Do you sometimes overthink things, making them into problems?

[ajblaise]

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.

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]

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]

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.

 

[Valuable_Money]

I overthink everything, but I never act on it...

 

[LostInNerSpace]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

 

[Dali]

Yes. Anyone who knows me pretty much defines me by this quality.

I was about to post that this thread was more or less the INFJ mantra.

 

[mortabunt]

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!

 

[Saslou]

Who is the author?

Dr Susan Nolan-Hoeksema.

 

[Shaula]

Do you sometimes over think certain things, and unintentionally make them into much larger problems because of your overthinking?

No, I tend to underthink things.

 

[Scarfism]

Dr Susan Nolan-Hoeksema.

Thanks.

I have been overthinking about something since last night, by the way. *sigh*

 

[mortabunt]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.