The internal monolog that never shuts off or gets tired

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I swear, all day, all night, it never stops. Random memories, sensations, thoughts, movie like pictures, new ideas to improve old ones, and IT NEVER STOPS. I can't sleep at night because my mind is never tired, and when I do fall asleep I never want to wake up. It sometimes takes me hours and 2-3 cups of coffee to become functional in the morning. (oh and by "functional" I mean try and do things without being constantly distracted by myself) I'm seeing my therapist Tuesday, and psyd Thursday, I never thought to describe this problem to them. I don't know, I don't really tell anyone much about myself. Anyone else go through this kind of thing? Btw, I'm dx'd aspergers, adhd, anxiety - with panic, and good old depresion! I also take 2mg of clonazepam a day (if anyone wonders).

Actually one time it stopped, and that was when I was first tried on risperidone, and it scared the hell out of me, which caused me to stop taking it after the very first dose. (funny, I haven't thought about that till now ) - anyway, thanks for reading, have an awesome day!

Have you tried meditation?

Darn, beaten to it. Yes, try meditation. That helps you learn to quiet the mind. You will probably find it difficult at first if you have a particularly noisy brain, but that's all the more reason to practice. When you are going to sleep is a great time to practice it as you are naturally drifting into a more meditative state anyway, and it may help you sleep. It's also very calming and (according to numerous studies) increases your intuition and intelligence, probably because it "oils the cogs" so to speak - meditation is to the mind much as exercise is to the body, and it's a shame it's not better understood in western countries.

I can imagine it being a little freaky if it happened all of a sudden due to drug treatment, but I think it's a very good thing to have a quiet mind. I don't have any mental noise at all - I think this is partly because I think visually so I don't have an inner monologue to begin with, and practicing meditation over the years has gradually eliminated any other kind of intrusive thoughts I may have had. I'm glad about this - I hate it when there is noise outside of me, so I can't imagine how irate I would get if it was on the inside too!

I apologize for hijacking the thread, but I experience very much the same thing as OP. I feel like I pretty much have to take myself to exhaustion every night if I want to sleep properly. There's so much spinning around in my head it makes it rather difficult. Any particular recommendations as far as learning meditation?

Sharon Salzberg has some excellent CD' s. Meditation really helps, but it's gradual and you really have to stick with it. I've been pretty lazy, so music helps me more than anything right now.

Yes, I hate this
Sometimes it is so annoying I want to play suicide.

I don't have that particular problem, but drinking a small glass of wine makes me very sleepy any time. So maybe you could try that?

You could look for some guided meditations to begin with if you're not very confident, which will walk you through some techniques and visualisations to help you. When I was starting out I listened to the same guided meditation every night for about a year (what can I say, I like routine!) and the results were wonderful for me. I was fine by myself after that - well, I probably would have been fine doing it on my own after a few weeks/months, but I enjoyed the guided meditation so I liked to use it. I'd strongly recommend audio material over anything else like books or videos since that's the only thing you can actually use while you are doing it.

There are a lot of meditation audiobooks available and you can probably also find some guided meditations on youtube if you want to start out with free material. Try to find one with a voice which sounds soothing to you (also some may be more new agey than others) - just make sure to use one that feels comfortable.

Alternatively, you can just sit up straight with your feet flat on the floor, take deep, slow breaths, and try to relax and focus on your breathing. Whenever thoughts come into your head, gently put them aside and focus on your breath again. Relaxing music can be a good accompaniment if there are any distracting noises around you. It's hard at first and you will probably want to start with just doing it for five or ten minutes at a time until you get better at it. Practice will improve your ability to quiet your mind and focus enormously. You can also do it in bed of course - that's my favourite place to meditate - but be aware that it's a very effective way to fall asleep!