Thinking Way Too Much…

Reader’s Question

There are a few things I’ve been noticing about myself that people find strange or bothersome. In particular, I get mad extremely easily. For example, if I ask this guy, or any friend of mine, to hang out with me and he/she says “I’ll think about it,” I take it personally and think “why doesn’t he/she want to hang out with me?” and so on and so on. I analyze everything to an unnecessary extent. I just think way too much and it’s starting to bother me because after I get mad, I think “wow, that was not that serious” or something like that. I end up pissing people off because I get mad for no reason and they don’t want to deal with me. I don’t know if this is an actual anxiety thing or even if it’s a sort of thing that can be solved.

Another issue I have sometimes is out of no where my mind seems to go really fast, but everything around me is going slow. For example, one morning I was buttering my waffles and it became this unfinishable task and I didn’t know why or how to fix the way I was thinking. I just had to get the waffle buttered as fast as I could, the way my mind was going was so annoying and I couldn’t control it. I have these instances sometimes and I don’t know what to do about them. If you have any advice or think I should see a therapist about my anger/anxiety, please let me know. I appreciate it. Thank you for your time.

Our Consulting Clinical Psychologist’s Reply

Thinking too much is often a sign of a mental health issue. To know what type of issue, we often look at the content of the excessive thinking. In ADHD for example, the brain is running fast but has random, non-emotional thoughts. In Bipolar Disorder, Manic the brain runs very fast and is accompanied by a “high” mood and thoughts of wealth and excitement. In depression, the brain runs so fast we can’t get to sleep at night as it replays negative events of the day. In anxiety, we are constantly anticipating the future with hundreds of thoughts about what might happen.

In your case, I would suspect depression. Depression is always accompanied by anger, resentment, and negative thinking. We can’t socialize well and begin taking everything very seriously and very personally. Depression also hinders our concentration and attention as you describe with the waffle. Depressed minds sometimes “short-circuit” and we sit and stare at our closet for hours, being unable to make a decision regarding what shirt to wear.

I’d review some of the depression tests on this website. You may have the most common type of depression — a stress-produced depression that slowly develops with a long-term exposure to high stress or a lot of responsibility. I have an article on my website about depression at www.drjoecarver.com that might be helpful. I’d also recommend seeing a mental health professional. A psychiatrist might be your best bet at first as the rapid mind speed tells us your chemistry may be out of whack (technical term there!). Your condition is very treatable so I’d recommend getting started as soon as possible.