“I think, therefore I am.” — René Descartes
A simple line, but a profound one. What Descartes was pointing to is this: the very act of questioning your own existence—or your own state of mind—confirms that something within you is present and aware.
You don’t need the philosophy to feel the truth of it. The moment you pause and ask, “What’s happening to me?” you’ve already demonstrated that you’re here.
“I think I’m going crazy… or I must be going crazy.” I’ve heard this hundreds of times throughout my very fulfilling NeuroPhysics Therapy career over the last few decades.
In today’s bigger–stronger–faster world, it’s becoming harder for people to make sense of where they stand—socially, emotionally, or even physically. That sense of misalignment, of losing synchronicity with the world around you, can be deeply unsettling.
But here’s what most people don’t realise.
There is a very specific piece of neural “real estate” that allows you to have these thoughts in the first place. The anterior cingulate cortex—the ACC—is one of the most fascinating and, in my view, vital regions of the brain. It plays a central role in how we normalise our experience of the world. It helps us detect conflict, make predictions, register gut feelings, and monitor what is going on within us.
Put simply, it is part of the system that allows you to observe yourself.
The ACC detects and corrects errors. For example, if you said something to someone and you quickly realised that what you just said was wrong, so you then quickly corrected yourself – where was the little person sitting that knew what you said was wrong and then gathered up the correct statement… This is more of a statement about the observer in you than a question.
So when someone says to me, “I feel really anxious,” I’ll often ask, quite seriously: “How do you know?”
That question can catch people off guard. But it’s an important one. Because to know that you feel anxious, there must be something within you that is noticing it. An observer. Without that, there would be no awareness of the feeling at all.
This is where things begin to shift. People who are truly lost in a state of disorganisation don’t tend to sit around wondering whether they’re “going crazy.” That reflective capacity—the ability to step back and question your own state—is itself a sign that your observational system is still intact.
In other words, the very thought “I might be going crazy” is, in many cases, evidence that you’re not.
From there, it becomes less about fear and more about navigation.
Understanding the role of the ACC—and how it integrates information from across the brain—gives you a practical advantage. It is deeply connected with the frontal lobes (your executive and reasoning capacities), the limbic system (your emotional processing), and the somatosensory system (what you feel in your body). In many ways, it operates like a central exchange—constantly weighing, comparing, and filtering incoming information.
And that filtering matters. Because what enters your “mind space”—that internal landscape of thoughts, images, and interpretations—is not always helpful. When people say, “The mind is powerful,” I agree. But that same power can either support you or destabilise you, depending on how it is engaged.
We often speak as though the mind runs the show. But language quietly reveals something more nuanced.
“I changed my mind.” That statement implies there is an ‘I’ that sits above the mind—something capable of observing it, influencing it, and, when necessary, redirecting it.
If that “I” disengages, then whatever flows into mind space can take over unchecked. But when that observational system is active—when the ACC and its networks are functioning coherently—you regain the ability to guide the process rather than be driven by it.
So if you ever find yourself asking, “Am I going crazy?” pause for a moment. Recognise the question itself.
Because the part of you asking it… is the very part that keeps you grounded. And if you don’t mind… I won’t mind either.
Go nuts and have fun, folks. If you took something from my post yourself, then please share it with others.