Overthinking (also referred to as rumination) is when a person dwells or worries about the same thought repeatedly. Overthinking usually falls into two categories: a person can ruminate about the past or worry about the future. Overthinking is a part of human experience, but when left unchecked, it can take a toll on your well-being.

Here is what you can do to stop overthinking:

• Keep track of triggers and patterns. Start a journal and write down specific moments that cause you to overthink or worry. Doing this can help you identify patterns and recognize triggers. Then you’ll be able to develop a coping strategy for situations that can possibly lead to overthinking.
• View your negative thoughts objectively and question them. Look at the evidence of the situations to see if your thoughts are logical, reasonable, or helpful. And even if they are true, will they matter in a month, a year, or ten years?
• Try mindfulness techniques. You can limit overthinking if you learn to live in the present moment. When you’re living in the here and now, you are stuck in thoughts about yesterday and tomorrow.

High-functioning anxiety is a term that refers to people who experience anxiety but still can effectively manage the demands of day-to-day life. High-functioning anxiety is not recognized as a mental health diagnosis by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), which provides diagnostic criteria for mental disorders. Therefore, there is a distinct lack of research in the area.

People with high-functioning anxiety often appear very successful in work and life, but they’re still struggling with anxious feelings and thoughts. Some of them may be able to hide their anxiety symptoms from others and appear calm and confident. The anxiety may even drive them on to achieve more rather than hold them back.

Living with anxiety is never easy, but there are ways to fight your anxiety that you can incorporate into your daily life. When your anxiety feels overwhelming, you may use these techniques to give you quick, short-term relief.

• Control your breathing. Stand up, pull your shoulders back, put your feet evenly and widely apart, and open your chest. Then breathe deeply and slowly.
• Remind yourself that you’re safe. Ask yourself, “Is there a real danger, or am I actually safe and worrying about something that’s no threat to me right now?” Thinking this way can ground you in the moment so you feel less anxious.
• Try the 5-4-3-2-1 coping technique. Look around and name 5 things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste. You can pair this technique with deep, slow breathing.

Everyone’s experience of anxiety is different, so it’s hard to tell exactly what causes anxiety problems. It’s likely that a combination of factors, including genetics and underlying health issues, play a role. It’s also clear that some events, emotions, or experiences (called triggers) may cause symptoms of anxiety or may make them worse.

The stimuli that cause someone’s anxiety symptoms to surface can be different for each person, but many triggers are common among people with these conditions. Identifying what triggers your anxiety will help you manage your symptoms. Some common anxiety triggers include being in social situations, taking certain medications, not getting enough sleep, experiencing financial troubles, a build-up of stress, major life transitions, being in conflict, etc.

We all experience anxiety symptoms from time to time, but anxiety itself is not a mental illness. Anxiety is a normal emotion that is a reaction to uncertainty. It’s our brain’s way of reacting to stress and alerting us of potential danger ahead.

Occasional anxiety is OK. For example, you may worry when faced with a problem at work, before meeting someone new, before making an important decision, or starting a new job. Anxiety can be a helpful emotion at times because it can tell you that you need to be cautious or leave a threatening situation.

But excessive anxiety becomes a problem – a source of suffering and distraction that makes it hard to fully enjoy life. It is often a symptom of an anxiety disorder. It’s a mental illness that causes constant and overwhelming anxiety and fear. You may perceive threats that don’t exist or experience an exaggerated reaction to a threat. If your anxiety is long-lasting and interferes with your daily life, you may need treatment to overcome it.

The 3-3-3 rule is a mindfulness technique that can be used to cope with anxiety. It focuses on tuning into your senses to bring you back into the present moment. The purpose of the 3-3-3 rule for anxiety is to help you ground yourself and calm down when you are feeling particularly anxious or overwhelmed.

This technique can temporarily relieve anxious thoughts and feelings. You need to look around your current environment and name 3 things you see, identify 3 sounds you hear, and move or touch 3 things, such as parts of your body or external objects. Such activity will distract you from your worries and refocus you on the here and now.

Therapy is the most effective treatment for many anxiety disorders. Medication can help people manage the physical symptoms of anxiety and increase their quality of life, but it’s seen as a short-term measure and not a solution.

Research studies have shown that psychological therapies, such as for example, CBT and exposure therapy, are much more effective than medications in managing anxiety disorders in the long term. The reason is that, unlike medication, therapy gives people the tools to manage the anxiety themselves, now and in the future.

Psychotherapy can help you identify the root causes of your worries, identify and correct unhelpful negative thoughts and beliefs, learn how to live in the present moment, and develop better ways to deal with stress. Therapy helps you learn healthy coping skills to manage your anxiety symptoms and teaches you how to use helpful strategies in your everyday life.

Treatment of anxiety disorders focuses on psychological therapy, medication, and lifestyle changes. Treatment is different for each person – it depends on the specific type of anxiety disorder they have and the presence of underlying conditions.

Psychotherapy involves working with a therapist to reduce your anxiety symptoms. Psychological therapies, including CBT, can help you adjust the way you react to stressful life events and triggers. Therapy can also help challenge unhelpful fears and beliefs, limit distorted thinking, and replace negative thoughts with more realistic thoughts.

Medication can support treatment, but it is seen as a short-term measure, rather than the solution to anxiety disorders. Several types of medications are used to treat generalized anxiety disorder, including antidepressants, beta-blockers, and benzodiazepines.

Self-management can help in addressing anxious feelings, and it often involves relaxation techniques, mindfulness, breathing techniques, an active lifestyle, and effective time management.

Research has shown that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the most effective form of psychotherapy for anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, panic disorders, and phobias among other conditions. Generally, it’s a short-term treatment that focuses on teaching people specific skills to improve their symptoms and gradually return to the activities they’ve avoided because of anxiety.

CBT addresses negative thought patterns and distortions in the way we look at the world and ourselves. The premise of CBT is that our thoughts affect how we feel and subsequently behave. So, the goal of CBT is to help people identify and understand their negative thinking and ineffective behavior patterns and teach them how to replace unhelpful thoughts with more realistic thoughts and effective actions and coping mechanisms.

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