The Psychology of Looping Thoughts A reoccurring thought loop is a fixation on fears, motives, or how we feel we should have acted or not acted. While looping thoughts are a bi-product of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), other individuals with anxiety can also have looping thoughts.
A cognitive/emotive loop is a repeating pattern where thoughts and beliefs produce feelings that fuel our rightness about our stories, that then further intensify our feelings, and on and on. They burn energy and get in the way of progress. They're one way we as humans get stuck.
They're usually harmless. But if you obsess about them so much that it interrupts your day-to-day life, this can be a sign of an underlying mental health problem. Intrusive thoughts can be a symptom of anxiety, depression, or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
If you have OCD, you know the feeling of being stuck in a thought loop. You're going about your day when suddenly it strikes you, a thought you can't escape and before you know it you're trapped in an OCD thought loop.
The OCD cycle consists of 4 basic parts: obsessions, anxiety, compulsions, and temporary relief. It's considered a “vicious” cycle because once you get pulled into it, it gains momentum and strength, making it even more difficult for you to get out.
Feeling intense stress and anxiety when things are not in a specific order. Worries about losing control over yourself and engaging in violent behaviors toward others or yourself. Unwanted thoughts and mental images, usually around taboo subjects, like aggression, sexuality, or religion.
Repeating entire conversations in your head is a type of rumination. It's how your mind attempts to self-soothe. The more you replay the details of a conversation, the more you may feel you can interpret what happened. You may also find that this helps you plan for a future outcome.
ADHDers—people with ADHD—can also experience intrusive thoughts that are repetitive, distressing, or just flat-out strange. It's not uncommon to have intrusive thoughts, but frequently experiencing them may be a symptom of your ADHD (if you have ADHD) or possibly something else.
While both mental health conditions involve repetitive worrying, people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) often engage in unwanted and repetitive behavior in response to their worry. People with anxiety, however, tend to overthink their worry, but don't act in specific responsive manners.
One important step in reversing the anxiety cycle is gradually confronting feared situations. If you do this, it will lead to an improved sense of confidence, which will help reduce your anxiety and allow you to go into situations that are important to you.
It's just another indication of elevated stress and/or fatigue. It's not an indication of serious mental illness. Most people experience stuck thoughts from time to time. It becomes more prevalent when stress and fatigue are factors.
This anxiety spiral — also known as “catastrophic thinking” or “magnifying,” — is cognitive distortion that often occurs alongside anxiety and depression. Think of your brain as a rocky mountain: one single negative thought loosens an avalanche of related anxieties.
Put simply, the study suggests that the brains of OCD patients get stuck in a loop of "wrongness" that prevents sufferers from stopping behaviors even if they know they should.
Medication. If frequent rumination is damaging the esophagus, proton pump inhibitors such as esomeprazole (Nexium) or omeprazole (Prilosec) may be prescribed. These medications can protect the lining of the esophagus until behavior therapy reduces the frequency and severity of regurgitation.
Rumination involves repetitive thinking or dwelling on negative feelings and distress and their causes and consequences. The repetitive, negative aspect of rumination can contribute to the development of depression or anxiety and can worsen existing conditions.
Obsessing and ruminating are often part of living with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). No matter how hard you try to ignore them, those negative thoughts just keep coming back, replaying themselves in an infinite loop.
People with ADHD have passionate thoughts and emotions that are more intense than those of the average person. Their highs are higher and their lows are lower. This means you may experience both happiness and criticism more powerfully than your peers and loved ones do.
ADHD rumination is real and can get in your way. For example, maybe you blurted out something in your meeting with your colleague, Ali, you now regret. Now, not only are you replaying the scenario over and over, but you're also thinking about the potential for any future fallout.
Overview. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common, chronic, and long-lasting disorder in which a person has uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts ("obsessions") and/or behaviors ("compulsions") that he or she feels the urge to repeat over and over.
What is OCD? OCD is a common, long-lasting disorder characterized by uncontrollable, recurring thoughts (obsessions) that can lead people to engage in repetitive behaviors (compulsions).
Compulsions are repetitive activities that you do to reduce the anxiety caused by the obsession. It could be something like repeatedly checking a door is locked, repeating a specific phrase in your head or checking how your body feels.
The main symptoms of OCD are obsessions and compulsions that interfere with normal activities. For example, symptoms may often prevent you from getting to work on time. Or you may have trouble getting ready for bed in a reasonable amount of time.
People struggling with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) are often misdiagnosed as having other psychological conditions. One of the most common misdiagnoses for this population is Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).