside their head going on an endless tirade of all the greatest hits on why they are the worst person on the planet. Good luck arguing with this ready to go inner lawyer. These verbal speed demons are ready to pull out the secret weapon and have objections ready to go no matter what kind of evidence you give yourself.
The Visualization Generator: Symbols, Visual Rendering, Cinematic Quality—Oh My
Other brains are more visual than hearing a narrator’s voice. You may get visual representation through memories or things your brain conjures up as symbols or imagined scenarios as its way of speaking to you. You’re getting the top marketing team meets artistic angst giving you all your top hits through convincing visual display.
Both? Both. Both is Good!
If you are lucky enough to have both the internal narrator voice and visualization ability, then congratulations. Your brain has more access to more tools for twice the fun. We can all take a moment and laugh/cry as we give ourselves a massive side eye.
Now Stay With Me Here
I can imagine you might be thinking something like, “I don’t want to have to add something else to my already overly saturated life. None of this stuff works for me anyways.”
I can definitely understand where you are coming from. You may have already tried things that people or professionals have recommended in passing and still feel just as stuck as ever with a growing feeling that no one can help you.
I know how frustrating that can be and how helpless it can feel to be at the mercy of a mind that does not stop.
Let’s Try an Experiment
If you so choose, I want you to notice the way you process over the course of some time. Getting curious about how our biology and our lives may have shaped the way our brains work can really be illuminating.
There are many times I have personally experienced a positive step forward when I question and hold curiosity on what is happening in my brain when I hit snags in my own life as a neurodivergent clinician.
If an inner critic pops up or an anxious part of you that wonders if you are normal, I encourage you to let them know in whatever way feels genuine to you that neurotype variations come in all sorts of wild configurations. But it’s hard to be there for ourselves if we shame ourselves so much we can’t even understand what is happening. Once you know which channel your loop runs on — voice or image — you have a much better shot at knowing where to intervene.
