Stressors and past trauma can often trigger patterns of overthinking as well. When these thought cycles start spiraling, it is oftentimes hard to break free from and move past them.
What Causes Overthinking? While overthinking itself is not a mental illness, it is associated with conditions including depression, anxiety, eating disorders and substance use disorders.
While trauma in itself can pose risk to a child's healthy development, overthinking on such events makes the kid more prone to suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), says a recent study.
It is true that childhood trauma can cause anxiety even into adulthood because early coping mechanisms of the body, mind, and spirit persist. With comprehensive treatment and support, clients can learn to redirect anxious thoughts and feelings in positive directions.
Overthinking is a coping strategy many of us fall into. Rather than take a risk or make a decision, it feels much safer and more comfortable to think through as many possible scenarios as we can.
Often overthinking can be the result of feeling strong emotions of fear, panic, anger, excessive worry, etc. Identifying and challenging these feelings and thoughts may be an effective place to start. Two of these effective skills are identifying emotions and checking the facts.
Overthinking is commonly associated with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), says Duke. GAD is characterized by the tendency to worry excessively about several things. “Someone can develop GAD due to their genes. Or it could be personality factors like the inability to tolerate uncertainty in life.
Normally, they are not responding to a real threat. Rather, their brain is overanalyzing, and overreacting to, input from their senses. Hypervigilance can be a symptom of: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
In cases of OCD, while stressful life events and traumatic experiences cause the onset of obsessive symptoms directly, compulsive behaviors caused by these experiences maintain and gradually worsen the symptoms.
A type of therapy called cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is effective for overcoming overthinking and recognizing cognitive errors. “It helps one learn to first identify the errors, then to reframe the thinking in more logical and balanced ways,” says Duke.
Plus, whether you're fixating on the past or catastrophizing about the future, thought patterns that are more destructive than constructive can take a toll on both your mental health and physical health. "Studies show that ruminating on stressful events can, over time, lead to anxiety and depression," warns Dr. Fowler.
If you can't break free from overthinking, consider getting professional help. Overthinking may be a symptom of a mental health issue, like depression or anxiety. On the flip side, it may also increase your susceptibility to developing mental health problems.
Overthinking is caused due to various reasons like fear, intolerance to uncertainty, trauma, or perfectionism. Overthinking can also be a symptom of already existing mental health conditions such as generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, or depression.
Take, for example, ADHD. While most people associate ADHD with hyperactivity and impulsivity, it can also manifest in more subtle ways, such as through intrusive thoughts and overthinking.
Overthinking changes the structure and connectivity of the brain leading to mood disorders therefore it can lead to mental illnesses such as anxiety, stress, and depression. Moreover, it can decrease your energy to focus and can affect your problem solving and decision making power.
In addition, medications originally designed for depression, the SSRIs (Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Lexapro, Effexor, Cymbalta, and others), are also capable of lowering the underlying level of anxiety which takes a lot of steam out of this phenomenon.
Overthinking is a common trait in people with mental health disorders like anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
There are actually 5 of these common responses, including 'freeze', 'flop' and 'friend', as well as 'fight' or 'flight'. The freeze, flop, friend, fight or flight reactions are immediate, automatic and instinctive responses to fear. Understanding them a little might help you make sense of your experiences and feelings.
Overthinking strikes all of us at some point, but if it goes unchecked and unresolved, overthinking can certainly morph healthy relationships into toxic relationships. If you fall victim to your thoughts and allow them to go too far, they can end up driving a wedge of distrust between you and other people in your life.
The young woman with BPD told Elite Daily, “Long story short, it's very hard for those with BPD to have successful and healthy relationships and stable confidence levels. Our version of 'logical thinking' is most often overthinking. We have a very hard time distinguishing between real issues or imaginary issues.
It's a common stereotype that is often humoured, but it turns out there is actually scientific backing to it. A study reported in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease has confirmed that women overthink more than men do, due to their brains having more activity.
Cortisol is the main villain who creates unhealthy overthinking and is released in the hypothalamus – a region very near to the centre of your brain.