Overthinking and excessive worrying create feelings of distress and restlessness that may lead to anxiety or depression if left undealt with. Taking back control of your thoughts is the key to feeling peaceful again.
"Overthinking can affect how you experience and engage with the world around you — preventing you from making important decisions, keeping you from enjoying the present moment and draining you of the energy you need to handle daily stressors," explains Dr. Fowler.
Overthinking usually falls into two categories: ruminating about the past and worrying about the future. If you're struggling with overthinking, you may feel “stuck” or unable to take any action at all. It can be hard to get the thoughts out of your mind or concentrate on anything else.
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.
Overthinking is an unhealthy habit that typically causes more stress by focusing on the negative, dwelling on the past and worrying about the future. Instead of problem-solving, you ruminate on an issue without coming up with logical solutions.
Overthinking is a common trait in people with mental health disorders like anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
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.
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.
The roots of overthinking can be traced back to stress and worry. Aside from these primary causes, low self-esteem and insecurity are also common contributors to excessive thinking.
Overthinking often involves ruminating about the past and worrying about the future. Overthinking isn't the same as healthy problem-solving. Problem-solving consists of thinking about a difficult situation when necessary. Overthinking, on the other hand, involves dwelling on the problem.
Signs You're Overthinking
An inability to think about anything else. Being unable to relax. Constantly feeling worried or anxious. Fixating on things outside of your control.
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.
In romantic relationships, overthinking gradually—day after day, month after month—can turn into a bad cognitive habit. It shortens our bandwidth for awareness, empathy, curiosity, and whatever is happening in our own hearts.
But you're not alone—research suggests 73% of 25- to 35-year-olds chronically overthink, along with 52% of people ages 45 to 55. In many cases, overthinking could show up as rumination, which often involves perseverating on events of the past and even the present with a negative mindset.
Cortisol is also known as 'the fight or flight hormone' which explains its role in connection with fear-based overthinking that amplifies negative beliefs and causes destructive behavior patterns associated with worry and fear.
Overthinking can tamper with our ability to think properly and trap us in a cycle of negative thoughts that interfere with our ability to cope with stressors. In life, it can be necessary for us to re-evaluate and re-think an event to understand it completely and make the best possible decision.
Overthinking can be an all-natural process, it can also be the result if the creative and overly active ADHD brain. While most believe overthinking to be a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder, it' actually relates more to ADHD.
While both mental health conditions involve repetitive worrying, people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) often engage in unwanted and repetitive behavior in response to their worry. People with anxiety, however, tend to overthink their worry, but don't act in specific responsive manners.
The regular patterns of overthinking may lead to anxiety, irritability, panic attacks as well as low appetite, irregular sleep patterns, high blood pressure, and much more.
Being nervous shows you care about the outcome. Once the event is over, anxious thoughts usually disappear. Overthinking is when you continue to worry. You may think you are just problem-solving, but it's actually far less helpful than your brain would have you believe.
INFP and INFJ: The Overthinkers
When it comes to these types, their anxiety can stem from an inclination to overthinking. Psychology Today defines overthinking as “an excessive tendency to monitor, evaluate, and attempt to control all types of thought,” something this INFJ knows all too well.