Overthinking
Over-thinking———-Rumination
Rumination is best described as recurrent thoughts that never resolve. It is typically associated with anxiety and depression. It can develop as a result of traumatic experiences and/or the false belief that repeatedly thinking about this one thing can help solve the problem. There’s an idea that forcing ourselves to think about a situation will lead to a solution.
Anticipatory anxiety lends itself to rumination quite easily. With anticipatory anxiety, we experience a loss of control or fear of the unknown. Our brain can't solve problems when we don’t know the issue, so we think that by considering all possible options, we will be prepared to handle any of them.
That’s simply not true. While it is difficult to snap out of a cycle of rumination, there are some steps you can take to help the process.
Talk to your brain, tell it to stop. Say things like, “Not knowing what will happen is hard but I can handle anything that comes my way.”
Meditation/mindfulness: bring yourself back to the current moment. Practice your breathing: breathe in for 5 seconds and breathe out for 5 seconds.
Distract yourself. Move your body. Call a friend. Turn on your music.
Write it out. Get a piece of paper, set a timer for 2 minutes, and write all your thoughts down on paper. It doesn’t have to be legible, Scribble if you need to, just get it out of your head and onto the paper. When you’re done, tear it up and throw it away.
Add perspective. Is the thing you’re worrying about really that awful? Is there another way to see the situation?
Finally, serious rumination associated with trauma, anxiety, or depression could benefit from therapy. If your rumination interferes with your ability to accomplish tasks or hinders a relationships, therapy should be considered.