How to Stop Overthinking

Part of our Anxiety articles. For evaluation and medication management, see anxiety care at Ridge Way.

Replaying a conversation, rehearsing the worst case, or turning a small decision over for hours is exhausting. If you want to know how to stop overthinking, start with steps that interrupt the loop. Then learn the signs that it may be anxiety that deserves an evaluation.

Why Do I Overthink Everything?

Overthinking usually starts with a useful goal, to avoid a mistake or prepare for something hard. The trouble starts when thinking stops producing anything new. The same questions come back, the same worst cases play out, and you feel more tense rather than more ready.

Worry loops may become more noticeable when distractions fall away, including at night. Overthinking is common and not a diagnosis on its own. Repetitive, difficult-to-control worry can occur with anxiety disorders.

Five Ways to Interrupt Overthinking

These ideas may help interrupt a worry loop, but they are not treatments for an anxiety disorder.

NIMH notes that stress-management practices such as exercise, mindfulness and meditation can help with anxiety, but that a healthy lifestyle alone cannot replace treatment.

How to Stop Overthinking at Night

Some people find it helps to write down tomorrow’s worries earlier in the evening, so they are on paper rather than on their mind at bedtime. If you cannot fall asleep, avoid remaining in bed while becoming increasingly frustrated. Get up, keep the light low and do something quiet until you feel sleepy, then return to bed. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) describes this approach, going to bed only when sleepy and getting out of bed when you cannot sleep, as part of insomnia treatment.

If trouble sleeping goes on for weeks, raise it at an evaluation. NHLBI describes treatments for long-term insomnia, and sleep problems and anxiety often need to be looked at together. Our article on sleep and mental health explains more.

When Overthinking Is Anxiety

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) explains that generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is diagnosed when a person finds it hard to control worry on most days for at least six months. Other signs include feeling restless or unable to relax, having a hard time concentrating, and trouble falling or staying asleep or feeling tired.

Our free anxiety screening uses the GAD-7, a short questionnaire clinicians use, and takes a few minutes. It cannot diagnose you, but it can tell you whether an evaluation is worth it.

How Treatment Helps

NIMH says GAD is usually treated with psychotherapy, medication, or both. Medications include SSRI and SNRI antidepressants and buspirone, chosen with a prescriber who can weigh the options with you.

Ridge Way provides psychiatric evaluation and medication management for anxiety across Georgia, by telehealth and at our Sugar Hill office. We do not provide therapy. If therapy is part of your plan, we can refer you to an outside provider. Read about our approach to anxiety, or request an appointment and we will usually call you back within one business day.