For instance, eat some healthy food, to the extent your ruminating stomach will allow. In your situation, you may not have others sharing their stories with you. However, even imagining someone doing so can help you calm down. Think about what story, and from whom, would help you. For this post, I’m going to assume the upsetting event involves being implicitly or explicitly criticized.
Curb your mind’s propensity to ruminate by setting thinking boundaries. Dedicate a specific time window each day to ponder over issues, then consciously switch your attention elsewhere. When you notice yourself ruminating, consciously shift your focus to a distracting activity, which can help interrupt the overthinking cycle. CBT offers techniques to challenge and gradually shift fear-based thinking habits, helping you manage overthinking over time. What’s tricky is that overthinking often disguises itself as productivity. It can feel like preparation, due diligence, or being responsible.
How To Stop Catastrophizing And Cut Back On Negative Thinking
Do you ever find yourself trapped in a cycle of racing thoughts, replaying past conversations, or worrying about the future? Overthinking can make even simple decisions feel overwhelming and can fuel feelings of anxiety, stress, and self-doubt. If you want to go deeper with this approach, Going Beyond Anxiety is my step-by-step program for breaking anxiety-driven habit loops.
On the contrary, the cause of mental illnesses is too much time spent dwelling on our negative thoughts, and so the solution is to spend less time on them. You don’t have to be experienced to meditate like a pro. Try starting a mindfulness and meditation practice using guided imagery exercises. Activities that help you narrow your focus on a peaceful setting or sound can quickly relax your body and distract you from overthinking. Problem-solving and planning are active coping strategies, while rumination involves rethinking situations, analyzing them, and replaying them without forming an action plan or feeling a sense of resolution. Sometimes simply recognizing that you’re ruminating can be a helpful step toward decreasing it and getting on a different track.
If you decide to see a therapist, consider asking about rumination-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which was developed to help treat negative overthinking. When you catch yourself overthinking, transform those spinning thoughts into concrete actions. Write down one small, manageable step you can take to address your concern. Having a clear action plan helps redirect mental energy from worry to problem-solving, giving you a sense of control and progress.
Sometimes it just gives you more stuff to overthink about. I’ve had clients in Highlands Ranch tell me that just a 10-minute walk around their neighborhood completely shifts their mental state. Physical movement breaks the cycle faster than almost anything else. Once overthinking gets rolling, it becomes harder to stop. As part of your awareness, when you notice you are overthinking, stop it. You can use any of these ideas to help derail overthinking so that it doesn’t turn into a runaway train.
How To Stop Ruminating
Those who are prone to feel high anxiety often struggle with “what if? Those who are more vulnerable to depression also overthink, usually focused on past regrets, losses, or resentments. Seeking support, whether through therapy or mental health coaching, can offer a new perspective and provide the tools you need to regain balance. Therapy can help you explore any underlying issues and develop coping strategies for when overthinking becomes overwhelming. A mental health coach can guide you toward actionable steps for goal-setting and personal growth, helping you move forward with confidence. It’s the brain’s emotional center, and research has found it to be involved in anxiety and fear.
Turning away from the path of overthinking can lead to a more balanced, fulfilling life. So, the next time you find yourself stuck overthinking, take a step back, breathe, and remind yourself to live in the moment. It may be hard to start something new when you’re overwhelmed by your thoughts. If finding a distraction feels daunting, try setting aside a small chunk of time — say, 30 minutes — every other day.
Practicing techniques like thought-labeling and limiting “worry time” can also help reduce mental overload. Nolen-Hoeksema recommended scheduling a dedicated time (e.g., 30 minutes) in the day when you plan to ruminate, an exercise similar to one developed by Dr. Thomas Borkovec for worry. This is in contrast to a common pattern of ruminating, which involves going in and out of it in a shallow way of thinking throughout the day while completing other tasks. The stark truth is that you can’t worry and ruminate extensively about everything that’s gone wrong, or will go wrong, and at the same time stay emotionally balanced and without burdensome symptoms. Naturally, you’ll sometimes need to thoroughly think things through. For people struggling under the burden of overthinking, it’s all too easy to develop a fear of one’s own trigger thoughts.
