What Causes Racing Thoughts, And How Can I Control Them?

An influx of thoughts can be expected when anxiety is high during stressful situations. However, a pattern of repetitive thoughts that disrupt sleep or hinder daily function may indicate an underlying mental health concern. To understand how to reduce racing thoughts and control your mindset, it can be helpful to understand how thoughts work and why racing thoughts happen.

What are racing thoughts?

Racing thoughts often occur as a rapid succession of mental images that continue without restraint and do not reach a rational conclusion. These emotionally draining thoughts can cause a sense of being out of control, prompting a range of feelings from mild discomfort to paralyzing fear. These uncontrolled thoughts might disrupt a person's ability to think clearly.

Racing thoughts may occur as a bar of music, sentence fragments, or thoughts that jump tangentially from one to the next. They may have no associated sound. However, note that racing thoughts do not involve hearing voices, a symptom commonly associated with psychosis. 

At times, racing thoughts may occur as a repetitive focus on the past, and they can tap into latent fears and worries. In some cases, the thoughts may be related to low self-esteem or self-doubt, while, in other cases, they may be random thoughts that come out of nowhere. These thoughts can disrupt consciousness, prevent sleep or concentration, and diminish your ability to live in the moment. For some people, they may be distracting. However, for others, they may be debilitating. 

The impact of racing thoughts at night

When a person experiencing racing thoughts attempts to sleep, they can experience mental images ranging from a series of fluid patterns to an unrelenting deluge of jarring thoughts. The inability to quiet these unnerving thoughts can incite stress, which may hinder one's ability to sleep. 

Racing thoughts can also occur during sleep, disrupting standard rest patterns and causing people to wake up and have difficulty falling asleep again. Because exhaustion and stress can worsen racing thoughts, disruptive sleep patterns can lead to more stress, creating a self-perpetuating cycle of restlessness and racing thoughts. As a result, an individual can experience worsened mental health issues.

What is the connection between racing thoughts and bipolar disorder?

People with bipolar disorder often experience racing thoughts, which can be a precursor to a manic or hypomanic episode. During these episodes, the individual may experience mood instability and other mental health issues, ranging from extreme restlessness to severe depression.

Racing thoughts in the context of an impending manic or hypomanic episode may co-occur with pressured speech, a diminished need for sleep, irritable mood swings, increased risk-taking behavior, distractibility, and grandiose thinking. 

Racing thoughts alone do not necessarily indicate bipolar disorder, though they can be a sign of a manic phase in individuals with this condition. However, with the presence of other symptoms, racing thoughts may help mental health professionals identify people at risk for bipolar disorder. A mental health professional can also help people with bipolar disorder recognize racing thoughts to prepare for and cope with impending manic or hypomanic episodes. 

What causes racing thoughts?

Racing thoughts may indicate a mental illness, but they are not specific to any singular condition, and they can occur even if someone is not experiencing an underlying mental health problem. These thoughts may be associated with conditions like multiple sclerosis, panic disorder, depression, anxiety disorders, and bipolar disorder. 

The use of prescribed and illicit medications or substances can also cause racing thoughts. For example, amphetamines stimulate the central nervous system and may cause these thoughts as a side effect. In addition, they may occur during periods of stress caused by external circumstances, including lack of sleep or other factors. In some cases, these thoughts may be accompanied by other symptoms, such as increased heart rate, irritability, and insomnia.

If you are struggling with substance use, contact the SAMHSA National Helpline at (800) 662-4357 to receive support and resources. Support is available 24/7.

Because there are numerous causes of racing thoughts, those experiencing them can benefit from consulting a mental health provider to identify what may have contributed to the symptom accurately. A mental health provider may be able to recommend treatments to help manage the underlying problem. 

How can you control racing thoughts? 

After a professional assessment and diagnosis, evidence-based techniques exist to cope with these thoughts. When appropriate, medication may be prescribed. Non-pharmaceutical alternatives may also be explored in isolation or conjunction with drug therapies. Consult your doctor or psychiatrist before starting, changing, or stopping any medication. Below are a few other techniques to control your racing thoughts at home.

