Therapy for the overthinking that never clocks out.

The meeting ended three hours ago. You're still in it. Replaying what you said, how it landed, what that pause meant, what you should have said instead. Meanwhile dinner is happening around you and you're only half there.

Overthinking looks like diligence from the outside. You're thorough. You prepare. You consider every angle. It's just that the considering never stops, and it's costing you sleep, time and a lot of peace.

I use CBT to help you step out of the loop. If the overthinking is mostly worry about the future, generalized anxiety therapy may fit. If it's mostly about how people see you, look at social anxiety therapy. For the "it has to be perfect" flavor, there's perfectionism therapy.

• You replay conversations and wince at the parts you'd edit.
• You script texts and emails, then reread them after sending.
• You over-prepare for small things, just in case someone asks.
• Simple decisions, like where to eat, can take an unreasonable amount of time.
• You lie awake reviewing the day for anything you got wrong.
• You ask people what they meant, or google what a certain phrase usually means.

Overthinking usually has a job. It's trying to protect you from embarrassment, from making the wrong call, from someone being upset with you. The problem is that it keeps working long after it's useful, and each round of replaying makes the next round more likely.

CBT starts by helping you notice the moment thinking turns into looping. There's usually a tell: the same question on repeat, no new information, a rising sense that you have to figure this out right now. Once you can see it, you can choose something else.

From there we practice stepping out. That might mean setting a limit on how long you deliberate over a decision, sending a message after one read, or letting a replay run without adding commentary. We also look at the beliefs underneath, like "if I don't review it, I'll make a mistake," and test them against what actually happens.

None of this is about becoming careless. It's about getting to be thoughtful without being consumed. Sessions are practical, and each one ends with a small assignment to try in real life.

It also helps to know that the urge to replay usually feels most urgent right after something happens: the meeting ends, the party winds down, you hit send. That is exactly the moment we practice doing something else, like getting up, moving on to the next task, or saying "that's done" out loud and meaning it enough. The urge doesn't disappear on command. It just gets quieter each time you don't feed it.

Over time, you'll likely notice you have more room in your head. Room for the people in front of you, the book you've been meaning to read, or plain old rest. That space was always yours. The loop was just renting it.