Overthinking is patronizing a person, demeaning their thoughts and punishing them for thinking. There is no authoritative stance on the act of thinking, and there is no acceptable way of telling someone their thoughts are invalid.
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.
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.
Overthinking can be an early indicator or symptom of depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions. To stop overthinking, you can try challenging your thoughts, reaching out to loved ones for support, or talking to a mental health professional for extra help.
Overthinkers are very critical of themselves and others. This can be frustrating for them as well as for others around them. Once an overthinker makes up their mind about something or someone, it's hard to change it because they will always try to find the negative things in a relationship or any situation they face.
'You're Overthinking It'
In that case, telling someone they're overthinking something might just make them feel like they're failing at managing their feelings, and again, shuts down the conversation, she adds.
Don't tell them to stop overthinking.
Telling them to stop overthinking is just going to stress them out, so try to not get frustrated with them if they get lost in a train of thought. Be patient, give them space to work through their feelings when they need it, and enjoy your time with them.
While overthinking itself is not a mental illness, it is associated with conditions including depression, anxiety, eating disorders and substance use disorders. Rumination can be common in people who have chronic pain and chronic illness as well, taking the form of negative thoughts about that pain and healing from it.
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.
It may be hard to love an overthinker because there are times when you have to step up in the relationship. You might have to make decisions, offer support, and give them their space when you feel like you need some of these things yourself. However, this doesn't mean that you won't get anything back from your mate.
Relationships are hard, and relationships with overthinkers are even more incredibly hard. Overthinking may appear to be a simple problem, but it is far from it. Overthinkers may be difficult to date, but that doesn't make them bad people. However, a relationship with them is fraught with danger.
Overthinking can make you assume negative consequences and jump to false conclusions. This can obviously lead to arguments with your partner who might feel upset for being misunderstood almost every time. Obsessing over little things and situations can impact your mood and dent your self-esteem.
An overthinking mind tends to focus on the negative, sabotaging happy thoughts and keeping your mind in a constant state of negativity. When your happiness wanes, it affects your mental health and your productivity.
Overthinkers care too much. They are worried over mistakes or errs often considered trivial by others. They are empathetic and easily detect a change in tone or body language of another person that unfolds another thinking spiral.
Overthinking is a symptom of many different mental health issues – primarily generalised anxiety disorder (GAD). Many people who are depressed also experience symptoms of anxiety, and vice versa. This means lots of people with depression may overthink situations.
Often, the best way to discover if you have a crush is to check in with yourself about how you feel. If you think about the person often, want to spend time with them, frequently wonder how they're doing, and are interested in knowing all of the details about this person and their life, it's likely a crush.
Can you feel when someone is attracted to you? Yes. When someone feels you are an attractive person, some things come up between you that aren't there otherwise. The clues aren't always obvious, but you can see some of them by paying attention.
When you are truly like someone, you really look forward to any connection you may have. You constantly check your phone for texts, calls, emails, etc. Just thinking about your next conversation makes you smile ear to ear. If you are dating them just to kill time you might be too lazy to reply to their messages.