Overthinking and anxiety are closely related, but the relationship is often misunderstood. Many people believe that overthinking causes their anxiety, that if they could just stop the thoughts, the anxious feeling would go away. In most cases, the relationship runs in the opposite direction. The anxiety comes first, and the overthinking is the mind's attempt to manage it. The anxious feeling creates a sense of threat, and the thinking is an effort to identify and neutralize that threat. When the threat is concrete, the thinking works. When the threat is emotional or existential, the thinking loops indefinitely because it is trying to solve a problem that does not have an intellectual solution.
Dr. David Steinbok helps patients from the Deerfield Beach, Florida area understand this relationship between anxiety and overthinking. His office in Boca Raton provides a psychodynamic framework that addresses the anxiety driving the mental activity rather than focusing exclusively on the thoughts themselves. When the underlying anxiety is explored and understood, the overthinking often subsides because the mind no longer needs to run the protective loop.
