How to stop overthinking when you're about to spiral

How to stop overthinking when you're about to spiral

Anyone who describes themselves as an “overthinker” will tell you that the most seemingly inconsequential topics can weigh them down. They may lie awake at night thinking about a comment they made weeks ago or rehearsing how an upcoming presentation at work will go.

While everyone thinks about their lives and the world around them, overthinkers repeatedly dwell on thoughts or situations (usually related to the past or future) to the point that they interfere with their daily lives in the present, according to Carolyn Rubenstein, Ph.D. , a licensed psychologist based in Boca Raton, Florida.

“Someone who constantly overthinks is different than someone who occasionally worries about a particular situation,” says Rubenstein. “Overthinking is more intense and common.” You may lose the ability to think about anything else or relax, or you may have negative thoughts, mental fatigue, and constant worry or anxiety, she says.

If you tend to think too much, the cliché is “don’t think too much!” is not necessarily the unlock you need. Rather, you may have more success by employing several strategies that overthinkers can use to challenge or distract themselves from their internal dialogue. Find out why you're prone to excessive rumination below, then get tips from mental health professionals on how to stop overthinking.

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Why you think so much

“Overthinking is a negative habit that anyone can fall into, but some people are more prone to overthinking than others,” says Carrie Howard, LCSW, CCATP, anxiety coach and founder of Thrive Anxiety Solutions. If any of the following apply to you, Howard says you're more likely to be an overthinker:

• Du kämpfst mit Angst. Wenn Sie in einem ängstlichen Zustand sind, fangen Sie eher an, zu viel nachzudenken, was Ihre Angst weiter anheizen und einen Teufelskreis erzeugen kann.
• Sie kämpfen mit dem Bedürfnis nach Kontrolle. „Menschen, die ein Gefühl der Kontrolle über Situationen verspüren und sich nicht gerne überrascht fühlen, neigen eher dazu, zu viel nachzudenken, sich mit jedem Szenario zu beschäftigen und alle möglichen Eventualitäten zu überplanen“, sagt Howard.
• Du bist ein Perfektionist. Wenn Sie sich an unrealistische Standards halten, grübeln Sie eher nach und spielen Szenarien durch, in denen Sie glauben, dass Sie zu kurz gekommen sind.
• Du kämpfst mit negativen Gedanken und Überzeugungen. „Wenn Sie in einem ‚Glas halb leeren‘ Geisteszustand leben, verwandeln sich Ihre negativen Gedanken und Überzeugungen oft schnell in Besessenheit, Besorgnis oder Grübeln“, sagt Howard.

Aside from just causing frustration, overthinking can have health effects. “Overthinking can be destructive to [your] mental health, as it is linked to depression and anxiety,” says Rubenstein. “Plus, thinking too much can affect the body’s chemical balance.” When you think too much, your brain can release cortisol (also known as the stress hormone), which can affect your levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter associated with happiness, she says.

“"Constant worrying about hypothetical negative events impairs the brain's ability to distinguish between theoretical stress and real stress that needs to be responded to," says Rubenstein. The imbalance can affect your brain's ability to regulate emotions, feelings, and memory, and overthinking can also mess with your appetite (either making you feel like you should eat more or less), she says.

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How not to overthink everything

If you're on the verge of overthinking, you can use these methods to change course.

Practice mindfulness.

Mindfulness techniques like meditation can help you overcome a bout of overthinking. “Regular meditation is an evidence-based [method] to clear the mind and eliminate negative thoughts by turning attention inward,” says Rubenstein. In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, meditators showed less activity in the DMN (default mode network) region of their brains compared to a control group. The DMN plays a role in processing information related to yourself and includes regions associated with rumination. A type of meditation called concentration meditation, where you concentrate on a single focus, can be used to help meditators distract their brains from the habit of thinking about the past and future and focus more on the present, the study says.

If you're trying to figure out how to stop overthinking, Howard suggests using a mindfulness technique known as 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 grounding, which engages your five senses to pull you out of negative thoughts. To try it out, identify five things in your immediate environment that you can see, she says. Then find four things and focus on how they feel, such as touching a soft pillow or noticing the pressure of your body against the chair you're sitting in, says Howard. Finally, focus on three things you can hear, two things you can smell (like applying hand cream), and one thing you can taste (like taking a sip of a drink), she says.

Distract yourself.

It may seem overly simple, but diverting your attention to something else can distract you from overthinking. “Walk around the neighborhood and focus on the houses, birds, trees, flowers and landscapes,” recommends Rubenstein. "Other suggestions include reading a book, calling a friend, exercising, playing games, making word games, or anything that you enjoy and will distract you from worrying."

Sometimes your thoughts seem urgent, to the point where you feel like you can't do anything else to distract yourself until you've considered all possible scenarios, says Howard. Since this is the case, "one strategy for interrupting your overthinking is to schedule a 'worry time' each day and decide to only do your overthinking during that time," she says. "Trying to never overthink can feel like an impossible task for your brain, but choosing to limit overthinking to a specific and limited time can feel more doable."

To try it, schedule a 15-minute block of time each day where you allow yourself to overthink, says Howard. After the 15 minutes are up, use a distraction to help your mind shift gears, she says. If you find yourself starting to overthink outside the confines of your “worry time,” write down a key word that will jog your memory during your next block of worry time.

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Challenge your negative thoughts.

Negative thoughts can trigger overthinking, so it can be helpful to challenge those thoughts as they enter your brain, says Howard. "Instead of automatically clinging to that negative thought and letting it lead you into a spiral of overthinking, identify the negative thought as it comes and challenge it to see whether or not it's even true," she says. “By intervening early in your thought process and challenging those thoughts and replacing them with something more accurate and helpful, you can stop overthinking before it even starts.”

When a negative thought arises, Howard suggests asking yourself the following:

• “Welche Beweise gibt es dafür und dagegen?”
• “Basiere ich diesen Gedanken auf tatsächliche Tatsachen oder Annahmen?”
• “Gibt es alternative Perspektiven zu berücksichtigen?”
• “Was würde ich einem Freund in dieser Situation sagen?”
• „Hilft oder schadet mir dieser Gedanke?“

Then think of a more specific and helpful thought, says Howard.

Let bygones be bygones.

Accepting the fact that your past is just that - in the past - can allow you to stop overthinking. “Overthinkers tend to focus on the past and think about what could have been done differently,” says Rubenstein. "Don't let your past mistakes dictate or cause you to punish yourself or dictate your future. Instead, you must let go of the past and realize that it cannot be changed, that all you can do is give it meaning." If you're focusing on a past situation that's causing you stress, it can be helpful to practice mindfulness, remind yourself that you're not alone and that others have had similar experiences, and ask yourself what you need (physically or emotionally) in the current moment, as Shape previously reported.

Remember that everyone can fall into overthinking and you may not be able to break the habit for good. (In fact, you can even choose to schedule it into your day.) However, practicing mindfulness, distracting yourself, and challenging your thoughts can be helpful in the moment.