Why do Addicts overthink everything?

Someone mentioned this in a thread last night about addicted brains overthinking everything. What does that mean and why does it happen? Is it from anxiety? Something else? Just trying to figure out life without substance?

Earlier yesterday morning I got myself into a fluster about how to best distribute candy in the plastic Easter eggs I was stuffing. I watched myself get caught up in the cycle of thinking while also reassuring myself that they’re just plastic eggs! The night before I couldn’t make a decision about how to what to do with dying eggs and kids and feeding them. What is going on with my brain? Has this overthinking always been there, just masked?

What’s your experience with overthinking things?

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Life is hard enough without me interfering with my thinking.

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Lol my thinking landed me in prison n then rehab.
I think my thinking sucks. But then again that would be me thinking again…

Wait? I totally don’t understand what you mean.

I try not to think about anything lol

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See now my thinking has me confused :man_facepalming:t3:. Most people are good and know what to do instinctively, it’s thinking in the moment for me at least that allows me to second guess myself, then overwhelming myself generally pushing me to want to escape.

Do they have an app for that? I desperately need it!
That’s a funny response @Englishd

I totally relate to the overthinking thing. Don’t know if it’s directly related to addiction though or vice versa.

Like Maybard James-Keenan from Tool says:
“Over thinking, over analyzing,
separates the body from the mind
Withering my intuition, missing opportunities and I must feed my will to feel my moment
Drawing way outside the lines”

Tool - Lateralus

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I’ll jump under this bus.

If overthinking is spending way too much time playing out every scenario without actually acting on anything but believing I had it allllll figured out, that was drunk me. Hell, it’s sober me a lot of times, too.

Definitely a complicating factor. I dunno which came first for me, but it’s a trap I face everyday. Sober I’m much quicker to recognize it and get out of my own way at least.

Working a program is doing wonders. It’s still something I need to work on, for both my sobriety and sanity. To the point I’m waiting on my first appointment in years back with my therapist just to cover all the bases.

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I think about every possible scenerio that could play out for every situation. Sometimes so intensely that i lose focus on what im actually doing. I think its pretty common. Maybe we should get into a philosophy job.

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I is to not think but that was because I was so smashed that I’m surprised I could find my ass without both hands and a map. Now I try not to think about anything cuz when I do I definitely overthink it and it always leads me down a bad path

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This showed up on my IG thread recently and it seems fitting for this thread:

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I don’t over think much, just my hobby work and even that isn’t over thinking but thinking of different approaches. I like to adhere to the less thinking and more doing program of life.

I got to over thinking the other day and it got a wee bit emotional, so I did my go to, walked a couple miles with tunes in, and reached out for a lil help. Made me feel much better.

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Thanks for everyone’s responses. I’ve been chewing on this all week (ha ha) and I think a lot of my overthinking has to do with fear of judgment or how other people are going to respond.

I do a lot of mental gymnastics to do things right so I’m not criticized. And sometimes when I don’t overthink things I say things that are abrasive and people don’t like. And that feels really crummy.

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Something I tell myself several times a day
" Stay out of your head" “stay out of your life”
When I get in my head and start interfering in my life, that’s when things go wrong. That’s when I start making bad decisions and it gets complicated. :heart: Hang in and hang on.

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