An online post by a psychologist explaining 9 signs you may be an overthinker has gone viral online.
Dr Lalitaa Suglani, a chartered psychologist from Birmingham in England shared the information on Instagram and got many users thinking that they may be negatively affected by overthinking.
She said:
"We are all human and there will be times where we overthink things which is completely normal. Overthinking can affect how you experience and engage with the world around you, preventing you from making important decisions, keeping you from enjoying the present moment and draining you of the energy you need to handle daily stressors. [It] can cause so much distress and anxiety and prevent you from making decisions and choices that aid your growth. It doesn't have to be that way."
The nine signs shared by the doctor are:
1. You want to 'read' people and feel stressed/anxious when you cannot work out their feelings.
2. You second guess your decisions so will ask several people for advice, direction, or guidance.
3. You want to get to the root cause of why someone did what they did.
4. Blunt replies make you question why someone is upset with you.
5. You vividly remember embarrassing moments and criticise yourself for them for a long time afterwards.
6. You plan out conversations in your head and think about different ways the conversation can go.
7. You fixate on things you can't control, change, or improve.
8. You imagine the worst case scenario or outcome.
9. You second guess decisions you've made and replay your perceived mistakes in your mind.
The psychologist says that many of these thoughts are normal and are only really an issue if you experience them frequently.
Among ways to tackle overthinking is to take a moment of clarity to ask yourself whether or not you are making too much of the situation and assessing whether the potential negative outcomes are really worth worrying about.
Also, people who overthink should not try and second guess how others are thinking, as in many cases other people are not thinking too much about your actions and are instead focused on themselves and their own outcomes.
[Based on reporting by: The Daily Mail]
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