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MindFood – Smart thinker: Psychologist Gwendoline Smith

The Book of Overthinking explains that there’s a difference between positive and negative overthinking, with the latter essentially being worry. “Overthinking as a term is much more acceptable and digestible for the average person,” says Smith. “If I was to have entitled it The Book of Worry – now who’s going to read that commuting on the train with everybody looking at the cover? Not many. And also, what I’ve found is that the younger generation – say 20s, 30s – they don’t talk about worrying. They talk about overthinking. But when you deconstruct the definition of overthinking it’s exactly the same as worry.” She notes that the essence of worry is the prediction of negative catastrophic or disastrous outcomes. “And when you talk to overthinkers, that’s exactly what they’re doing.”

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    lizzie warne
    January 21, 2021 at 3:23 am

    Thank you for your webinar Don’t Panic based on your book The book of Overthinking my daughter and I attended simultaneously though miles apart and it made both of us recognise traits in ourselves. I have recommended your book to everyone I know does overthink and am happily trying to swat my worries away with a good old fashioned Anglo Saxon expletive or two! So far so good – many thanks for your down to Earth approach

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