Stress, anxiety: 6 keys from a shrink to stop ruminating

Why didn’t I react that way yesterday afternoon? Will I be able to complete my file before the deadline? Why does the doctor want me to have new tests? Is our daughter happy? So many just thoughts and questions, but that you have to manage to contain so as not to fall into extreme anxiety. By dint of overthinking and thinking too much, we risk dwelling on the past and worrying about the future while forgetting the present.

To put an end to ruminations, like a broken record spinning on repeat, licensed psychotherapist Natacha Duke describes strategies that can helpin an article published by the Cleveland Clinic.

Negative Thoughts: 3 Signs That Show You’re Thinking Too Much

Overthinking can be a hard habit to quit. Thoughts can plunge us into a vicious circle giving the impression that we are going in circles without being able to stop or get out of it. For example, we start worrying about a specific situation at work, which leads us to worry about money, which leads us to worry about losing our job, etc. When thoughts become too present and overwhelming, they can be a symptom of stress, anxiety, or even depression.

Overthinking can also be related to generalized anxiety disorder. Affected people then tend to worry excessively about many things, to encounter difficulty controlling worryto present a anxiety that interferes with the ability to functionto experience difficulty concentrating or even to develop trouble sleeping.

Several types ofdestructive thought patterns” can manifest themselves, such as:

1. The tendency to catastrophize everything “When we get caught up in overthinking, we usually jump straight to the worst-case scenario and also overestimate the likelihood of that scenario actually happening,” says the specialist.
2. The all or nothing thinking : It is the belief that all is white or all is black, “when in reality most things in life fall somewhere in between”.
3. The fact of overgeneralize : If a failure or misfortune happens, the person generalizes this event to all situations, thinking (wrongly) that things will always continue to turn out badly for him. “It’s more related to depression,” says Natacha Duke.

A specialist in social anxiety, Ellen Hendriksen, a renowned American psychologist, has managed to export her method all over the world, a priori unstoppable, against anxiety: the 5-4-3-2-1 method. It is indeed a mindfulness technique that uses your five senses to allow your mind to calm down. “This method is a derivative of mindfulness meditation. The goal is the same: to refocus on your senses and let dysfunctional thoughts pass like you would let a dark cloud pass over your head. This method can be seen as a tool, a way of pragmatically explaining the principles of meditation”, comments Johanna Rozenblum, clinical psychologist. A method that you can implement daily everywhere and at any age and whose ritual is detailed in this article.

In order not to fall into the extreme and try to stop these negative thoughts which only exacerbate the anxieties, the editorial staff lets you discover in pictures 6 other tips from the psychotherapist Natacha Duke.