How to Stop Overthinking: CBT Tools to Break the Anxiety Spiral
- Sarine Salama, LMHC
- 1 minute ago
- 3 min read
Overthinking can feel exhausting. If you’ve ever searched for how to stop overthinking, you’re not alone. Many people experience racing thoughts, constant worry, and mental spirals that feel impossible to shut off.
Overthinking isn’t a personal weakness or a lack of self-control. It’s often a symptom of anxiety. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) offers practical, evidence-based tools to help reduce overthinking and break the anxiety spiral.
Why Anxiety Leads to Overthinking
Anxiety is designed to protect you. When your brain perceives a threat—real or imagined—it activates your nervous system and shifts into survival mode. In this state, your mind constantly scans for danger.
Overthinking develops as an attempt to:
Prevent mistakes
Avoid rejection or conflict
Gain a sense of control during uncertainty
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety disorders involve excessive fear or worry that is difficult to control and interferes with daily functioning. Overthinking is one of the most common cognitive symptoms of anxiety.
What Are Thought Distortions?
In CBT, overthinking is often driven by cognitive distortions—automatic thinking patterns that increase anxiety and emotional distress.
According to the American Psychological Association, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps individuals identify and change unhelpful thought patterns that contribute to anxiety, stress, and emotional dysregulation.
These thoughts feel true in the moment, but they are often influenced by fear rather than facts.
Common Cognitive Distortions That Fuel Overthinking
Catastrophizing
Assuming the worst possible outcome will happen.
“If this goes wrong, everything will fall apart.”
Mind Reading
Believing you know what others think about you without evidence.
“They must think I’m failing.”
All-or-Nothing Thinking
Seeing situations as total success or total failure.
“If it’s not perfect, it’s a failure.”
Emotional Reasoning
Believing your feelings are facts.
“I feel anxious, so something bad must be happening.”
“Should” Statements
Holding yourself to rigid, unrealistic standards.
“I should be able to handle this on my own.”
These patterns increase anxiety and keep the mind stuck in cycles of rumination and self-doubt.
How CBT Helps Stop Overthinking
CBT focuses on the connection between thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Rather than trying to stop thoughts altogether, CBT helps individuals learn how to respond differently to anxious thinking patterns.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based form of psychotherapy that helps people identify and change unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors that contribute to anxiety and emotional distress.
CBT provides structured, repeatable tools that can help reduce overthinking, rumination, and anxiety spirals over time.
CBT Steps to Break the Overthinking Cycle
1. Catch the Thought
Notice what you are telling yourself when anxiety rises.
Ask yourself, “What thought just went through my mind?”
2. Name the Distortion
Labeling the thought creates distance.
For example: “This is catastrophizing” or “This is mind reading.”
3. Check the Evidence
Separate facts from fear.
Ask:
What evidence supports this thought?
What evidence contradicts it?
4. Create a Balanced Thought
The goal is not forced positivity, but realism.
Instead of “I’m failing,” try “I’m struggling right now, but that doesn’t mean I’m failing.”
5. Take a Grounded Action
Choose one small step based on facts rather than fear.
Action helps retrain the brain and reinforces cognitive change.
Why Overthinking Feels So Convincing
Anxious thoughts feel urgent and believable because they are paired with physical stress responses like muscle tension, shallow breathing, and a racing heart.
This is why CBT often includes:
Grounding techniques
Breathing exercises
Behavioral experiments
Calming the body helps calm the mind and makes cognitive work more effective.
Anxiety Therapy Can Help You Stop Overthinking
Overthinking is not a flaw.
It’s a learned response to stress and anxiety—and it can be unlearned.
If anxiety and overthinking are impacting your sleep, relationships, or daily functioning, anxiety therapy can help you develop tools to manage anxious thoughts and feel more grounded:https://www.serenitycounselingsolutions.org/counseling-services/anxiety-therapy
At Serenity Counseling Solutions, we provide CBT-informed anxiety therapy for individuals in Plantation, FL and through secure telehealth across Florida.
Schedule a consultation here:https://www.serenitycounselingsolutions.org
Sarine Salama, LMHC
Serving Plantation, FL and Telehealth across Florida