Is it normal to think multiple thoughts simultaneously?

I suffer from this same...phenomenon. My first question, do you have an above average IQ? I tested in the 98th percentile back in grade school, but I haven't been tested since. My personal opinion is that this is perhaps a gift and not an abnormal process.

In my case I have trouble focusing on people's conversations or the mundane events of life. For example, if someone is going on and on about something quite boring I will find myself in the middle of an elaborate thought process that involves multiple "layers". Have you seen the movie Inception? It's like every layer of a dream is taking place simultaneously and yet I'm able to coherently decipher each at the same time.

Anyways, I was just trying to explain this to my boyfriend a couple days ago. I'm fairly certain he thinks I'm a nut. Glad to find your post ^^

I am literally crying now, having just discovered so many of you are like me, and I am not alone. As a child, i have literally tested off the charts in standardized testing. That is to say when i finally received my test scores, my placement on the bar graph of the national average exceeded off the chart and was plotted in the paragraph the preceded the chart.
I am a 32 year old Caucasian male with no known family history of mental disorders.

I have been taking Dextroamphetamine for 4 years and Alprazolam for 3 weeks. The latter was prescribed for my anxiety, but it also feels like it has caused a significant increase to my focus. However, i feel like this seems a bit deeper than ADHD. I say this because when untreated, my simultaneous thoughts make me lose myself inside my own head. I lose my grip on reality (zone out) and start chasing whatever memories, ideations, or hypothetic imagination through various "doors". The best example i could give is that each thought is a transit bus that leaves the same station, all going to different routes. Each bus picks up and drops off passengers as they go. I just follow whichever route seems most appealing to me and ill switch to another route when i lose interest.
As I said, the meds have helped a lot, but aside from that, I have used music as a tool to anchor down a bus or two. I wouldn't recommend your favorite music or songs, as it would capture your attention and defeat the purpose. I would recommend any music or ambient noises that you would listen to while studying, except i listen to my music whenever possible. I use headsets paired to my device and i keep the volume at a manageable level with only one earbud in so that i can still carry a conversation, and my attention can only go as far as the ambient music if it does begin to wander. In a way (and excuse my affectionate pun), i am keeping my attention within earshot :) depending on who i am with or the situation, i ask them to excuse my earphone with the general truth in a nutshell, and they dont ever seem to mind when you have only the one earphone in. Other times, i lie and tell them my phone mic is defective and i keep the earpiece in to hear my phone ring or whatever b.s. On the job, headphones/music are not allowed but i still keep one in and add to the last lie to include making work related calls or whatever. In all of these situations, my attention is focused exactly where i need it to be.

Look to addiction recovery services for alternative measures to focus your attention. Sounds crazy, but the concept is essentially the same. If smokers need to subdue their urges by chewing gum, toothpicks, etc, then it should work for us too because its not the cigarettes they are trying to avoid, its *thinking* about cigarettes they are avoiding. Can we not subdue our own unwanted thoughts by distracting them with gum and toothpicks while we focus on what matters?

But here is the part that terrifies me. In this specific situation, I ended up getting so lost in my head, i wasn't sure if i was sitting on my couch in Indiana when i was 24 and imagining i was sitting on my bed in texas as a 30 year old, or was i 30 in texas and remembering the time i was 24, living in Indiana, and chilling on my couch. So i decided to stand up, and both of me stood up. I got dizzy like a hardcore deja vu moment. The 24/Indiana couch scenario faded into memory while the 30/bed in texas reality began to unfold with more detail and a stronger sense of awareness.
Very recently, i had gone too long without my meds. When i tried to recall very recent memories, they were instead replaced with a compound fabrication of a memory that occurred a week before and another memory that took place a year ago. So i feel like not only do i have little control over what passengers board each bus, but i am losing control over what passengers arrive at the station.
I did a little digging, and i feel like i might possibly be Schizoaffective (not schizophrenia). Nearly every symptom matches, professional diagnosis is to be determined. I intend to provide an update.

Did you ever figure out what it was or Did u ever do anything to be able to control it ... I suffer from the same ability .. It's a Gift and A Curse

I've experienced this as of late. It always seems that while having multiple thoughts, I've got background music playing up there as well. I've pondered, if I'm present in others thoughts, or if I have a second brain somewhere I'm not aware of. That's honestly what it feels like.

i came to this thread because i was searching about "thinking about several things at once". I am having problems like that but the differences between you and i is that my thoughts are jumping like a rabbit like what you told and most of my thoughts are unfinished, like a TV channel that is being switched over and over.

It is not normal but I do it also. It is very hard to explain and even harder to live with. But at least we know we are not alone!

