"Studies show that ruminating on stressful events can, over time, lead to anxiety and depression," warns Dr. Fowler. "From a mental health standpoint, anxiety can affect your ability to cope with everyday stressors, and depression results in sadness, loneliness and feelings of emptiness."
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.
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.
Overthinkers will spend extraordinary amounts of time trying to make decisions. In the end, they often second guess and regret the decisions they do make. In order to avoid all this, overthinkers often defer to someone else to make decisions. Overthinkers will often have no opinion and say “I don't care” when asked.
The amount of time you spend in deep thought doesn't really matter, though. If any amount of time is spent actually learning from previous behavior and coming up with creative solutions, then it is productive. But time spent overthinking won't enhance your life at all, regardless of whether it's 10 minutes or 10 hours.
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.
Often overthinking is a byproduct of anxiety or depression. If this is the case, you can treat your anxiety or depression to reduce overthinking. You may also find that overthinking only materializes when you need to make a tough life decision or are dealing with your insecurities.
Overthinking is linked to psychological problems, like depression and anxiety. It's likely that overthinking causes mental health to decline and as your mental health declines, the more likely you are to overthink. It's a vicious downward spiral.
In 2 Corinthians 10:5, the apostle Paul writes: “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” It's by taking every one of your thoughts captive that you can fight off overthinking and find peace of mind.
Overactive imagination may be linked to the following conditions or personality traits: dissociative symptoms (a sense of being detached from yourself and emotions) obsessive-compulsive symptoms, like magical thinking.
Thinking excessively does not have any impact on the ridges and grooves so it does not reduce intelligence. However, a person might seem unintelligent if their ability to think properly is hampered. Even if one thinks too much, they will be fine as long as their thoughts remain consistent.
Overthinking is a sign of intelligence insofar that you need to be intelligent enough to be able to think and re-think until you have overthought. It is, however, not necessarily a sign of high intelligence.
Research shows that overreacting, constantly worrying, and living in a state of perpetual anxiety can reduce life expectancy.
Stress is one of the “usual suspects” when you can't seem to stop thinking. Stress causes your body to release cortisol, and cortisol helps you stay alert. This means that your brain stays alert, too — even when you don't want it to.
Signs that you might be overthinking include: Dwelling on past events or situations. Second-guessing decisions you've made. Replaying your mistakes in your mind.
However, it can also lead to potential misinterpretation of symptoms. 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.
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.
The fear that grounds overthinking is often based in feeling that you aren't good enough—not smart enough or hardworking enough or dedicated enough. Once you've given an effort your best, accept it as such and know that, while success may depend in part on some things you can't control, you've done what you could do.
Intelligence and anxiety may have evolved together as mutually beneficial traits, research finds. This may help to explain why people with a high IQ also tend to have higher levels of anxiety. The benefit may be that intelligence allows people to better imagine what might go wrong.