You might even discover that you’re not able to recall some of the thoughts that triggered you. All feelings, whether positive or negative, are usually ephemeral if we tolerate them and let them be. Of course, not all thoughts disappear forever when you postpone processing them – some thoughts might be about important issues that you really need to address. In 2020, together with Wells and other colleagues, we published the results of a large randomised trial involving 174 clients with depression.
You’re not trying to stop the thought or change it. This creates a tiny bit of space between you and the thought, which is often enough to break its power over you. If you can’t do anything about it right now, the thinking isn’t helping. Tell yourself, “I’ve thought about this enough for now,” and move on to something else.
While having these thoughts is normal, it becomes a problem when you focus only on the worst-case scenario. “Working with a CBT-trained therapist can help alleviate both anxious and depressed moods,” says Duke. And I also put in several minute breaks throughout my workday and about 1 hour for lunch. If I use my phone too much and scroll various websites and social media channels for too long then my mind can easily become overactive. Another way to use a journal to direct your thoughts in a helpful and positive way is to do some gratitude journaling.
By allocating a set period of time for worry and rumination, you’re more likely to feel in control and prevent yourself becoming overwhelmed. A second function of setting worry/rumination time is that it’s a way of discovering that trigger thoughts are ephemeral and ever-changing. For instance, the thoughts that seemed highly relevant and important in the morning will often seem less important when you arrive at your worry/rumination time later in the day.
It’s a habit your brain learned because it produces a false sense of control. Every time you replay a conversation or rehearse a worst-case scenario, your brain briefly feels like it’s solving a problem. It isn’t, but it takes curious attention to see that clearly.
For example, you may be anxious about whether you made a mistake or worried about what will happen at a future event. The longer you wait for the perfect plan or flawless execution, the more likely you are to get stuck.Taking imperfect action teaches you through experience, builds confidence, and creates clarity. Even if it doesn’t go as planned, you’ll have valuable information to guide your next step. When your ruminating mind has taken over, grounding yourself in familiar routines can help restore a sense of normalcy. Just as the event may feel all-consuming, these small, everyday actions can remind you that life continues, and help you regain control. When an upsetting event sends our overthinking mind into hyper-drive, the process of that system switching itself back off doesn’t happen instantly.
“CBT helps you learn how to identify, then challenge and reframe your negative thoughts and also teaches how to cope with your worry and anxiety in healthier ways,” she explains. A type of therapy called cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is effective for overcoming overthinking and recognizing cognitive errors. “They’re mad at me” is a story—and when you’re overthinking, Dr. Gold says, it’s hard to tell the difference. Anyone who’s ever felt trapped in their own head knows the advice to “just stop overthinking” is easy to give but almost impossible to follow. No amount of willpower or motivational self-talk can quiet a mind that automatically runs through every worst-case scenario. But real progress doesn’t start with silencing those racing thoughts; it starts with understanding what overthinking actually is.
Find out the answers to these questions and more with Psychology Today. It’s not uncommon for a low mood to be related to thoughts of being a victim, with either self-pity or resentment becoming the dominant thoughts. When these types of thoughts become repetitive and persistent, rather than leading to constructive changes, they become increasingly harmful to the individual.
- Before you conclude that calling in sick is going to get you fired, or that forgetting one deadline is going to cause you to become homeless, acknowledge that your thoughts may be exaggeratedly negative.
- You’ll start catching yourself overthinking more often, which might feel like it’s getting worse at first.
- If you repeat this pattern over and over again, it might begin to feel as if it happens automatically.
Use this time to explore potential distractions or dabble in existing ones. You think GoldenAgeSouls about something, consider your options, make a decision, and move forward. Overthinking goes in circles without reaching conclusions.