"You open your laptop, ready to start. For a moment, there is silence-then the noise begins. "I don't have much time." "This isn't hard; why can't I just start?" "I really should've finished this yesterday." "I really could have knocked it out of the park if I had just started sooner." "Why am I always like this?" Thoughts clash like radio stations out of tune. You freeze, mid-motion."
"Neuroscientists associate this inner narrator with activity in the default mode network (DMN)-a set of brain regions most active when the brain turns inward, such as daydreaming, evaluating, or reflecting. It's like a background radio that plays whenever we're not focused on the external world. In most people, that radio fades naturally when we shift to goal-directed activity. In certain conditions like ADHD, anxiety, and depression, the volume stays up, sometimes louder than ever, making it hard to transition from thought to action."
An inner narrator arises from the default mode network (DMN), a set of brain regions active during inward-focused thought like daydreaming, evaluating, and reflecting. The salience network detects important signals and coordinates shifts between the DMN and executive attention networks. When the DMN remains overactive, people experience rumination, persistent self-criticism, and difficulty initiating goal-directed action despite knowing what to do. Conditions such as ADHD, anxiety, and depression can keep DMN activity elevated and impair the salience network handoff. Mindfulness and self-compassion practices reduce DMN chatter, support smoother transitions to action, and ease stuckness caused by nonstop internal commentary.
Read at Psychology Today
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