5 Ways to Combat Anxiety and Overthinking

Recently I heard someone say that overthinking is an unhealthy way to cope with anxiety. We often think that overthinking and ‘spiraling’ cognitively is a manifestation of anxiety, but what if it is our intellectual way of distancing ourselves from an uncomfortable emotion? Many of my clients come to me for help with anxiety and when they explain how their anxiety manifests, they describe chronically over-thinking, imagining worst-case scenarios, obsessing and focusing on an issue, person, or conflict. While discussing the conflict has it’s place and can be helpful to gain perspective, the underlying anxiety is not addressed by just targeting the superficial worries. Worrying about the future, a relationship, your career, means that you are likely analyzing hypothetical situations—what could happen, not what will happen.

  1. Check in with What You’re Avoiding: The Discomfort Itself

  2. Find a Distraction for 5 Minutes, Then Check Back IN

  3. Tell Yourself: “Things are uncertain right now, that’s why I’m thinking this way”

  4. Is This a Projection? Ask Yourself: Am I Worried I Will Make This Anxiety a Reality?

  5. Reality Check: What Do I Know is True?

Isolde Sundet