When You Can't Stop Overthinking

What this is

About the workbook

The CBT Thought Record Bundle is the worksheet: catch the thought, check the evidence, choose a fairer one. This is the other half of that problem: a two-page between-sessions practice for sitting with a mind that keeps circling after the useful part of thinking is done — not a drill to make it go quiet on command, and not another form to fill in.

It sits in the same family as Getting to Know Your Inner Child — short, careful about pace, written to sit alongside therapy rather than replace it. Use it when thinking will not settle; bring what you notice back to session if you are working with someone.

What is on the two pages

Two pages, labelled on their face as a between-sessions practice and subtitled "Questions you can use when thinking will not land — not a way to make it stop on command." The introduction describes the loop it is written for — looping options, replaying what you should have said, stacking one more round — and the feeling that the only move is to think harder. It settles early what the sheet is not: "It is not a way to make overthinking stop on command." Its position is that a loop that will not close tends to respond to curiosity rather than to attempts to shut it down.

Page one carries the introduction, a boxed section called How to use this — five numbered steps that hold most of the method — and the first two question groups. Getting acquainted locates the loop: where you notice it, in your body, behind your eyes, or somewhere around you; what it looks like when it will not land — a loop, a replay, stacking options; whether there is a tightness it is trying to fix by thinking, or a voice that says just one more round; when it gets loudest — at night, after you leave a room, before something you cannot take back; and how long it has been trying to think you to safety this way. Understanding its job asks what it is trying to keep from happening by thinking this through once more, what it is afraid would happen if you let the loop rest for tonight in a room that is safe enough, what it has been carrying that you might not have seen, and what would help it feel a little safer right here.

Page two goes deeper in a set order: Its history, which opens with its own caution; Letting it know you heard it; Its hopes and needs; Building a different relationship, gated behind a readiness condition; Afterwards; and a closing paragraph headed Good to remember. Crisis numbers are printed on both pages.

How to use it between sessions

The five steps come first. Ground first — then notice: look around the room, name a few things you can see, and feel both feet on the floor, keeping your eyes open if closing them makes you lose the room. Only then notice the thinking that will not land — a loop that will not close, replaying what you should have said, stacking options, a tightness that thinking is supposed to fix. Second, check how you feel toward it: anger, fear, or "I just want this gone" is another part of you reacting, and you gently ask it to step back for a few minutes. The sheet also names the quieter case — if what you notice is agreement, "this is just how I am" or "I just need to think it through," that is the loop speaking in your own voice, and the work is finding even a little space between you and it. If something in you does not want to step back, you do not force it; you get curious about that instead, or stop for today.

Third, ask one question inward, then wait; answers can arrive as images, memories, feelings, or body sensations, and whatever comes, including nothing, is useful. Fourth, thank it for whatever it shows you, even if it stays quiet. Fifth, know when to stop: if it feels like too much, stop, look around the room, and feel your feet on the floor — stopping early is doing it right, and the work can always continue in session. Both pages print the same crisis line: call or text 9-8-8, the Suicide Crisis Helpline, anywhere in Canada; 911 in an emergency; and Kids Help Phone (for young people) at 1-800-668-6868, or text CONNECT to 686868.

Who it is for and who should wait

It is written for anyone whose thinking keeps circling after the useful part is done, and it is explicit that it is a way of listening to the loop rather than a switch for turning it off. You do not need to use every question — only the ones that draw you in — and the sheet is complete on its own: the method, the questions, and the stopping instructions all fit on the two pages.

It is equally clear about what it is not homework for. The how-to note names three things: forcing the thinking to stop, staying up with a loop, and exploring old harm alone. If a memory of harm, fear, or something you have never told anyone starts to open, the instruction — printed once on page one and again at the top of Its history — is to stop, bring it to session, and not explore it alone; and if the loop turns toward harm, the same: stop, and bring it to session. The last group of questions, Building a different relationship, has its own gate: only try them if the loop has felt noticeably softer toward you during the conversation, and if it has not, staying curious is the whole practice — a full success, not a failure. There is also a rule about promises: if the loop asks you for something, keep your side of it only if it is small, kind, and possible, and never an agreement to force the thinking to stop or to stay up with it. A loop that is promised the world and then forgotten, the sheet says, will have a point. It is educational material, not therapy and not an assessment.

How it connects to therapy at TEO

The sheet treats the loop the way parts work treats any protector: as something with a job — keeping a mistake, a surprise, or being caught unprepared from landing as danger — a history, and a relationship with the you who can listen. That is the frame Internal Family Systems (IFS) brings to inner life. At TEO, IFS-informed work is offered by Mohamad Shabib, MACP, CCC, who holds IFS Levels 1 and 2 and sees clients by video in British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Newfoundland and Labrador. The CBT Thought Record Bundle in this library works on the content of a thought; this sheet works on the relationship with the thinking itself, and the two sit side by side.

What it asks you to bring back is modest: Afterwards has you jot down whatever you noticed — words, images, memories, surprises, or the fact that nothing came — with nothing to get right, and bring the notes to the next session if you would like. Never getting around to it before you meet is, in the sheet's words, completely fine too. The closing paragraph, Good to remember, states the goal: not to become less-thoughtful on command, but to build a relationship where this loop no longer has to think you to safety alone. If you would rather do this work with someone, the first step at TEO is a free 15-minute consultation; individual sessions are $150 per 60-minute session.

Common questions

About using this workbook

This workbook is educational. It is not therapy, not an assessment, and nothing in it is a diagnosis. If you are in crisis, call or text 9-8-8 (Canada, 24/7); 911 in an emergency. Kids Help Phone (for young people): 1-800-668-6868, or text CONNECT to 686868.

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If you want to go further

Working on this with someone

A workbook can take you a surprising distance on its own. If you would rather not do it alone, TEO offers virtual therapy in British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Newfoundland & Labrador — evenings and weekends, with a free 15-minute consultation first and no obligation afterward.

Related: Anxiety & stress therapy.

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