You’re Overthinking It
It's likely that someone has said to you, "you're overthinking it" at some point in your life. Maybe you have realized this yourself, after a sleepless night caught up in your thoughts. Overthinking, overanalyzing; whatever term you use for it, it's a common occurrence - especially among overachievers - and it doesn't help you at all.
What is overthinking?
Overthinking is a normal process of the brain. Humans are natural problem solvers. Our brain is constantly solving problems as we go about our day. Usually this is helpful, but when we come across an unsolvable problem, such as why something happened to us, how we can change someone else, why there's so much injustice in the world, or what will happen in the future, our brains get stuck in an analysis loop. There is no answer, and our brain's just aren't equipped to accept that.
Why overthinking doesn't help
Overthinking happens when we stumble across an unsolvable problem. Because the problem is inherently unsolvable, we never know if we're right. We may have stumbled on the answer already and passed over it because there simply isn't enough data for us to know the solution to the problem. Let's take worrying about the future as an example. If you're worried about the outcome of a meeting next Thursday, you'll likely brainstorm several outcomes. One of them may turn out to be the correct outcome. But because our brain won't have enough information to find the answer until the meeting has concluded, our brain will keep spinning and spinning, focusing on different answers until the meeting happens.
How overthinking effects your health
Overthinking causes your body to go into a stress response. There's a great explanation of the details of this here. In short, your body interprets the overthinking as a threat and releases adrenaline. This is your "fight-or-flight" response. Because you aren't able to fight or run from the threat, your body releases cortisol to keep you ready to fight or flee at a moment's notice. When there's a true threat to survival around - say a bear walks up to your tent - this is a phenomenal response. It keeps your senses sharp, provides oxygen to your limbs, and sets you up for success. When there isn't really a threat, this response is damaging. Long-term stress response damages our body at the cellular level. We simply didn't evolve to be under constant, ongoing stress.
How to stop overthinking
The way to stop is to just… stop.
When you catch yourself overthinking, stop. Think about something else. Find something in the present to look at. Pet your dog. Play with your kid. Walk around the block. Take some deep breaths. Tell yourself to stop, and then find something else and focus on that.
Many of us try to argue with ourselves. We try to explain to ourselves why we need to stop thinking, why overthinking is wrong, why we are idiots for doing it. This is ineffective for a variety of reasons. The goal isn't to shame yourself for doing something normal. The goal is to distract yourself from the threat.
Instead of overthinking your overthinking, just stop. Look outside. Find something interesting and describe it to yourself. What color is it? Is it moving? How does it look in the light? Give your brain something else to think about.
How anxiety treatment can help you stop overthinking
Managing our thoughts is a skill. It takes time to be able to do this automatically. Our brains evolved to solve problems. By counteracting this system, you are retraining your brain to act in a way that is counter-intuitive. It'll be hard. You won't be perfect right away. This is why it helps to work with a skilled therapist who can offer you support, understands you, and can guide you through the process. A therapist who specializes in working with overachievers and in anxiety therapy can help you stay the course.
When you catch yourself overthinking, notice it, and think about something else. As you build this skill, it will begin to happy automatically. You can absolutely do this and it will be absolutely worth it.
If you’re looking for a therapist in Denver who can help you with overthinking, feel free to reach out and schedule a 15-minute consultation with Stacy Andrews, MA, LPCC, NCC by clicking the button below.