Repetitive Thinking

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I have been looking all over online trying to find anything about HFA/AS and repetitive thinking. My brain gets stuck... reeeeeeeaaaaaally stuck... on one situation, problem etc. and it won't let go. I can't imagine that this isn't associated with my being on the spectrum, after all, stimming is repetitive, we lock on to special interests, so getting fixated on one scenario (or, in this case, past social situation) seems clearly linked to having an ASD. It's not always the same situation, and sometimes it's a problem or question, but when my brain grabs hold of one thing to think about, it can spin through my mind over and over for days in a loop. It's horrible. This time it's something that happened almost 20 years ago, and it should be easy to brush off, but I just can't shake myself out of the loop. I keep replaying what happened over and over and over, and what could happen if confronted by the other person involved over and over and over (this is made worse by the fact that many people have told me she still hates me because of what happened-- I had said something without realizing it would seriously hurt and anger her). It started (this time, with this situation) last night when I saw her post on a friend's page about something completely unconnected to the situation. It didn't start right away, but about a half hour later. It's now close to 7 pm the next night and I've only had a few hours sleep. I still can't stop thinking through it over and over. My brain is completely stuck. I want to see if there is anything out there about people on the spectrum getting stuck in these thought loops. Anyone else experience this? Anyone know of any articles about this? Anyone have any ideas on how to get un-stuck?

This is me too, and I have no answers on how to reduce it. I wish there were, though......

I once ruminated on a snippet of a Skype conversation I had with Chris. Hasn't happened before or after, though.

Speaking from personal experience, I can say this was a problem when I was younger, and it sucked. I felt trapped in a prison of thought, and took so many meds to control the associated panic attacks. I went to therapy, and that helped a little. I also put myself into VERY stressful situations that let me develop my own battery of coping mechanisms. Here's what has worked for me in the past.

First, I change the mental channel. When my mind gets stuck on, say, the math test question I didn't know, I think of something else as quickly as possible. I think of a TV show I'm watching, or a book I'm reading. If possible, I actually watch TV or read a book.

Second, I distract myself. I find work is best for this. I'm in a job right now that has me way less busy than I'd like to be. Which leads me to...

my third coping mechanism, which is to breathe. My psychologist first taught me to take a deep breath in the middle of repetitive thought. It's amazing how it can interrupt the positive feedback cycle of thought. Now I practice Zen Buddhism, which is really just an advanced series of breathing exercises. I credit it with greatly reducing my anxiety. In fact, my anxiety only flares up when I am on the Internet, particularly while reading WP .

Anyways, I'm off to meditate now. Meditation before bed, for me, results in a dreamless sleep.

Yep, I’m the same. Once I get a hold of something in my head I won’t let go. I can’t stop it, there’s no off switch.

It's where our specialist interest come to play, for me I have been playing with the same subject for over twenty years. There is hardly a day go by where I don't think about it.

This holds true for me too; I tend to dwell on things and ruminate on them--both good and bad. A tough day at work can send me reeling for hours, and put me into shutdown mode. My tendency to get fixated on topics nearly cost me my job a couple years ago; I got so caught up in one of my duties at work that I wasn't paying enough attention to some other things I was assigned to handle. Oops.

Have any of you heard of Purely Obsessional OCD? It's basically OCD, only without obvious compulsions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purely_Obsessional_OCD

I almost certainly have this in addition to my standard mode of repetitive thought, and I've experienced a some of the kinds of obsessions listed on that page. It's different than plain old repetitive thought in that it's all disturbing and intrusive thoughts, and it's usually "what-ifs." It's been a while since I've last had an episode with "Pure-O" (as it's called), but they can last me months--even years. What's worse is that sometimes, one intrusive thought can lead into another.

Repetitive thought and rumination can be problematic; Pure-O is sheer terror.

Yes. Ruminating over difficult social situations (e.g. what someone has done or said, what I done or said, etc.) has caused me more problems than anything else in life. It's one more reason I withdraw from other people, because I know myself well enough by now that if something upsets or stresses me it consumes far too much of my life. I started to get therapy last year but didn't make much progress.

In 2006 I had a sort of meltdown and shouted at someone after they caused me a lot of stress and upset. It's now 2012 and I still think about it a LOT. I recently started on anti-depressants and I think a large part of it is re-living stressful/upsetting situations over and over.

The closest descriptor I found for this was Pure-O OCD as mentioned by FishStickNick. I never did figure out if Pure-O is often co-morbid with AS. One involves obsessing over things that provide comfort (AS special interests) and the other is obsessing over things that cause anxiety (Pure-O OCD). Maybe there is some overlap here.

I still think about the time I melted down with a guy in a parking lot who accused me of hitting his car with my car door. I bumped his mirror with my elbow. It occurred to me some time after that I never clearly explained to him that it was my elbow that his car. Oops. That was in 2007, and it still bothers me today.

The biggest difference in my experience between Pure-O and the more typical rumination is that my Pure-O obsessions can make me feel outright fear. My more typical rumination can cause anxiety, but not the outright fear that Pure-O has.

ya ya for mee too it drives me nuts Iv found that music from the radio allways gets stuck in my head so I avoid it like the plauge, mainly lines of music that make no sence seem to get stuck in my ed like a broken record until I can make sense of it sometimes I think its going to drive me crazy so I repeat hanson song over and over (mmmmmbop) until it goes away. Lately that part from the simpsons keeps coming to mind with the monkey going clang clang clang wif da symbols in homers head. I just bought a electric keyboard to try to remedy this problem as it seems to focus my mind
Peace ,

Count me in, big time. The only thing that works is saying to myself "STOP!" but I rarely remember to say it.

However, it's not sterile thought. One day, and it can be decades from the event, I get the eureka moment and never think of it again. And that's how people call me wise, because I don't stop until I solve the mystery in my head and learn a powerful piece of insight.

I still struggle with this. Currently it is "Do I really have aspergers or am i simply faking it? oh wait..no I am not faking..it explains a lot.. oh no i do not really have that quality..no i am just imagining all of this..shouldnt i be working?.oh yes i have a deadline this week..see you are flexing your fingers this is supposed to be a tic..repetitive stuff.." infinite loop..

One more thing which absolutely frustrates me.. One person.. She hasnt directly caused me any harm..and it has been more than 2 years since I even saw/spoke to her.. but stupid brain had told me that she would steal my bf from me.though it is just not possible. (i had proof for why it would never happen).. but even today, if i see her photo on facebook i get upset.

This is happening to me also. It goes worse when I read a book. I started to notice this strange issue when I was 11 years old and I have been reading a book which had a big impact on me. All the night I 'heard' the author's voice reading from the book and repeating me all what I have read there. It is really creepy when this s**t happens and I feel like I have no control over my brain. I told about this issue to a psychologist but she didn't considered it is something I should worry about but I'm thinking that could really drive me insane.
For this reason I avoid reading too much.

And it doesn't happen only when I'm reading but also when I'm talking with other people.