How to stop overthinking? Therapist answers

From challenging the thoughts to knowing the triggers, here are a few ways to stop overthinking.

Overthinking can drain us mentally and emotionally. Sometimes we do not have control of our thoughts, and we end up thinking the extreme negative – this further creates more negative impact on our nervous system, causing signs of anxiety and restlessness. But how do we control overthinking? Addressing this age-old question, Therapist Jessica Da Silva wrote, "Have patience and compassion with yourself during this process. Deeply engrained habits take time and consistent efforts to shift." Explaining overthinking and how it stems out, Jessica added that it comes from the fear of abandonment. Most of the time, it is a defense mechanism of the mind to stay away from pain. In this process, we end up thinking of the extreme.

How to stop overthinking? Therapist answers(Pixabay)

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However, slowly we can control overthinking. Here are a few tips from the therapist:

Pay attention to the triggers: When we know the situations that cause overthinking in us, we can control the way our mind works. We need to be ready from the start about such triggering situations and can take ourselves away from them.

A few deep breaths: Overthinking comes from past traumatic experiences. When we take a few deep breaths and calm the nervous system, it feels safe, and this can stop overthinking.

Challenge your thoughts: Sometimes the only way to stop ourselves from overthinking is to go head-first into the thoughts we are having. We should control the mind and ask ourselves if the thoughts are based on reality and are logical. If not, then there is no reason to start panicking about such things. This way, we can train the mind to stay rooted in reality and not wander off to past traumatic experiences and keep thinking of the worst-case scenarios. We also need to have supportive dialogues with ourselves in the mind and reframe our thoughts to be more realistic. That way, we can control overthinking.

Problem solving: Instead of focusing on the problem, we should focus on how we can solve it. Sometimes the best way to do so is to let go of fear and trust that things are good, and we are safe.