NoMoreStory

Well this is good, to see so many folks agree. I think we're on to something.

So "over thinking" is a common theme for some, but when and why does that go negative, I wonder? Let me take another guess here (based on my personal life): Do people really depend on you at all? Do you feel challenged in life at the moment or in the last few years? I mean, do you have to learn, try new things, move to new places or get out of your comfort zones? Can you "get away" with being detached or doing the same thing in your life, or does your environment challenge you to grow and interact?

I just think -- gosh, maybe -- that an unusually active mind without challenges is like a tiger in a cage at the zoo. Pacing back and forth. Without anything (or anyone) to draw our minds out, we turn inward and pick ourselves apart instead. Wow, just writing that made me remember: there are certain pet birds that pick out their own feathers if they go too long alone in a cage. They're flock animals, you know? Horses, dogs... lots of living things will harm themselves if they are inactive, abused or alone.

West Coast

"Why does over thinking promote negative thinking?"

Hmm... maybe because as being who are animals who evolved out of other animals, we instinctively respond more strongly to fear than to hope. Unevolved animals need fear more badly than they do hope to survive, don't they? So the more thoughts we have, the more fears we identify, and the more depressed we become?

My blind stab at evolutionary psychology.

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If nothing else, I'm still witty.