Overthinking is not a recognized mental disorder by itself. But research has found that it's often a symptom of other mental health conditions, including: Depression. Anxiety disorders.
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 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.
overanalyzer. over-scrutinizer. extreme analyst. one who thinks too much.
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.
Overthinking can create an endless cycle of stress and worry, which can ultimately cause you to feel less prepared, motivated, and confident. It can also play a role in mental health issues like anxiety and depression, so it is important to find ways to break out of such destructive thought patterns.
You may dwell on even tiny choices and wonder about what-ifs so much that you become frozen with inaction. Experts call this overthinking. It's normal to get too “in your head” sometimes. But chronic overthinking can start to interrupt your sleep, work, relationships, health, and other aspects of your everyday life.
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.
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.
People who overthink things regularly, psychologists believe, are often those who may have larger self-esteem or acceptance issues, Dr. Winsberg explains. If you're constantly overthinking (more on that later), however, it may be a symptom of clinical anxiety and depression or even obsessive-compulsive disorder.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“Underthinking is the opposite of overthinking,” explains psychotherapist and Counselling Directory member Beverley Blackman.
Most experts agree that certain anxiety disorders, which are often linked to overthinking, have a genetic component, but are also influenced by environment. You may be an overthinker because you inherited it genetically – or because you were raised by someone who created an environment of anxiety or stress.
The ADHD brain also gets easily consumed. This means ADHD and overthinking kind of go hand in hand. The ADHD brain grasps hold of your thoughts and runs away with them, while emotions keep the engine running.
"Frequent racing thoughts may be related to anxiety disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), trauma, or other mental health issues that need exploring," says Fabrett.
What drives this is underlying anxiety. Common forms include worrying, perfectionism, struggle with making decisions, and excessive control over yourself and others. Keys to coping include getting your rational brain online, using your gut reactions as important information, and taking acceptable risks.
Chronic worrying is not permanent. It's a mental habit that can be broken. You can train your brain to look at life from a different perspective. To overcome overthinking, Pittman recommends you replace the thought.
Thinking too much can take years off your life, seriously. It's a curse that many of us can't seem to break, but, it turns out that overthinking is actually really bad for your health. A study conducted at Harvard Medical School found that excessive brain activity could lead to a shorter life.