What is overthinking?
Overthinking is getting caught in repetitive thoughts that go round without reaching a conclusion. Psychologists usually describe two kinds. Rumination looks backward and inward: why did I say that, why do I feel this way, what is wrong with me. Worry looks forward: what if this goes wrong, what if that happens. Many people do both.
Neither is a diagnosis. Everyone mulls things over, and some reflection is healthy. Overthinking becomes a problem when it takes up hours, when it leaves you feeling worse rather than clearer, and when it stops you from acting or sleeping.
Why rumination keeps you low
The psychologist Susan Nolen-Hoeksema spent much of her career studying rumination. In a 2008 review in Perspectives on Psychological Science, she and her colleagues summarized the evidence that rumination worsens depression, makes negative thinking more negative, impairs problem solving, interferes with taking action and wears away social support. They also found that rumination is linked to more than depression, including anxiety, binge eating, binge drinking and self-harm.
Part of the trap is that rumination feels like insight. If you just think about it a little longer, the reasoning goes, you will understand why you feel this way and be able to fix it. In practice, dwelling on how bad you feel tends to pull up more negative memories and make problems look bigger. The same review notes research on the difference between rumination and more helpful kinds of self-reflection.
When rumination sits alongside low mood, it often feeds the inactivity described in depression and motivation: thinking replaces doing, and the problems thought about go unaddressed.
Why worry feels useful but rarely is
Worry promises preparation. If you imagine every way something could go wrong, maybe you will be ready. Sometimes a little worry does prompt useful action, like booking the appointment or checking the brakes. The problem comes when the worry continues long after anything useful has been done.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) describes generalized anxiety disorder as worry that is excessive, hard to control and often out of proportion, about everyday things such as health, money, work and family. Mental rehearsal of every possible outcome feels responsible, but it is mostly repetition. The practice's article when anxiety becomes the default explains why the relief it brings can keep anxiety going, and signs of anxiety covers how worry shows up in body and behavior.
What helps you step out of the loop?
There is no switch that turns overthinking off, and trying hard not to think about something tends to backfire. The approaches below are ways to change your relationship with the loop rather than win an argument with it.
- Name it. Saying to yourself this is rumination or I am worrying again creates a small gap between you and the thought.
- Ask whether the thinking is moving. If you have had the same thought several times with no new information, it is probably a loop, not a plan.
- Turn it into one concrete next step. Overthinking tends to be abstract, such as why is my life like this; a specific action, such as sending one email, gives the mind somewhere else to go.
- Use absorbing distraction deliberately. Nolen-Hoeksema's review notes that dozens of experimental studies show positive distractions can relieve depressed mood in the moment; choose something that needs your attention, such as a walk, a call or a hands-on task.
- Move your body. NIMH's self-care advice includes regular exercise, and physical activity can interrupt a spiral.
Scheduling a worry period
One structured technique is to give worry a fixed time and place. In a small 2013 trial, Sarah Kate McGowan and Evelyn Behar asked 53 people with high levels of worry to postpone their worries to a daily 30-minute worry period in the same place. After two weeks, that group had larger reductions in worry, anxiety and insomnia than a comparison group, though not in depression. The authors called the evidence preliminary, and suggested the technique as one part of a wider treatment.
Therapies that target rumination
Some therapies focus on repetitive thinking directly. In a 2011 trial in the British Journal of Psychiatry, Edward Watkins and colleagues found that adding rumination-focused cognitive behavioral therapy to usual care improved lingering depression in 42 people whose depression had not responded to medication. The trial was small and had no attention-control group, so the authors were careful about what it shows. Mindfulness-based approaches also teach people to notice thoughts without following them.
When overthinking is a sign of something more
Overthinking is common on its own, but it is also part of both depression and anxiety, which often travel together. If repetitive thinking comes with low mood, loss of interest, poor sleep or constant tension, look at when depression and anxiety come together and consider talking to your doctor or a therapist. If the thoughts turn to harming yourself, call or text 988 at any hour, and in an emergency call 911.
Laura Bass works with adults in Charlotte, North Carolina, and depression and anxiety are among the concerns she works with in individual counseling. Counseling offers a place to say the thoughts out loud, which often makes their repetition easier to see. Laura does not prescribe medication; that is a conversation for a physician. Contact Laura to ask how she works with worry and rumination.
Common questions
Is overthinking a mental illness?
No. Overthinking is not a diagnosis, and most people do it sometimes. It is, however, a feature of several conditions: research links rumination to depression and anxiety, and excessive, hard-to-control worry is central to generalized anxiety disorder as NIMH describes it. If it is taking up hours of your day or disrupting sleep, it is worth talking to a professional.
What is the difference between rumination and worry?
Both are repetitive negative thinking. Rumination tends to focus on the past and on your own distress, asking why things happened or why you feel bad. Worry tends to focus on the future and what might go wrong. They often occur together, and Nolen-Hoeksema's review discusses how closely related they are. Both tend to feel productive while rarely producing solutions.
Why do I overthink more at night?
At night there are fewer distractions, you are tired, and there is nothing practical you can do about most worries, so thoughts circle. Poor sleep also lowers mood and makes worry worse the next day. Some people find a worry period earlier in the evening helps; McGowan and Behar's small trial of that technique found reductions in insomnia as well as worry.
Can therapy help with overthinking?
Often, yes. Cognitive behavioral approaches teach people to notice thought patterns and change how they respond to them, and NIMH describes CBT as a well-studied treatment for both depression and anxiety. Some therapies target rumination directly. A therapist can also help you work out what the overthinking is about, which can matter as much as stopping it.