Commonly described as excessive, repetitive thinking, in the thought literacy framework, what people commonly call “overthinking” is considered a sign of unprocessed thoughts. Someone notices their thoughts keep repeating but doesn’t know how to work through and process them. Calling it “overthinking” adds another layer of unhelpful thinking by making the amount of thinking the problem instead of focusing on how to process the thoughts.

• Short definition: Unprocessed thoughts that keep repeating because someone lacks the knowledge or skills to process them.
• Example: Jane was talking to her friend about a job interview that’s coming up. Her friend gave her some advice but told her she was overthinking it. That night Jane focused on processing her thoughts and realized she was concerned she wasn’t going to do well at the interview. She then focused on what she could control and prepared by practicing interview questions
• Cite: Thought Literacy Institute. (n.d.). Overthinking. In Thought literacy core concepts. Retrieved [enter date], from https://thoughtliteracy.org/overthinking/
  • Please verify citation before using. For APA Style guidelines click here.
• Related Terms: rumination, thought processing, thought management