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Do you sometimes overthink things, making them into problems?

ajblaise

Minister of Propagandhi
Joined
Aug 3, 2008
Messages
7,914
MBTI Type
INTP
Possibly not use a personality type ye happen to fit in with as an excuse for behaviour that makes you unhappy or aggravates you, and not allow it to stagnate your growth.

This statement only applies if you actually consider it something you might wish to change, mind. And this isn't a jab t'ye. :yes:

I imagine most INTPs are conflicted about it. I think I see too many positives related to extreme thinking to want to totally change.

uh... now I'm sold. Overthinking it is!
Overthinking may offer protection from dementia - USATODAY.com
 

Lark

Active member
Joined
Jun 21, 2009
Messages
29,569
Do you sometimes over think certain things, and unintentionally make them into much larger problems because of your overthinking?

Oh man I totally do this!!

The only time I heard anything approaching my tendency to do this was mentioned in Eric Fromm's Zen and Psychoanalysis.

Fromm wrote about how he felt that the mind-body "mindfulness" of zen, the overcoming of the dualistic seperating of mind and body (particularly in western thinking since Descartes' "I think therefore I am"), would appear to be a rememdy for over cerebration, thinking too much.

I've had an interest in Zen ever since, consume Zen texts like nothing else but I know I'm at a very superficial level with that, lately for the same reasons I've been interested in Jung too, I'd like to substitute a kind of healthy introspection for the over thinking that I do at the moment.

Internal dialogue has something to do with it too, I dont tend to over think and become super powered over confident and crazed, cracked up by my circumstances, decisions etc. instead I get pessimistic without my evidence and a lot of supposition.
 

BlueScreen

Fail 2.0
Joined
Nov 8, 2008
Messages
2,668
MBTI Type
YMCA
I always overthink things. And if I haven't, it is time to think about them some more.

Does it cause problems? Not really, except when I try too hard to understand existence, death, and various other things that aren't really solvable.
 

LostInNerSpace

New member
Joined
Jan 25, 2008
Messages
1,027
MBTI Type
INTP
Do you sometimes over think certain things, and unintentionally make them into much larger problems because of your overthinking?

Yes. If you are going to keep screwing with my head I'm going to keep thinking these things. Is this really as it seems or is it ... ?

How am I supposed to know exactly what it is? I can only say what I see and what I see is probably not what you think.
 

Asterion

Ruler of the Stars
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
2,331
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
5
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
I do it when I need to explain something that is impossible to explain... eg. I was most recently intrigued by taste, more specifically, how do you know when something tastes bitter? My friend was trying to help, and told me to go and eat some bitter things, and I was coming up with ways to define the taste using vectors with a size and direction, sweet is at zero degrees, bitter is either at 180 degrees, or it is in the same direction as sweet, just with a lower magnitude, all taste is relative, so how do you know that what you call 'bitter' isn't the same as the so called sweet thing? either way, I kept telling myself to stop thinking like that and just accept that some things have a taste based on the stereochemical interactions in your taste buds, which is interpreted by the brain in an unimaginable way. Even then I couldn't help it, I only think a few certain things, most of the time I'm under-thinking and doing stupid things that end up getting me into trouble...
 

Scarfism

New member
Joined
May 25, 2009
Messages
120
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
8w9
Do you sometimes over think certain things, and unintentionally make them into much larger problems because of your overthinking?

Yes, all the time! It makes me crazy. I try to talk myself out of overthinking but it is so hard because it just happens naturally.
 

Saslou

New member
Joined
Feb 1, 2009
Messages
4,910
MBTI Type
ESFJ
I overthink problems.

Probably shouldn't mention that i am currently reading 'Women who think to much' .. well trying to read it. I don't want to read the babble, i just need to know how to fix the problem of overthinking.
 

Scarfism

New member
Joined
May 25, 2009
Messages
120
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
8w9
I overthink problems.

Probably shouldn't mention that i am currently reading 'Women who think to much' .. well trying to read it. I don't want to read the babble, i just need to know how to fix the problem of overthinking.

Who is the author?
 

redacted

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 28, 2007
Messages
4,223
I read "do you sometimes overthink..." and I knew I would say yes to whatever the question was.

So, yes. Especially if it involves anything I consider awkward.
 

mortabunt

Permabanned
Joined
Apr 10, 2009
Messages
963
MBTI Type
type
Enneagram
5
If you mean about people: I never overthink them. I always understate and underappreciate the problem. Then I'm faced with an angry horde of ES's who hate me. I don't know what I do, now explain what I do wrong so that we can work through this!
 

mortabunt

Permabanned
Joined
Apr 10, 2009
Messages
963
MBTI Type
type
Enneagram
5
I overthink somtimes when taking SOL's or other high value tests. It can either be awesome or hellish to be stuck in a Ti loop.
 

GHC

New member
Joined
Oct 3, 2009
Messages
23
MBTI Type
INFP
Yes.
I also get obsessed with MINOR DETAILS an SEE and Underlying meanings in some things when there is simple not.

LOL, I sometimes believe I have an Obessive-compulsive, Paranoid disorder or anything related. Won't be surprised if someone diagnosed me that way.
 

Xenon

(blankpages)
Joined
Oct 5, 2009
Messages
832
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
5
I'm not sure what "making them into problems" means, but when I overthink that tends to lead to delayed action or no action at all. So the thinking itself isn't the problem, it's the inactivity that results from it that can cause major problems.
 

BigApplePi

New member
Joined
May 13, 2015
Messages
10
MBTI Type
INTP
Do you sometimes over think certain things, and unintentionally make them into much larger problems because of your overthinking?
If by "overthink" you mean getting myself into trouble ruminating on a problem, yes. I might originally believe the problem important but can't evaluate its importance properly. This might occur if the reward of a solution were great while failure was expected. It's the pursuit of a goal. What happens is fail fail fail and this might end up being a waste of time. It's an evaluation problem itself. INTPs often find proper evaluation difficult, but so can anyone who pursues a goal with intensity and obstinacy. It doesn't take just thinking for this to happen.
 

prplchknz

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
34,397
MBTI Type
yupp
yes so do the other 9 billion people on earth welcome to humanity enjoy the right buckle your seat belt peanuts are to left chocolate is to the right pick a direction and stick to it.
 
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