What to do about racing thoughts?

[NJ321]

What am I supposed to do when I have a whole bunch of thoughts going on at once bothering me. It feels like at times when one thought goes away, another one comes in, than another & it just doesn't stop. Than I start to feel all stressed out than it becomes even harder to stop the thoughts. Just feels like a vicious cycle to go through.

[Guest Chickpea]

When I get those I just try to ignore them, like regular intrusive thoughts.

It feels like you're losing it, but you never do.

[Guest Roscoe]

I'd like to agree with chickpea that you never "lose it". Some part of my mind is convinced something really bad is going to happen to my brain/consciousness but despite a few years of panic attacks and a few years of sporadic intrusive thoughts it's yet to happen. Trying to stop them is a waste of time. It wont ever work sadly. I try to do something else instead. Watching porn is particularly effective for me though obviously not always possible. Video games help take my mind off them for a while too.

[PolarBear]

I think it really helps to have something you can set your mind to. Reading, a hobby, video games, watching movies. Something that you can focus your mind onto and give it some relief from the thoughts. It is important to ignore those thoughts, to not engage in them.

[Handy]

Frontal lobe activity? Use a other area of your brain.

Are you on stimulants? Those can. Give you racy thoughts.

For me one thing I just do is count. This can easy or complex, e.g. back from 100 by 7. This is not to be confused with ocd counting which is a compulsion.

I also do the earlobe squeeze which activates another area of my brain.