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.
May trigger mental illness
Dwelling on your mistakes, problems and shortcomings increases your chances of being affected by mental health problems. Overthinking can set you up for a vicious cycle that is hard to break. It wreaks havoc on your mental peace and as you lose your peace of mind, you tend to overthink.
Although there are positive traits of an overthinker, such as patience, commitment, dedication, drive, and passion, overthinking also promotes stress, anxiety, self-consciousness, and lack of self-confidence. It can be difficult to find any mental peace when you're thinking about every situation.
People who overthink tend to score high in the neurotic department. Neuroticism is one of the five big personality traits, along with openness, conscientiousness, extraversion and agreeableness. It's linked to anxiety, fear, moodiness, worry, envy and frustration.
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.
Dating an overthinker isn't easy and would require more work and effort from your side to keep the ship sailing smoothly. However, if you handle them and their obsessive need to overanalyze, well, it could be the most loving relationship, because they genuinely give two hoots about you and the relationship.
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.
Research shows that overthinking is prevalent among young (25-35-year-olds) and middle-aged adults (45-55-year- olds). Overthinking tends to be worse among women. And too much thinking can lead to mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, emotional distress, and self-destructive behaviours.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Hyper-Rationality is a trauma response and coping strategy. Overthinking, over-analyzing, and over-rationalizing are coping strategies that we learned early on to help us make sense of an unpredictable environment that at some point made us feel unsafe.
The good news is that you weren't born an overthinker. Overthinking is the result of one fact of human existence: we all have patterns to our behavior. These patterns, good and bad, develop over time based on life experiences.
Scorpio. Scorpio, a passionate and intense Zodiac sign, is known for overthinking every situation. They constantly analyze and dissect their thoughts, which can often lead to a state of mental turmoil.
Overthinking or rumination not only affects your peace of mind but increases your chances of getting depression and anxiety.
Overthinking — also referred to as rumination — is when you repetitively dwell on the same thought or situation over and over to the point that it disrupts your life. Overthinking usually falls into two categories: ruminating about the past and worrying about the future.
Overthinkers are often hugely empathetic and passionate people. However, this care and concern for others, and the insatiable desire to feel that we are doing well, can sometimes overtake the actual doing of things.
Overthinking and worrying is common with highly sensitive people. You notice every detail and overthink what should be a simple decision, like where to go for lunch. You are prone to getting stuck in the rehashing of the “what-if” rut.
Low self-confidence is perhaps one of the most common causes of overthinking and has the ability to further diminish self-worth. Overthinking as a result of attempting to self-protect can often feel like our own personal mental hideaway.
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.