A Missing Piece in Understanding My Neurodivergence
I’ve recently discovered that a huge part of my experience has been shaped by something called neurodivergent looping — a pattern where my autistic and ADHD brain gets stuck replaying thoughts, emotions, or information. For years I thought it was overthinking, but understanding neurodivergent looping has helped me make sense of so many parts of my life.
This insight has been one of the most validating discoveries of my neurodivergent journey so far.
What Neurodivergent Looping Is
Looping happens when your brain keeps returning to the same thought, emotion, or question because it’s Looping happens when your brain keeps returning to the same thought or emotion because it’s trying to create a sense of safety or closure. Instead of easing anxiety, it creates a stuck, repetitive cycle.
How neurodivergent looping can show up
- Mental replaying: going over a conversation, mistake, or decision endlessly
- “What if” thinking: imagining every possible outcome
- Emotional replaying: feeling old emotions as though they’re happening now
- Information loops: researching or analysing something without being able to stop
Looping is extremely common among autistic and ADHD people — more than many realise.
If you’re curious about where my journey began, you can read
➡️ Part 1: Understanding My Neurodivergence Journey.
🧠 Why Neurodivergent Looping Happens in Autistic and ADHD Brains
Looping isn’t a personality flaw. It’s a neurological pattern.
1. Executive Function Differences
Difficulty switching mental “tracks” makes thoughts stick.
2. Need for Closure
Unfinished thoughts feel unsafe or unresolved.
3. Anxiety and Overwhelm
Looping becomes an attempt to regain control.
4. Burnout or Low Energy
When the brain is depleted, it defaults to familiar mental patterns.
The National Autistic Society has written about similar processing patterns
➡️ https://www.autism.org.uk/
💬 My History With Neurodivergent Looping
More than five years ago, during CBT, I realised I was doing myself a lot of mental harm on my commute. I would replay my entire workday:
- every conversation
- every possible mistake
- every imagined judgement
By the time I got home, I was exhausted and overstimulated.
Back then, it was labelled as “overthinking.”
Now, I know it was neurodivergent looping.
And it also explains why, even now, I struggle to “put something down” when it’s on my mind — especially at night. My brain simply doesn’t switch tracks easily.
You can read more about how masking affected me in
➡️ Part 4: Unmasking Through Burnout and Loss.
🧩 Why Neurodivergent Looping Affects Me So Deeply
The combination of autism, ADHD, and years of masking makes looping especially powerful for me.
Autistic traits
- strong need for resolution
- difficulty shifting attention
- thoughts feel “unfinished”
ADHD traits
- cognitive momentum (“just one more thought…”)
- loops accelerate at night
Masking
- replaying interactions to check for mistakes
- mental self-monitoring
Anxiety
- looping feels like control during uncertainty
Understanding this has helped reduce so much shame.
🌙 Neurodivergent Looping and Sleep
At bedtime, looping is often strongest because:
- silence removes distractions
- the loop hasn’t resolved
- my brain is trying to protect me
- executive function can’t “close the tabs”
This reframing has helped me understand why I struggled for so long, instead of feeling like it was a personal failure.
🌼 Strategies That Help Me Break Neurodivergent Looping
1. Externalising the Thoughts
When I’m looping, getting the thoughts out of my head is often the first and most effective step. These are the tools that help me interrupt the loop:
- Writing a “loop dump” — emptying every repeating thought onto paper or into a notes app so my brain doesn’t feel responsible for holding it all.
- Voice notes or having a sounding board — saying it aloud helps break the mental cycle. Sometimes that’s with a person, and sometimes even with ChatGPT if I just need a safe space to process.
- Journalling — this is still a work in progress for me, but writing on my blog has become a surprisingly grounding form of journalling.
- Naming the loop aloud — simply saying “I’m looping” helps externalise it and reduces the shame or fear attached to it.
2. Sensory Grounding
Sensory grounding pulls your attention out of the looping thought and back into your body and the present moment. These strategies work because they interrupt the mental cycle with physical sensation.
• Cold water
Cold water activates the “dive reflex,” slowing your heart rate and calming your nervous system. You can:
- run cold water over your wrists
- splash cold water on your face
- hold something cold (like a chilled can or ice pack)
Helpful explanation:
https://www.verywellmind.com/dive-reflex-for-anxiety-5214313
• Weighted blanket
Weighted blankets provide deep pressure stimulation, which can calm the sensory system and reduce spiralling thoughts. They help your body feel grounded and safe.
General overview:
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/best-weighted-blankets/benefits-of-weighted-blankets
• The 5-4-3-2-1 grounding method
This method uses your five senses to anchor you in the current moment.
You gently observe:
- 5 things you can see
- 4 things you can touch
- 3 things you can hear
- 2 things you can smell
- 1 thing you can taste
It’s simple, fast, and works well during looping, anxiety spikes, or sensory overwhelm.
More information:
https://www.verywellhealth.com/grounding-techniques-5211505
3. Naming the Loop
“I’m looping right now. My brain is trying to solve something that doesn’t have an answer.”
4. Gentle Structured Distraction
Structured distraction works best for neurodivergent looping when it has just enough focus to shift the mental track, without being overwhelming.
This isn’t about forcing yourself to “think about something else” — it’s about giving your brain a safer, calmer task to latch onto.
Here are the things that work for me:
• Sorting or organising
Light, low-pressure organising helps because it has:
- a beginning and an end
- predictable steps
- clear focus
It might be tidying one drawer, sorting paperwork, organising a bag, or decluttering a single surface.
• Crafting — in my own way
Traditional arts and crafts are difficult for me (my dyspraxia means coordination-based or fine-motor tasks can be frustrating), but I’ve realised I do craft — just differently.
My crafting looks like:
- pottering in the garden
- designing or planning adventures for my roleplay games
- rearranging plants
- world-building
- creating little projects or stories
This kind of “creative pottering” gives my brain something engaging but not overwhelming — and it works beautifully for interrupting looping.
• Walking with audio
Walking while listening to something calming or engaging gently redirects my attention.
Audiobooks, podcasts, gentle music, or even ambient soundscapes help shift the loop onto a more stable track.
Walking also adds rhythmic movement, which regulates the nervous system and reduces mental intensity.
5. Creating a Loop Exit Plan
A Loop Exit Plan gives you a pre-made “escape route” for moments when the looping feels too strong to break manually.
It’s simple, personalised, and removes the pressure of having to decide what to do in the moment.
Here’s what mine looks like:
• Know your triggers
This can be hard — but techniques from CBT, like logging mood, intensity, environment, and activity, helped me notice patterns over time.
Common triggers include tiredness, overstimulation, social uncertainty, or unfinished tasks.
• Know what helps
A short personalised list of the strategies that reliably bring you down from a loop.
(For me: grounding, garden pottering, writing a loop dump, walking with audio.)
• One grounding action
Choose one thing you can do immediately.
Examples:
- cold water on wrists
- 5-4-3-2-1 method
- weighted blanket
- stepping outside for air
• A reassuring phrase
Something your nervous system recognises as soothing.
Mine is:
“I’ve thought enough about this for now. I can come back to it later if I need to.”
Choose anything that feels genuine and safe to your brain.
💛 What I Want Others to Know
Looping isn’t something you can “just stop.”
It’s not about willpower.
It’s not stubbornness.
It is a neurodivergent processing pattern —
and once you understand it, you can guide your brain instead of fighting it.
📘 Further Reading
ADHD looping / rumination overview (CHADD)
https://chadd.org/
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