Effective Ways To Fight Against ADHD & Overthinking
Are you a notorious overthinker? Do you tend to think way too much for too long? Overthinking can be normal, but when it starts taking over, it can potentially ruin your daily life. Your overthinking can get worse when you have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Learn the effective ways to fight ADHD overthinking
you are spending too much time and energy thinking about something to the point where it’s starting to make miserable. It traps your brain in a never-ending spiral where you are constantly repeating the thought of a past situation. You can think another topic, process it and switch to a new one, overthinking brain will continue to think about it, overlapping with the current topic that you are processing.
Overthinking causes severe depression and frustration to people with ADHD. Most of the time you feel bad about yourself, which causes you to feel not in the mood most of the time. Constant attacks by lingering thoughts can have a number of adverse implications. It usually serves as a magnet, drawing bad memory after bad memory into your head. After an overwhelming episode where you’ve just reminisced a number of painful memories, you will feel too drained to even think about being positive.
To give you a clearer picture of what overthinking is like, here’s an example:
You ask a girl you like to go out on a date. But unfortunately, she declined your offer. You feel bad about the rejection. You feel the pain for several hours. During this period, you will also start recalling other rejections in your life. You’ll remember the number of girls who’ve also rejected you before, or the time the company you dreamed of working declined your application. You’ll even recall the things that weren’t rejections initially but does feel like it at the moment (e.g., a meeting changes venue, causing extreme inconvenience in your part, or an email you sent went to your recipient’s spam folder.
During your deep negative thinking, you will tend to look at your future in a very
gloomy way. It feels as if your mind has given you all the reasons to believe that you will be miserable for the rest of your life. It isn’t true, of course, but at this moment, it will definitely feel like it after all the thinking that processed all at once.
Overthinking can be an all-natural process, it can also be the result if the creative and overly active ADHD brain. While most believe overthinking to be a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder, it’ actually relates more to ADHD. OCD is a condition that commonly coexists with ADHD, you don’t need to have OCD to become a notorious overthinker.
Rough Side Effects Of ADHD Overthinking
Needless to say, overthinking has a lot of adverse side effects. Here are three of the most common ones:
- It forces you to isolate yourself from other people. Because you tend to overthink, you will feel lonelier than ever since you’re most likely cutting yourself from other people. Your tendency to over-dissect even the most casual of conversations can cause you to think that people were saying insulting and hurtful things, even when it was unintentional.
- Your confidence decreases. When you remember all your mistakes – even the minor ones – you will tend to lose your confidence and self-esteem. For example, you were late only once, but since you replay it in your head for like a thousand times, it would feel like you were late for 1,000 times as well.
- It lowers your immune system. Apart from your mental well-being, overthinking will also hit and weaken your immune system since you’re no longer thinking about your health. Instead, you’re thinking more on the negative thought in your head.
Not All ADHD Thinking Is Bad
Despite overthinking being a prominent feature for most people with ADHD, it’s also worth knowing that some people living with ADHD do the exact opposite. Some develop no thinking or reflecting methods to deal with their ADHD brains. An ADHD person tends to jump from one activity to the other, and they also don’t learn from the events that happened during the day. Because of that, they don’t develop a plan to deal with their day, which causes constant stressful days to repeat again and again.
Balance Is Key
Sometimes balance is essential to help you manage your tendency to overthink things. Take this situation as an example: After being diagnosed with stage-II cancer, Alice went out of the hospital with a realisation: she realised that her cancer is going warrant her full attention from now on, and she wasn’t having any of it. She is no going to adhere to her condition. Instead, she planned things out and have come up with ways to somehow “distract” herself from worrying or overthinking about her cancer. She turned to focus more on things that were important: her family and career. She also made an emphasis on prioritising the smaller details, like exercising in the morning and having tea during the afternoon.
Throughout constant chemo, radiation, and surgery, she focused more on the present and filled her mind with nothing but inspiring thoughts. She refrained from thinking about her cancer, which would depress her. She developed a positive disposition that she carried throughout the year and it has helped significantly in her fight for cancer. So while it may not be the best year for Alice, it wasn’t the worst, either.
Whenever you get caught up in an overthinking loop, Alice’s story will serve as an inspiring example that diverting our attention away from a negative thought is possible. No matter what the circumstance of how severe your ADHD is.
4 Way To Prevent Overthinking
To give you a headstart in your campaign against your ADHD symptoms, here are four useful ways to free yourself from overthinking. Each item involves shifting your focus from your inner thoughts of what exactly is happening in your external environment.
1.) A Fun & Exciting Distraction
The easiest way to prevent yourself from overthinking is to distract your mind in the first place. So start listing down the things and activities that you find fun and amusing. Choose the most compelling one that’s really fun and can capture your attention completely that there will be no room for you to think about anything else.
2.) Get Moving!
One way to treat your overthinking tendencies is to get physical and exercise your heart out. When you exert force and move your body, you also release feel-good hormones that will lighten up your mood and will even give you that much-needed glow. It’s also important for you to pick your exercise carefully as some types require more thinking time (e.g., running on your own). You should instead go for the ones that focus mainly on your physical movements since it gives you no time to think about anything. (e.g. martial arts). You can test various exercise to determine the ideal one for you that will help you stop thinking too much.
3.) Think about other people’s problems
Sometimes the way to stop overthinking is to unleash your kindness and worry, instead, about other people’s problems. It’s effective as it can block out your own problems and trouble. There are numerous ways to do this. Here are some of the most common ones:
- Call a friend who is going through a hard time and talk sincerely to them. Show them how compassionate you are and how much you care for their welfare.
- Visit someone you and help around their house.
- Offer your assistance when you see someone on the streets clearly needing help.
- Volunteer at a charity event & help with the entire program.
- Even the act of looking for ways to be helpful can already take away your negative thoughts.
4.) Focus On A Goal
Shifting your focus on something else will always help you from overthinking. So incorporate a goal and put all of your attention on achieving it. Focus on something positive and productive will take you away from deep thinking. Choose a goal or set of goals now and get an ample shot of feel-good dopamine hormones.
Get Expert Help Now!
Your ADHD is the reason for your lingering thoughts and overthinking tendencies. That’s why you need to get help in trying to manage it. If you’re faced with having ADHD as an adult, the grief cycle is a common process that you go through. But you can overcome your ADHD with the right tactics and the right people to help you.
If you want to start getting organised and avoid being forgetful, it’s crucial that you get help right away. So book an appointment to your nearest local ADHD clinic today and get a proper diagnosis as early as possible. If you live on or near London or Manchester, you’ll be relieved to know that the ADHD Centre is currently operating in these areas.
At The ADHD Centre, we offer an ADHD Test Online for you to know or confirm if you or a loved one happens to have ADHD and if you would like some further guidance and support on managing your ADHD then please contact us at The ADHD Centre on 0800 061 4276 or via enquiries@adhdcentre.co.uk.
The ADHD Centre also offers holistic ADHD treatment and cares for both children and adults. We are also affiliated with other ADHD clinics and organisations to maximise our services. Are you living in the UK? Lovely! We also offer an ADHD Online Assessment via Zoom for Healthcare. So wherever you are in the UK, know that the ADHD Centre is always available for your ADHD needs.
Break Away From Rumination!
Your ADHD, There are numerous ways on how you can prevent any lingering thought from constantly causing havoc on your mind. By following the strategies mentioned in this article, you can overcome your overthinking even if you have other ADHD symptoms to consider. Not only will they cure your overthinking, but will let you think better and focus more on the positive side of things instead of sulking in on the negative.
