5 Ways to Stop Chronic Overthinking

Emily Oliver
4 min readJun 26, 2022

When I first heard the term “chronic overthinking” I initially laughed; yet the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was a funny way to talk about a serious issue. Mental health professionals have studied the effects of rumination and depression — the two seem to go hand-in-hand. Both of these mental states seem to feed into each other. Unfortunately, phrasing it this way — i.e. “chronic overthinking” — can make it seem like it is a sickness that cannot be cured easily. The good news is that these thought patterns can be challenged. You can harness your mind to work for you, rather than against you.

To correct some of the maladaptive thought patterns that accompany overthinking, I like to refer to the research of Susan Nolen-Hoeksema — a former Yale Psychology Professor — and Dr. Aymee Coget, my mentor and author/founder of Happiness for Humankind. Let’s explore some of the strategies that I’ve found to be most effective when treating overthinking and rumination:

  1. Distract Yourself:

Engage in an activity that puts your brain to work. Mentally stimulating activities that you enjoy seem to work best for my clients. You could sing a song, check-in on a friend, or complete a Sudoku! The key here is to find an activity that you find captivating.

  1. Schedule Rumination Time:

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Emily Oliver

Emily Oliver​ ​founder of Goals Garden, is a certified goals and happiness ​coach, ​sustainable happiness ​teacher, and reiki master. ​Visit goalsgarden.com.