Brain health · Sanctum

Acting before thinking

The words are out before you chose them. The thing is bought, the message sent, the decision made, and only afterwards do you catch up with yourself and deal with the fallout. It is not that you do not think. It is that the gap between impulse and action is very short.

This is impulsivity, and it comes from the same place as the rest, a brain whose brakes work differently. The thought and the action arrive almost together, so the pause most people get, the moment to weigh it up, is shorter or missing. It is not recklessness for its own sake.

Because the consequences are visible, the impulsivity gets judged harshly, by others and by you, while the regret afterwards rarely shows. People learn to see themselves as their own worst enemy, when really it is the timing of the brake that is the issue.

We look at where the pause goes missing, because understanding that is far more useful than being told to think first. None of this is a diagnosis. It is what we explore with you.

Written by Dr Asad RaffiConsultant Psychiatrist · Founder & Medical Director