The Dangers of Overthinking

There is a quote that says, \”Sometimes the worst place you can be is in your own head.\” No-one can relate to this statement more than a person who has a habit of Overthinking. We are living in an age of over stimulation, being bombarded everyday by a lot of content through media, social media, news, etc. Our minds are working overtime to keep up with this assault and we are drowning in mental activity. A lot of people, including us, fall prey to this pattern of the mind in which we ruminate, over analyze, and indulge in excessive thinking about some areas of our lives. It is hard to identify it when we are doing it, but we are able to see its effects some times. In this article we will outline some of the dangers of Overthinking and how it can impact of state of mind, in the short term and long term.

1. You start to feel Stressed

One of the most immediate outcomes of Overthinking is that you start to feel the stress associated to it. Stress is a response of the body to real or perceived threat. It is our body getting ready for dealing with the stress by going into fight or flight mode. But it can\’t differentiate between real or perceived threat. When we start to over think, we usually dwell of negative thoughts and feelings which induce this stress response. Repeated stress is harmful to the body and mind and has deteriorating effects on all our organ systems in the long run. It aggravates physical issues as well as psychological issues and is deemed the ultimate \’killer.\’

2. You have increased Anxiety

Over thinking has a direct connection to anxiety. As we go into a spiral of thoughts, we induce negative emotions and anxiety anxiety is a combination of worrying, repetitive thoughts and physiological effects such as sweating, increased heart rate, blood pressure, tremors, nausea and irregular breath. Anxiety can be a helpful emotion in some situations where it prepares us for threat. But most of the time, we have a problematic relationship with anxiety, in that we can\’t get rid of it, we compulsively become anxious and it leads to unpleasant emotions and behavior. Anxiety leads to many serious mental health issues such as Obsessive Compulsive disorder, fear or phobias, Depression, and unhealthy coping mechanisms for anxiety such as self medicating oneself through *drug or alcohol addiction.*

3. Emotional Unmanageability creeps in

Over thinking is excessive identification with dysfunctional thoughts that lead to negative emotions. These emotions become harder to manage and process when we can\’t distance ourselves from this bunch of negative thoughts and feelings. We have primary emotions which are a base emotion or an immediate emotional response to a stimulus. Secondary emotions are a response to primary emotions. For instance, a harsh remark by a loved one can make us feel hurt which is a primary emotion. The secondary emotion to feeling hurt could be anger or frustration. Now when we Overthinking, we get stuck in a cycle of a negative thought inducing a primary emotions which leads to multiple secondary emotions. We can get stuck in loops of thinking that gives rise to more emotions. Overtime, emotional unmanageability can lead to increased emotional suppression, long term unconscious and conscious mental patterns and dysfunctional behavior.

4. You are missing the Present Moment

Research has shown that only self reported, people are not present where they are 46% of the time. This amounts to half a year, half of our lives, that we are not present where we are, with what we are doing. We are paying more attention to the stuff in our minds, our mental activity which is a representation or a symbolic interpretation of life, then we are to the present moment or to life itself. Thinking has become habitual, compulsive and is like an addiction. Which why most of us find it so hard to meditate. This has profound long term effects on our psyche, leading to depression, poor attention, hyperactivity, *substance abuse*, anxiety and in general a poor quality of life. This is reason that Mindfulness and meditation research and practice has taken the forefront as it is training our mind to be still and present.

Many clinics, Mental health centers, and *Rehabilition centers in India* are working towards targeting Overthinking or Automatic negative thinking through their anxiety and depression support groups and psychological interventions. At *Zorbacare Rehabilitation Center located in Pune,* we cater to clients from different cities such as *Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Kolkatta, Bangalore, Chennai and from the U. S.* And other countries. Across clients from different backgrounds, cities, and cultural differences, we have seen that there are certain thoughts patterns that remain common to all and one of the most common ones is excessive negative thinking. Our team of experts works with them, not to suppress or get rid of such thoughts, but to change their relationship with these thoughts. Mindfulness training, Cognitive behavioral therapy, Rational emotive behavior therapy and Dialectical behavioral therapy are all used into an eclectic approach to help individuals create a healthy balance between their reality and their thoughts and feelings about their reality. We focus on creating awareness for mental health issues and patterns that are prevalent and how we can achieve a better mental health and quality of life.