4 Types of Overthinking and How to Stop Them - Worry, Intrusive Thoughts, Rumination, Over-Analyzing

Therapy in a Nutshell

Therapy in a Nutshell -Emma McAdam

Mental Health, Health & Fitness, Education, Health & Fitness:mental Health, Self-improvement

4.8 • 657 Ratings

🗓️ 24 April 2026

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Learn 4 skills to stop overthinking, rumination, worrying and over-analyzing. Overthinking can make you super anxious, but there are practical ways to stop it. Here is a link to my "How to Process Your Emotions" course: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/emotion-processing Learn the skills to regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership Looking for affordable online counseling? My sponsor, BetterHelp, connects you to a licensed professional from the comfort of your own home. Try it now for 10% off your first month: https://betterhelp.com/therapyinanutshell FREE Mental Health Resources: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/free-resources Therapy in a Nutshell and the information provided by Emma McAdam are solely intended for informational and entertainment purposes and are not a substitute for advice, diagnosis, or treatment regarding medical or mental health conditions. Although Emma McAdam is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the views expressed on this site or any related content should not be taken for medical or psychiatric advice. Always consult your physician before making any decisions related to your physical or mental health. In therapy I use a combination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Systems Theory, positive psychology, and a bio-psycho-social approach to treating mental illness and other challenges we all face in life. The ideas from my videos are frequently adapted from multiple sources. Many of them come from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, especially the work of Steven Hayes, Jason Luoma, and Russ Harris. The sections on stress and the mind-body connection derive from the work of Stephen Porges (the Polyvagal theory), Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing) Francine Shapiro (EMDR), and Bessel Van Der Kolk. I also rely heavily on the work of the Arbinger Institute for my overall understanding of our ability to choose our life's direction. And deeper than all of that, the Gospel of Jesus Christ orients my personal worldview and sense of security, peace, hope, and love https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/believe If you are in crisis, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org or 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or your local emergency services. Copyright Therapy in a Nutshell, LLC

Transcript

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0:00.0	Everyone hates how overthinking makes them feel, but most people struggle to stop doing it.
0:04.5	And that's because your brain secretly believes that overthinking is protecting you.
0:09.2	So let's talk about four types of overthinking and four psychological skills to train your brain to quiet down.
0:16.0	Welcome to the Therapy in a nutshell podcast. I'm Emma McAdam, a licensed therapist.
0:20.6	I make mental health
0:21.6	skills more accessible so that you can get better at feeling. Just a reminder, this is
0:26.1	education, not therapy. If you'd like to learn more free mental health skills, check out our
0:31.1	free courses at Therapy in a nutshell.com. Okay, the four types of overthinking are worry,
0:36.9	intrusive thoughts, over planning or over-analyzing,
0:39.5	and rumination.
0:41.2	So let's start with worry.
0:42.9	Worry is the fuel of anxiety disorders.
0:45.7	Worry is where you're constantly thinking about what could go wrong in the future.
0:50.6	And worry turns on chronic stress in the body.
0:53.7	Even though nothing bad is currently happening, worry triggers the perception of danger.
0:57.0	And when your brain thinks about danger, it triggers that same physiological response as a low-level threat,
1:04.0	turning on stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline.
1:07.0	And chronic stress can have damaging effects on your health.
1:10.0	Your sleep, your energy, your mood, your blood sugar, your appetite, all sorts of things.
1:15.6	So even though your body doesn't like how worry impacts you, your brain thinks that it has to keep worrying.
1:22.6	You see, when you worry about something catastrophic happening and then the catastrophic thing doesn't happen, your brain does some brain math and thinks,
1:31.3	few, all that worrying kept my human alive. I've got to do that again so that she doesn't die again.
	...

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