Is it ever like an argument in your mind? Sometimes I'll be thinking multiple thoughts at once, its like a bunch of different voices all at the same time, but they argue with one another. I was diagnosed with OCD, and I was never IQ tested but was far above average all throughout elementary school, so much so that highschool became a challenge due to the fact I never learned how to learn; if that makes sense. I've always wonder why I hear so many versions of my own voice at once, and why I feel like I have different "personas" in my own mind. Sometimes I'm simshady, sometimes i'm someone else. It's a very complicated subject that I've never been able to put into words, or ever had anyone relate to. I'd be very interested in speaking to someone who also experiences similar things.

I have a very similar thing that happens. I like to describe it as having a computer with several different monitors all running different programs. I can watch each monitor through my peripheral vision, or I can focus on a specific monitor while still seeing the others in my peripheral vision, and sometimes I can even focus on more than one of the monitors. I've sometimes focused on more than 6 monitors (aka trains of thought), but it usually gives me a headache. One time I was focusing on more than I could count and I felt physically sick.

I'm sorry, but a nauseating amount of replies on here are insincere and kind of mean.Unfortunately, I am in the same boat as you... but I think I know what the problem is.

I grew up with the exact same problems that you are explaining on this thread. Ideas and thoughts come in incoherent pictures or abstracts, instead of lineation. Subsequently, as a new picture or line of thought comes, the prior simply disappears; most of the time I cannot remember what I was thinking, why I was thinking it, or why I know it is important but still cannot recall it.

Whatever thoughts that I do own, they are ethereal at best and complexly intertwined with a million others to sometimes explain a simple fact. These pictures usually are not just pictures, they are also attached, usually, with strong emotions. What you are explaining is COMPLETELY normal.

I have recently been diagnosed with severe ADD/ADHD. The reason you are now aware of these pictorial thoughts is because you are an obviously INCREDIBLY analytical person. You are not crazy, you have simply come to the point where you have begun to analyze your own thoughts.

The reason why you have to recall pictures to decode, understand, and form new pictures[thoughts] is due to something referred to loosely as 'data chunking'. When you think of something and have 10 different ideas on your mind, and like a computer, when you hit save it will save the entire file under one folder. So next time you go to pull file 'M' from the folder, when it is opened you also get 'A-M'. This builds an incredibly complex root directory of cognition, under which linearity is forgone, as well as why the entanglement makes sense to you but to no one else. This is also precisely why you CANNOT seem to explain it verbosely to other people, in a satisfactory way, and struggle to find the words to articulate it.

As well as being diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, I was also pegged for an IQ of 151. Unfortunately, this comes with its own set of problems; the aforementioned also runs in parallel with the fact that IQ and EQ [emotional quotient] are inversely proportional. This gives you a harder time dealing with explanations and connecting to people, to paint a picture of your dilemma. The higher the IQ, under the prior assumption, the more quantumly entangled your ideas become due to pulling MUCH larger data chunks.

I would highly advise going to see a medical professional in relation to getting checked for ADD/ADHD. However, smoking marijuana is not a good choice... Marijuana has a different effect on the brains of those with ADD/ADHD than its Methamphetamine/Amphetamine [and other associated isomer] counterparts. Marijuana effects the body when THC enters the brain effects specific regions, whereas ADD meds cause dopamine molecules to stick better; the lack of dopamine in an ADD brain is what causes the'flighty thoughts' and inattention. Assuming that's what this really could be, a correct solution would work wonders in remapping, and building, new neural pathways. So next time, instead of grasping at pictures you will be able to choose the string, out of the entire fray, that you want to pull on.

Hopefully, this helps somewhat. I know it can be agitating at times, but just keep in mind it is completely normal when you have a little more information to expound upon.

Cheers!

This trait is very specific to bipolar disorder, it's referred to as "flight of ideas". You should go see a psychiatrist. Also bipolars are known to have an elevated IQ.

I suffer from the same thing also but i put it more into problems solving and analysing people but it becouse a problem for me when i get emotional it will cause me not to sleep and think way to hard people that dont understand get scared of my thought process

My best example of this is when i'm in a conversation. Say "he" and "me" are conversing.. there are multiple points on my itinerary to bring to light. Some only become prevalent while being engaged in the conversation. Well anyways, "he" and "me" are conversing about one topic and i'm thinking of things to say in regards to that article and at the same time thinking what i'll say in the coming sentences after the current article ends. Often making many micro-decisions as to the order I should bring the points up, the transitional content prior to the transition. All while my lips are moving and explaining things like a diagnosis for a piece of equipment etc... I think all people do this whether they know it or not. Perhaps what can be said is that some are more receptive to their actions. I know for me I will sometimes give explanations for my actions that other people truly relate to, however I myself seldom ever hear such explanations from others.

Also I find that the best remedy and or scenario is one in which you are constantly using your social skills. I sometimes feel groggy on Monday but progress with the week.

did you ever find a way to control it? or is there anything you can share with us dealing with this? need help pls!

Maybe this is anxiety? you mentioned your intelligence was above average. perhaps your intelligence is amplifying your fears, causing you to have many thoughts at the same time.

