Ever feel like your mind just isn't working 100%

[Hopeless05]

By this I mean you feel mentally drained and like your mind just isn't on point.

For instance you know what your mind is capable of in terms of how smart you are. But sometimes you just don't feel as smart; things that normally come easy to you suddenly seem more challenging.

For instance you might be a mathematical genius, but sometimes trying to knock out problems that you KNOW you can do easily you are having difficulty calculating and processing in your head.

This happens to me so often. I hate when I'm told that it is 'anxiety' because there is nothing to stress me out when this happens.

I also wonder how something like this can relate to social anxiety. I've always been a quiet person but used to have no problem in speaking when needing to speak (even though I would be nervous).

But nowadays so often I feel like my mind just isn't working right. I'm still this quiet person but now when I need to speak I often feel like my mind isn't working fast enough to put thoughts together and convey them in the way I want to.

Another thing I can relate this to is reading. I can speed read very well and comprehend everything that I am reading (when I'm not feeling 'mentally drained') but many times feel like when I am reading that I am not taking in everything that I'm reading; like my brain isn't processing it at all.

This is frustrating as I cannot attribute it to anything.

If you have similar experiences or can relate in any way please feel free to share your thoughts.

 

[Hopeless05]

Oh yeah, to add on to this; when I feel my mind is 100% and I'm on point, my SA is lightened up a lot. I feel that I can at least have a normal conversation with people even if I am nervous, and this makes me less nervous.

But when I feel 'mentally drained', grief, lol. It is hell. I am already nervous with SA but then feeling like a dummy when people try to talk to me and I am unable to properly communicate back to them.

I wonder how many other people who have SA also feel this same way. If it's just nervousness, or feeling like your mind isn't working right in social situations, or feeling this way not just in social situations but more often.

I'm interested to hear any responses.

 

[Tseng]

I know the feeling, my mind is hardly ever at 100% these days. Doesn't really seem to effect my SA either way though.

 

[moomin]

Ever feel like your mind isnt working 100%

funny you should say that. I have had social phobia for 10 years and i really think that is actually making me less smart.

Like i find it much harder these days to add summs, to write and to express myself.

Does anyone else feel like this and blame it on SA. Or is it just downt o getting older and having left school so long ago.

 

[Tseng]

I think it probably has more to do with having left school a long time ago. If you arn't using a skill often enough it tends to go a little "rusty", most people after leaving school have a little trouble with sums as they start to rely on calculators and sort of forget how to do them in their head. Of course SP can have an effect on some things, mostly stuff that's word related as you tend to stop using words as often (i.e talking). At least thats how it seemed to work with me, back when I was in college I was able to write a decent short story without really having to think about and now it takes ten minutes and all my brain power just to write this damn post .

 

[TigerShark]

I think that is what has happened to me. I have been out of school for several years, and without college, or any human interaction for that matter, I feel my brain has atrophied. It's a shame too, because I used to consider myself fairly intelligent. That was one thing I had going for me.

 

[maggie]

my mind probably never works to my full potential...cause...i think for me...there's always so much crap in there...like..anxiety related...worried constantly about every little moment and situation...and it affects my behaviour, and i'm sure i am looked at as being much less intelligent than i really am :evil:

 

[justsomebloke25]

my mind probably never works to my full potential...cause...i think for me...there's always so much crap in there...like..anxiety related...worried constantly about every little moment and situation...and it affects my behaviour, and i'm sure i am looked at as being much less intelligent than i really am :evil:

Yeah, me too.

I always think of something clever to say about 10 minutes after the conversation's finished.......one i've stopped thinking about how people are looking at me, etc :x

 

[maggie]

my mind probably never works to my full potential...cause...i think for me...there's always so much crap in there...like..anxiety related...worried constantly about every little moment and situation...and it affects my behaviour, and i'm sure i am looked at as being much less intelligent than i really am :evil:

Yeah, me too.

I always think of something clever to say about 10 minutes after the conversation's finished.......one i've stopped thinking about how people are looking at me, etc :x

..ooooh i know justsomebloke25!!....that really frustrates me when i think of perfect thing i "could have said" or way i "should have dealt with" a situation...after the fact...that pisses me off too :evil:

 

[maggie]

my mind probably never works to my full potential...cause...i think for me...there's always so much crap in there...like..anxiety related...worried constantly about every little moment and situation...and it affects my behaviour, and i'm sure i am looked at as being much less intelligent than i really am :evil:

Yeah, me too.

I always think of something clever to say about 10 minutes after the conversation's finished.......one i've stopped thinking about how people are looking at me, etc :x

..ooooh i know justsomebloke25!!....that really frustrates me when i think of perfect thing i "could have said" or way i "should have dealt with" a situation...after the fact...that pisses me off too :evil:

 

[triceratops]

Yeah I actully feel i'm a lot more intelligent than I actully think I am. I feel my sa sort of holds me back if that make sense. I rekon I would learn a lot more, concentrate more and just generally do better if I wasn't riddled with sa. Still all I can do is my best...

