2024-03-11 18:00:00
A psychologist explains how to stop overthinking things?
Kirsty Ross, associate professor of clinical psychology at Massey University and a clinical psychologist, says clients often tell her they have a problem with thoughts “running around in their head” and find it difficult to manage them.
While rumination and overthinking are often considered the same thing, they are slightly different (although related); Rumination is the repetition of thoughts in our minds. This can lead to overthinking, especially after analyzing it without finding solutions. It’s like a record playing the same part of the song over and over again.
Why do we think too much?
It’s a little more complicated. Our brains are programmed to search for threats and develop a plan to confront those threats and maintain our safety.
These perceived threats may be based on past experiences, or they may be “what ifs” that we imagine could happen in the future.
The “what ifs” are usually negative outcomes. This is what we call “hot ideas”; They trigger a lot of emotions (especially sadness, anxiety, or anger), which means we can easily get stuck in those thoughts and move on from them. However, since they are about things that have already happened or may happen in the future (but are not happening now), we cannot solve the problem, so we keep thinking the same thoughts.
Who overthinks?
Most people find themselves in situations from time to time when they overthink; Some people are more prone to rumination. People who have faced previous challenges or been exposed to trauma may come to anticipate and seek out threats more than people who have not faced adversity.
Deep thinkers
People prone to anxiety or low mood are those who are sensitive or feel emotions deeply; They are also more prone to rumination and overthinking.
Also, when we’re stressed, our emotions tend to be stronger and last longer, and our thoughts can be less accurate, which means we can get stuck in thoughts more than usual.
Being tired or physically ill may mean that our thoughts are more difficult to process and manage. This is according to a new report reported by the “Science Alert” website about the prestigious scientific “The Conversation”.
Acknowledge your feelings when thoughts reoccur
It is helpful to use both emotion-focused and problem-focused strategies.
Focusing on emotion means knowing how we feel about something and processing those feelings; For example, we may feel remorse, anger, or sadness about something that happened, or anxiety about something that might happen. It will be helpful to acknowledge these feelings, use self-care techniques, and access social support to talk about and manage your feelings. The second part is to focus on the problem by looking at what you would do differently (if your thoughts were about something from your past) and making a plan to deal with future possibilities that your thoughts raise. But it is difficult to plan for every eventuality, so the usefulness of this strategy is limited.
What’s even more helpful is to make a plan for one or two of the most likely possibilities and accept that things may happen that you haven’t thought of.
Think about why thoughts arise
Our feelings and experiences are information; It is important to ask what this information is telling you and why these thoughts are appearing now; For example, university has just started again. Parents of high school graduates may be lying awake at night (a time when rumination and overthinking are common) worrying about their young children. It may be helpful to know how you might respond to some of the more likely eventualities (such as they need money, or they may feel lonely or homesick). But overthinking is also a sign of a new phase in life, the need to accept less control over your child’s choices and life, while wanting what’s best for them. Realizing this means you can also talk about these feelings with others.
Let the thoughts go
One helpful way to manage rumination or overthinking is to “change, accept, and let go”; By challenging and changing aspects of your thoughts wherever you can. For example, your little one is unlikely to run out of money, find food, and starve (overthinking tends to lead to disastrous results for your mind!). You can plan to check in with your child regularly about how they are doing financially and encourage them to access budget support from university services.
Your thoughts are just thoughts
Your thoughts are not necessarily true or accurate, but when we think about them and repeat them, they can begin to feel right because they become familiar.
Coming up with a more realistic idea can help stop the cycle of unhelpful thoughts. Accepting your feelings and finding ways to cope with them (good self-care, social support, and communication with those close to you) will also be helpful. And also. As does accepting that life inevitably involves a lack of complete control over the outcomes and probabilities that life may throw at us.
What we control are our reactions and behaviors. Remember, you have a 100 percent success rate by passing the challenges up to this point.
Maybe you wanted to do things differently (and you can plan to do so), but still, you managed to overcome it and succeeded. So, the last part is letting go of the need to know exactly how things will turn out, and having faith in your ability (and sometimes the ability of others) to cope.
What else can you do?
A stressed and tired brain will be more susceptible to overthinking, leading to more stress and creating a cycle that can affect your health. So it’s important to manage your stress levels by eating and sleeping well, moving your body, doing things you enjoy, seeing people you care about, and doing things that nourish your soul. Distraction with fun activities and people that bring you joy can also keep your thoughts off-repetition; If you find that overthinking affects your life, and that your anxiety levels rise or your mood decreases (symptoms of which your sleep, appetite, and enjoyment of life and people are negatively affected); It may be time to talk to someone and get some relief.
When things become too difficult to manage on your own (or with the help of those close to you), a therapist can provide tools that have been shown to be helpful.
You can also find some useful tools for managing anxiety and your thoughts. When you find yourself overthinking, think about why you are having “hot thoughts,” acknowledge your feelings and do some future-focused problem solving. But also accept that life can be unpredictable and focus on believing in your ability to cope.
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