Dr. Julie Smith

life as a whole like the full context of it's not only what are you overthinking and how can you stop thinking about it in that way it's you know what is going on with the your stress levels in general that's causing you to be at that state where you're looking for the worst case scenarios so because that's what you're set up to do right it's not a fault in your brain your brain's doing a really good job you're probably giving your brain lots of some sort of lots of signs rather that um

things aren't okay. You know, maybe your blood pressure's high, maybe you're on the go all day. And so your brain is getting those signals from in your body and from your surroundings that we're not all, you know, not all is well here. There's a lot going on. We've got a lot to deal with. Be alert because something could be unpredictable here. So that's your kind of state of readiness.

things aren't okay. You know, maybe your blood pressure's high, maybe you're on the go all day. And so your brain is getting those signals from in your body and from your surroundings that we're not all, you know, not all is well here. There's a lot going on. We've got a lot to deal with. Be alert because something could be unpredictable here. So that's your kind of state of readiness.

things aren't okay. You know, maybe your blood pressure's high, maybe you're on the go all day. And so your brain is getting those signals from in your body and from your surroundings that we're not all, you know, not all is well here. There's a lot going on. We've got a lot to deal with. Be alert because something could be unpredictable here. So that's your kind of state of readiness.

So I think when you're dealing with overthinking, it's important not to just deal with overthinking, but to look at everything as a whole.

So I think when you're dealing with overthinking, it's important not to just deal with overthinking, but to look at everything as a whole.

So I think when you're dealing with overthinking, it's important not to just deal with overthinking, but to look at everything as a whole.

Yeah, so if you're worrying, I think there's a lot of work that you would do around building awareness of what's happening at the time. So we formulate, so we pretty much draw out the cycle on pen and paper. We look at the scenario that comes before, so what tends to happen in the lead up to the overthinking and what's the things that are contributing to that.

Yeah, so if you're worrying, I think there's a lot of work that you would do around building awareness of what's happening at the time. So we formulate, so we pretty much draw out the cycle on pen and paper. We look at the scenario that comes before, so what tends to happen in the lead up to the overthinking and what's the things that are contributing to that.

Yeah, so if you're worrying, I think there's a lot of work that you would do around building awareness of what's happening at the time. So we formulate, so we pretty much draw out the cycle on pen and paper. We look at the scenario that comes before, so what tends to happen in the lead up to the overthinking and what's the things that are contributing to that.

And then what are the types of thoughts that you're having? And so you build this awareness that they are usually horror story thoughts. You know, it's the worst case scenario that you can possibly come up with. And you play it out in your mind over and over again. And that ramps up your anxiety. And then when you feel those symptoms of anxiety, whatever they are for you,

And then what are the types of thoughts that you're having? And so you build this awareness that they are usually horror story thoughts. You know, it's the worst case scenario that you can possibly come up with. And you play it out in your mind over and over again. And that ramps up your anxiety. And then when you feel those symptoms of anxiety, whatever they are for you,

And then what are the types of thoughts that you're having? And so you build this awareness that they are usually horror story thoughts. You know, it's the worst case scenario that you can possibly come up with. And you play it out in your mind over and over again. And that ramps up your anxiety. And then when you feel those symptoms of anxiety, whatever they are for you,

you then become more vigilant and you sort of look for more things that could go wrong. And so when you do that, when you look at the cycle, even though the minute details will change depending on what's going on for you and what the situation is, the cycle will pretty much always be the same. And so you get this sort of insight into the cycle that you're going around in. And when you do that,

you then become more vigilant and you sort of look for more things that could go wrong. And so when you do that, when you look at the cycle, even though the minute details will change depending on what's going on for you and what the situation is, the cycle will pretty much always be the same. And so you get this sort of insight into the cycle that you're going around in. And when you do that,

you then become more vigilant and you sort of look for more things that could go wrong. And so when you do that, when you look at the cycle, even though the minute details will change depending on what's going on for you and what the situation is, the cycle will pretty much always be the same. And so you get this sort of insight into the cycle that you're going around in. And when you do that,

I mean in therapy you do it in hindsight right so you go and you look at the week that's just gone by and you say yeah this happened and I was really worrying about that and that's how I dealt with the worry and often you're looking at you know what you did in response to that feeling that then actually fed back into the cycle and when you see it on paper and you see that when you you know you did something to get rid of that feeling but then actually it brought you back round you can see that you're doing things that actually contribute to making it worse and

I mean in therapy you do it in hindsight right so you go and you look at the week that's just gone by and you say yeah this happened and I was really worrying about that and that's how I dealt with the worry and often you're looking at you know what you did in response to that feeling that then actually fed back into the cycle and when you see it on paper and you see that when you you know you did something to get rid of that feeling but then actually it brought you back round you can see that you're doing things that actually contribute to making it worse and

I mean in therapy you do it in hindsight right so you go and you look at the week that's just gone by and you say yeah this happened and I was really worrying about that and that's how I dealt with the worry and often you're looking at you know what you did in response to that feeling that then actually fed back into the cycle and when you see it on paper and you see that when you you know you did something to get rid of that feeling but then actually it brought you back round you can see that you're doing things that actually contribute to making it worse and

and and it has to be a kind of careful process of self-discovery um and when but when you do it you you begin to get this awareness in the moment as it's happening so you start with it in hindsight you're looking back and then the more familiar you become with it the more you start to when you're in it go oh i know where i think that that's that thing again that we thought about last time and now it's happening yeah that's interesting using uh sort of retrospective