 

[stardog]

Yeah, I can totally relate to this. I feel 10x 'dumber' now than I used to, say, 5 years ago. Back then I could start and hold conversations ok, concentrate when I needed to, get good grades (A's) and write music, I can't do any of those things now. Also my grades are usually C's/D's these days...I guess I was just more 'aware' then. I can't really explain it...I blamed it on sleep deprivation for the longest time, now I think it is something more. Maybe I have really bad ADD, or maybe it's just part of depression, I don't know :?

 

[jamez]

It's true, the brain goes dumb if you don't use it.

Naturally, I think I am a relatively smart guy but over the past few years I have not been mentally active. So, I might come across a little slow and dumb to some people. The depression doesn't really help as I find it hard to hold interest in a lot of things and therefore my concentration wanes.

 

[allanboy]

Yeah, i get this. When playing my reflexes get slow, i let things pass by, like i was some kind of newbie(im really harsh on this matter). Or when i´m studying math or physics, and i´ve done some exercise for the tenth time, and i still get it wrong. Sigh

 

[Hopeless05]

I see what you are all saying with not using your brain for certain things for a long period of time.

But what if you almost have 'flashes' of brilliance? Does this ever happen to any of you. Like sometimes I'll just feel so mentally drained that even reading is a task. I can read something 5 times and not really fully understand what I just read. Whereas other times I can read page after page after page and be able to write an essay on it.

I just feel like for the majority of the time my mind just isn't right and I feel a little slow. But other times I'll feel like my brain is operating on all cylinders and I'll feel like a genius. So frustrating this can be. :?

Especially in social aspects. When I feel like my brain is operating on all cylinders I can almost talk my way out of social anxiety. Even though I may be nervous I can talk my way out of nervousness. But when I'm in my normal (nowadays) state where I feel a little slow this just makes the SA worse when I am really unable to communicate with people, heh.

Hope that made some kind of sense.

 

[redlady]

Hopeless05 wrote:

For instance you know what your mind is capable of in terms of how smart you are. But sometimes you just don't feel as smart; things that normally come easy to you suddenly seem more challenging.

I experience this - i feel like my anxiety has put a strangle hold on my intelligence and creativity. There were times when everything was so bloody easy and now it is all such a struggle. Sometimes when i sit down to do work and my anxiety rears it's ugly head making the work harder than it actually is, i am reduced to tears from the sheer frustration of it.
It makes me physically sick.

 

[SaharaWorld]

Another thing I can relate this to is reading. I can speed read very well and comprehend everything that I am reading (when I'm not feeling 'mentally drained') but many times feel like when I am reading that I am not taking in everything that I'm reading; like my brain isn't processing it at all.

Anxiety affects your powers of concentration. Sometimes when I'm reading a page in a book - I'd think 'oh my god, what on earth have I just read?'

Stopped going to the cinema too, it was a waste of time sitting for 2-3hours not having a clue what the film is about as my mind's elsewhere.

 

[jenz]

....im known for my little "flashes of brilliance" and long periods of mind numbness....im going through the mind numbness right now when i dont' need it!! im trying to finish a paper and its not happening...and work...mentally. im not there.....i just don't get myself... thanks for letting me relate :wink:

 

[Hopeless05]

Hopeless05 wrote:

For instance you know what your mind is capable of in terms of how smart you are. But sometimes you just don't feel as smart; things that normally come easy to you suddenly seem more challenging.

I experience this - i feel like my anxiety has put a strangle hold on my intelligence and creativity. There were times when everything was so bloody easy and now it is all such a struggle. Sometimes when i sit down to do work and my anxiety rears it's ugly head making the work harder than it actually is, i am reduced to tears from the sheer frustration of it.
It makes me physically sick.

I think you are right; it's got to be the anxiety that's causing this. *sigh*

Another thing I can relate this to is reading. I can speed read very well and comprehend everything that I am reading (when I'm not feeling 'mentally drained') but many times feel like when I am reading that I am not taking in everything that I'm reading; like my brain isn't processing it at all.

Anxiety affects your powers of concentration. Sometimes when I'm reading a page in a book - I'd think 'oh my god, what on earth have I just read?'

Stopped going to the cinema too, it was a waste of time sitting for 2-3hours not having a clue what the film is about as my mind's elsewhere.

I see...and I hear you on not being able to focus on movies. Nowadays I go to a movie, come out of it, somebody asks me what it's about and to be honest I have no idea where to begin trying to explain, lol. Even as I think about it I can't think to myself to sequence of events that occurred in the movie.

Pretty damn frustrating.

....im known for my little "flashes of brilliance" and long periods of mind numbness....im going through the mind numbness right now when i dont' need it!! im trying to finish a paper and its not happening...and work...mentally. im not there.....i just don't get myself... thanks for letting me relate :wink:

You have described it very well. Flashes of brilliance are exactly what I feel I go through. For a short period of time you just feel like a genius and your brain is rotating on all cylinders.

I find it funny that a symtom of some mental disorders is "believing oneself to be able to do more than they are capable of doing". If we have these flashes of brilliance we know that our brain IS capable of being more than it usually is. The question is how can we get some consistency and draw out its capabilities?

Thenagain it is also true that a large percentage of the human brain is not used to begin with, so who knows.

I can relate to you on the numbness as well. I experience this far too often.