Practice cognitive distancing

Some people may convince themselves that worst-case scenarios are factual by ruminating on them in their thoughts. Their minds may consider the worst outcome, even when there is no evidence it will occur. Cognitive distancing is a focused effort to help people recognize positive alternate scenarios when assessing situations to combat this tendency toward the negative.

For example, a woman may convince herself that her husband is cheating and her marriage is over. She may see him spending hours at the computer sending emails to a female coworker. He may also be staying late at work and missing planned family gatherings. The wife could assume the worst case scenario and decide that these factors are proof of infidelity. Therefore, she may develop racing thoughts about the hypothetical details of how he's cheating. She may also develop disparaging thoughts about herself.

Using cognitive distancing, the woman could assess the situation with a focus on facts. She could acknowledge that, although her husband has recently been spending more time with his coworker, they were recently assigned to work on a new project together. If the project is successful, her husband may be considered for a promotion that could improve the quality of life for their entire family. The project requires collaboration outside of office hours, including emails and frequent meetings with other staff. 

In this case, cognitive distancing is a tool that allows the woman to consider all probabilities to manage her thought patterns and reactions more healthily. The focus of this exercise is not to consider whether you are "right" or "wrong" but to check the facts of the situation you're worried about. 

Repeat mantras

Research shows that repeating a mantra or affirmation can slow activity in specific parts of the brain responsible for self-judgment and internal reflection. Calming this part of the brain can help people with racing thoughts stop replaying troubling images about the past and reduce their worry about the future. 

Mantras can be any word or group of words that is comfortable to the person using them. For example, you might state, "I am safe." This mantra can act as an anchor, bringing your attention to one subject and allowing you to gain control over your mental state.

Note that this technique may not be beneficial if you have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), as it can feed into compulsive urges to ignore intrusive or distressing thoughts, which may worsen your thoughts. If you have OCD, talk to a licensed mental health professional about techniques for reducing racing thoughts. 

Focus on the present

Focusing on the present may help you reduce negative images of the past and find positive areas of your life to focus on. Through techniques like mindfulness, you can discern between what can and cannot be controlled to reduce worries about the future. If you struggle to practice an exercise in the moment, consider listening to a guided meditation or mindfulness practice online. 

For example, you can improve your focus on the present moment by engaging in a physical activity or task, which can anchor your attention and awareness in the here and now. Doing so may help calm the autonomic nervous system and eliminate stress. You may also consider participating in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, a modality that combines principles of mindfulness with cognitive behavioral therapy techniques. 

Write your thoughts out 

Therapists and counselors often teach people to put their concerns on paper. When properly implemented, this process helps people control when and how they revisit their concerns. Writing focuses the mind and may reduce the power that racing thoughts have over you. It could also allow you to organize chaotic mental images into a format that allows greater comfort and control. In addition, research has found that expressive writing can improve mental health. 

Practice controlled breathing

The fight-flight-freeze response is a defense mechanism in the sympathetic nervous system. It can occur when you are anxious or stressed. The parasympathetic nervous system relaxes your symptoms when a threat has subsided. However, if you're ruminating about fears, you might not receive this relief. One way to self-control this system is by controlling your breathing. 

Controlled breathing has long been used to distract people experiencing physical pain, including new gestational parents in childbirth. The same focused breathing techniques can help people calm their minds by detaching from racing thoughts. Controlled breathing techniques have been supported by peer-reviewed studies that show that deliberate breath control can activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which may help reduce stress and anxiety.

There are hundreds of breathing exercises to choose from. If you aren't sure how to start, consider downloading a breathing exercise app that leads you through each breath count. 

Talk to a professional 

Although racing thoughts are a symptom of several mental health conditions, some people may not know how to find support or could face barriers to treatment due to stigma or financial distress. Others might not have the ability to commute to therapy. Online therapy can help individuals overcome these barriers. 

Platforms like BetterHelp pair clients with licensed mental health experts with experience treating many mental health conditions. You can speak to a therapist on your time from anywhere with an internet connection via phone, video, or live chat sessions. In addition, online therapy is often more cost-effective than traditional in-person options. 

Research suggests that online therapy is as effective as traditional therapy. For example, a recent literature review of 21 studies found that participants showed significant improvement in their generalized anxiety symptoms. In the same publishing, online therapy effectively treated panic disorder, social phobia, and social anxiety disorder.