Metacognitive Therapy offers a brilliant tool called The Worry Tree to help you decide how to handle an anxious thought. The moment a worry pops up, you ask two crucial questions. The first: “Is this worry about a current, solvable problem?” If yes, it’s a Productive Worry—you plan and act. If no, you ask the second question: “Is this worry hypothetical, distant, or uncontrollable?” If yes, it’s an Unproductive Worry. Productive worries lead to action; unproductive worries lead to rumination and

Overthinking and rumination….. Shang Olsen is a psychologist based out of Norway and specialises in a treatment methodology called meta cognitive therapy which aims to change the way we think about our own thinking. Her husband Janus is an author interested in philosophy, we had a great chat about how overthinking is a big cause of distress in men and a big factor in poor mental health outcomes. | Aaro Holman