Emily McDonald explains why we overthink: the brain hates unfinished business and keeps looping on unresolved thoughts. Thinking feels like action on an uncertain future, which tricks us into believing we have control. These two mechanisms trap us in rumination cycles.
You can really think of overthinking almost as my brain has detected uncertainty, and it believes that thinking more will solve that uncertainty. Now, there are 2 sort of problems that are associated with overthinking. The first is an open-loop problem. The brain treats whatever it is that you're thinking about like an open loop, and it wants to continue to analyze, continue to think, continue to process until it can finally close that loop. Your brain does not like to have unfinished business, so it keeps unresolved information active. This is the open loop problem where you just continue to think and the loop is open. And then another huge piece when it comes to overthinking is that overthinking creates the illusion of control. The future is inherently uncertain, but your brain wants to try to solve it, and thinking feels like doing something.
