Overthinking in a Time of Crisis

Ask any therapist about overthinking and they will tell you that it is a very challenging problem. Ruminating, a form of overthinking associated with depression and anxiety, often shows up in ways that frustrate clients. Your thoughts can’t seem to stop. Your brain focuses on negative messages, questions, or worries. Usually, the focus is on things that are out of your control. Sometimes they are internal questions, “What are doing? Why did you say that?”, inner critical thoughts, “You are so terrible! I can’t believe I’m so stupid”, or external worries about the world, “What if the economy falls apart?” “What if my mom gets sick?” “What do I do if I lose my job?” Overthinking and ruminating are most acute when someone is in a state of anxiety or depression. The tendency towards rumination is not just the brain playing tricks on you though, it is a function and structure of the brain’s magnificent problem-solving apparatus gone a little loopy, literally.

The brain has a very complex system of circuits. There are parts of your brain dedicated to almost every aspect of your thoughts, feelings, and skills. The parts of your brain that signal fear and create memory are included in a part of your brain called the limbic system. They limbic system is a complex set of structures. These include: the amygdala, which signals fear, and initiates aggression; the hippocampus which helps create and access memories; the hypothalamus, which helps regulate the autonomic functions (breathing, heart rate); the subcortical areas, which are associated with reward and pleasure; and a number of neural complexes that connect these areas with the frontal cortex of the brain where memory is stored, and higher thinking takes place. 

When someone overthinks or ruminates there is an internal loop created between the areas of the brain associated with fear and worry, like the amygdala, and the parts of the brain needed for logic or problem solving, like the frontal cortex. Depending on the severity of the rumination, it can involve other parts of the limbic system as well. Signals bounce back and forth trying to solve or resolve the feelings of anxiety or depression. A triggering memory can arise from something in the environment, or in the brain. For example, you see a dinosaur in a movie, or you smell a familiar scent from childhood. Or maybe you’re just reflecting on an event from a few years ago. These stimuli send a signal from one part of the brain to the amygdala and then the brain starts to try and problem solve.

This feedback loop doesn’t work in just one direction, it can happen if there is no obvious threat too. If I walk into a room where two people are having an argument, my heart rate will increase, and my hypothalamus will send a signal to my amygdala that there is something to be worried about. My amygdala then sends a signal to my frontal cortex that I should try and figure out the reasons. If I can articulate how I am responsible or how I can control the situation, then I can feel better. If I solve the problem, my subcortical areas will give me some signals of pleasure. I then get a positive association with problem solving in a time of stress. The signals can come from something happening outside of me, like a fight I witness, or they can come from inside of me, like a memory.

Indeed, this is how people get caught up in rumination for the most part. The brain sends a signal from the limbic system that there is something concerning happening, and then the frontal cortex sends information back to assist in solving the problem. If the problem doesn’t get resolved, then the process happens again… and again…and again.  It’s an easy problem to create, but not so easy to solve.

Research into rumination indicates that the way it gets controlled best is by higher order thinking and emotional control, both of these happen in the frontal cortex. When someone doesn’t have a lot of experience with emotional control, that indicates that their brain needs some practice, or hasn’t developed the skills to control the rumination.

One of the most successful ways of strengthening the brain’s emotional control structure is through mindfulness. Practices that help clients bring awareness to a situation AND at the same time ask them to observe without going immediately to a reaction, slow down the connections between the limbic system and the frontal cortex, thereby allowing the circuit to be interrupted, and not creating a feedback loop.

If the person ruminating needs to practice, but isn’t quite there yet, the next best way of dealing with the rumination is by activating a different area of the brain, like the motor cortex, which handles body movement. 

A mindfulness practice, and a back-up physical activity are the best defenses against ruminating. Find a mindfulness practice you like. This could be yoga, journaling, meditation, or gratitude practices. In addition, give yourself a physical thing you like- it doesn’t have to be exhausting or formal. It can be as simple as five-finger breathing, or muscle contraction and relaxation, or maybe it’s just taking a walk around the backyard. Just remember that part of the experience of rumination is a loop that is happening in your brain. Just knowing that fact may help you break the cycle. Be gentle with yourself, and look for small ways to address these big thoughts. Your brain is a complex organ, but it is not bigger or more important than the whole YOU. 

If you feel you need help coping with anxiety during this time, contact one of our Burbank therapists.