Why Your Brain Won’t Let It Go: How to Stop Intrusive Thoughts and Overthinking
Janelle Schlueter, MS, LPC, NCC, CCTP
It’s frustrating to have a thought that you can’t seem to put away — and for many people, intrusive thoughts and overthinking make that struggle even harder. It starts to feel like you need to focus on it, find an answer, and figure it out right now, and that urgency can take over quickly. The problem is, that urgency is often unwarranted, and it’s what keeps you stuck in it.
Why Your Brain Keeps Bringing the Thought Back
It’s common to feel like if a thought keeps coming back, it must be important. That’s not always the case. Your brain is wired for survival, which means it’s constantly scanning for potential problems, not just actual danger. Sometimes it confuses the anxiety you feel about something with something that needs immediate attention. This is especially common with intrusive thoughts and overthinking. Your brain is powerful and it’s trying to help, it’s just getting it wrong in this moment. You can acknowledge that it’s trying to protect you without automatically treating the thought like something you need to engage with.
The Trap That Keeps You Stuck
Every time you engage with the thought, you make it stronger. With anxiety, trauma, and OCD, that’s the last thing you want to do.
What Engagement Looks Like
Researching, replaying, checking, or what feels like problem solving but is actually a loop, is a really common response. It makes sense that your brain goes there, but it keeps you stuck on the thought for hours. It increases panic, your body becomes elevated and shifts into fight or flight, and from that state you’re not able to think through things in a clear or effective way.
Why It Feels So Urgent
It may feel like the thought is urgent and important, but that urgency is often anxiety putting a scary spin on it. Take a breath and ask yourself, is this actually a problem that needs immediate action, or does it feel like pressure coming from a “what if”? Anxiety pulls you into possibilities instead of what’s actually happening. If the problem is right in front of you, like spilling milk on the floor, the solution is clear. Anxiety is what adds the extra layer of “what if you didn’t get it all” or “what if something worse happens.” In those moments, the goal isn’t to solve the thought, it’s to recognize it’s not helpful and intentionally set it aside.
Learning to Respond Differently
Thoughts will come and go. The shift is learning to notice whether intrusive thoughts and overthinking are actually signaling something real, or if your anxiety is just getting louder. Anxiety often sounds convincing, but that doesn’t mean it’s accurate. When you hear “what if” or “it could,” it’s a good sign the urgency is coming from fear, not something that needs immediate action.
Begin Therapy in Katy, TX!
If you are ready to work on challenging intrusive thoughts, and overthinking, one of the therapists at The Counseling Center at Cinco Ranch can help! We provide anxiety counseling, as well as other mental health services. To begin counseling in Katy, TX follow these three steps:
- Contact our office to set up an appointment or to learn more information
- Meet with one of our knowledgeable therapists
- Find ways to thrive through therapy today!
Other Therapy Services We Offer:
Here at The Counseling Center at Cinco Ranch, we offer counseling services for people of all ages in areas including counseling for kids, counseling for young adults, teen counseling, couples counseling, eating disorder treatment, men’s issues, women’s issues, anxiety treatment, depression therapy, trauma counseling, family therapy, and group counseling. Our therapists strive to post blogs regularly. We provide helpful information on a variety of mental health topics. To learn more about our therapists and our counseling services, please reach out to the Counseling Center today!