Well I'm not really sure if it's the same with you guys but one time in my childhood maybe around 10-12 I was freaking bored so i just kept on staring at my room's ceiling while a whole lot of thoughts were in my head.

Its like the first layer with random thoughts all jumbled together then there will be one specific thought and I'll delve deeper into it going to layer two so layer one is still thinking of the specific topic while layer two is thinking of something related to the topic and then comes layer three then at layer four all of them in my head playing out at the same time. but layer four lasted less than a second then it felt like I snapped out of something and asked myself what the hell just happened.

Though i did try looking for the answer online, this might have been what i was looking for...

I'm so glad I found this! I, too, have multiple layers of thought simultaneously. I thought I was just crazy or weird. Glad to know there are others out there with the same ability (or like the OP hinted, perhaps more of a disability). It sucks. I'll be listening to someone, thinking of what I'm going to say in response, while also thinking about the actual situation I'm in and how I'm handling it with regard to their comments ("am I acting genuine, did I smile enough at that" etc) and then also I can be thinking about what I did yesterday and make a decision about what I'm going to wear later. All the while maintaining the first convo. I also have been a lucid dreamer since I was a kid, and apparently that is not all too common and people try to train their brains to lucid dream. I'm sure there are a few wrinkles in my grey matter that have super kinks in them hahaha.

I just realized that is what it is, several layers of thought.

I didn't see it that way before this revelation, in fact
I thought i was some sort of sociopath because someone could
be telling me something tragic and in my head I am thinking how am i portraying myself to this situation, how do i feel about it, what is for lunch and thinking about a game I enjoy.

I thought the fact that I was thinking about these other things made how I felt completely insincere, but now I'm thinking that's not the case and i just think in multiple layers.

I would best describe this as multiple movies playing, all being projected on the same screen. and when i am focused on something i find interesting is like all 5 projectors are now playing the same movie.

at least I can stop thinking I'm probably a bad person for thinking of other things when my head should emotionally be somewhere.

I actually created an account on this site just to suggest that maybe you have ADHD. I have it and I'd say it's like having a brain that's faster than everyone else's.
And yes this is so well put: "This may seem beneficial to some people, but to me, it has its consequences." To me it sounds like it should be a superpower but it doesn't come out that way, because I have to take the time to sort out all the thoughts.
I Googled "fast thoughts" without quotation marks and filtered the results so that it returned only pages from this ADD forum, if you want examples: http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=+site:addforums.com+fast+thoughts&oq=+site:addforums.com+fast+thoughts&gs_l=hp.3...645422.645422.1.645710.1.1.0.0.0.0.155.155.0j1.1.0...0.0...1c.1.7.psy-ab.xIsHNB3_pF0&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.44158598,d.dmQ&fp=4bf2b8d805e33c81&biw=1183&bih=583

I've had exactly the same thing for as long as I can remember... When I try to describe it, people just thing I get distracted easily, but With effort i can have 2-5 thoughts going simultaneously. I thought it was normal until I literally just searched it and found this forum. One example is ; let's say I'm saying a sentence in my head, like reading to yourself, I can also "read" another sentence in my head while continuing to "read" the first sentence in my head and the more sentences i "read", the more effort it takes. Plz reply... R u sure not everyone gets this?

It's kind of annoying when I think two thoughts at once, especially when I'm typing. This is because not one, but a combination of both sentences will come out. This happens a lot when I'm tired and I have to focus a lot to keep it from happening.

I have a similar condition. At best I've been able to describe it as watching 4 TVs at the same time being unable to turn them off or look away. The constant bombardment of images was maddening. They kept me awake at night. It basically ruined my life well into my adolescence. I was socially retarded and incapable of giving someone my undivided attention. Doing things like holding multiple conversations with different people was normal to me but rude to others. Around 12 I discovered computers and was finally able to satisfy these thoughts. Often running a half dozen IM conversations, while programming and designing websites. I finally discovered self medication around 17 and was able to relate to people and build lasting meaningful relationships. It's not ideal as even now my girlfriend thinks I medicate to deal with her when really Its the only way I can think just about her. One TV. One station.

I do this. Alot actually. I don't think with images. It's like I have mutliPle thoughts. But they feel like feelings becUse I can't control them, yet I do? It's like a certain thought has certain priority and when I consider One, I forget the bottom one. I hate this because f I fOrget something important, or I think it matters, I spend hours retrieving it.

I can handle different types of thoughts, so not like you. like: hold an image and words at the same time, but that's about it. Or: count while thinking about a conversation I was having yesterday, and still pay attention to the repetitive task that I'm doing (and counting).

You should try to meditate

U must be not be looking hard enough for scientific explanation of this. I remember reading in college that the human brain is capable of 7 thoughts simultaneously. Although only most people are only aware of 2 or less. A common example is a singer/guitar player. But with practice people have been know to be aware of more streams of though. Bobby Ficher was said to be aware of 6 thought simultaneously.

Its plausible. Do what i do. I write shit down.