What happens in your brain when you can’t stop dwelling on a thought? Why do your thoughts sometimes spiral into anxiety-producing scenarios? Does overthinking cause anxiety?
Overthinking and anxiety often go hand in hand, creating a cycle that can feel impossible to break. Experts such as Nick Trenton and Judson Brewer explain the connection between excessive thinking and emotional distress.
Continue reading to understand how overthinking can cause anxiety.
Overthinking and Anxiety
Does overthinking cause anxiety? Experts believe that anxiety comes from focusing more on what might have happened or could happen, rather than what is happening. According to Dale Carnegie (How to Stop Worrying and Start Living), anxiety is a result of focusing outside of the present—overthinking the past and worrying about the future.
Emotional well-being specialist Nick Trenton (Stop Overthinking) clarifies that overthinking happens when you think about something so much that it harms your health. You might think your thoughts are helpful—that you’re working to solve an issue. However, when you think about the same thing repeatedly, your thoughts eventually cease to add value or provide any solutions to the problem—they only create anxiety and stress.
For example, you responded to a job interview question in a way you didn’t intend to and then spent hours overthinking that moment. Your thoughts didn’t change how you responded to the question. What’s more, your response to the interview question may not have even been problematic: It was just your swirling thoughts about the response that created a problem and gave you anxiety.
Your Survival Instinct Compels You to Overthink
In his book Unwinding Anxiety, psychiatrist and neuroscientist Judson Brewer adds further insight into why you might be inclined to overthink: Your brain’s designed to protect you from potential physical and psychological threats. It does this by making predictions about situations based on information and stimuli you’ve already encountered. It uses these predictions to either confirm or alleviate your fears about potential threats so it can guide you toward safety. For example, you’re hiking in the woods, spot a bear, and fear getting attacked. Because your brain has encountered the information that bears are dangerous, it confirms your fear about this threat and influences you to leave the area before the bear notices you.
Unfortunately, your brain attempts to protect you whether or not it has the information it needs. When you suspect a physical or psychological threat but lack adequate or accurate information about whether your fears are valid, you end up with anxiety. In other words, overthinking and anxiety occur when your brain tries to assess a threat, but, in the absence of information, it starts making things up—causing you to mull over all the possibilities, what-ifs, and worst-case scenarios you can imagine.
For example, you’ve had a work review and fear getting a bad evaluation. Your brain, lacking sufficient facts about the outcome, conjures up every possible criticism you might receive. As a result, you overthink, imagining scenarios that only exacerbate your fear.
