Overthinking? 20 Best Books for Overthinkers for 2024
In this article, the best books for overthinkers, I’ve curated a fantastic list of self-help books for the overthinker.
Are you overthinking? If you’re the type of person who struggles with overthinking, you’re not alone.
Many of the world’s best thinkers have also been known to overthink things occasionally. But that doesn’t mean it’s always a bad thing.
Overthinking can be a good thing if channeled in the right way. And what better way to channel your overthinking than reading some of the best books on the subject?
You might be surprised to learn that there are entire books dedicated to the art of overthinking.
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The Best Books for Overthinkers.
What is Overthinking?
Rumination, or overthinking, is when you can’t stop thinking about the same problem, and it stops you from living your life.
Overthinking people usually dwell on the past or worry too much about the future.
If this sounds like you, you might feel “stuck” and unable to take action. It’s hard to forget what’s bothering us or focus on anything else when we’re ruminating.
Unfortunately, sometimes overthinking makes things worse instead of better
Why Do People Overthink?
There are a few different reasons why people might overthink things.
Overthinking can be brought about by different things for different people.
Maybe you have anxiety, or you’re stressed, or perhaps you need to feel like you’re in control of the situation.
No matter what the reason is, overthinking leads to paralysis by analysis.
This means we second-guess ourselves so much that we can’t decide! And when we don’t act, nothing gets done.
Problem-Solving vs Overthinking
The bottom line is that problem-solving reduces stress and anxiety, and overthinking can cause depression and anxiety.
Overthinking It involves dwelling on the problem rather than developing a solution.
The Problem With Overthinking
overthinking can be a problem because it can hinder a person’s ability to make decisions, cause stress and anxiety, lead to negative self-talk, and affect relationships.
Worrying about the future
We cannot fully enjoy the present if we worry about the future. People who worry about the future can have a difficult time with uncertainty and may fall into the overthinking trap.
Dwelling on the past
Dwelling on the past can be a common issue with overthinkers. Unfortunately, getting stuck in the past keeps us from moving forward and enjoying our lives.
Can’t seem to get anything accomplished. (paralysis by analysis)
Overthinking the how and the whys can lead to fear and paralysis, meaning nothing gets done.
Care too much about what people think
often; overthinkers struggle with social anxiety, or does social anxiety lead to overthinking? 🙂
Do you see what I’m talking about? As I write this, I am overthinking it, pondering what comes first, overthinking or social anxiety.
Stuck in negative self-talk
Think about what you are thinking about. If your inner monologue is negative, that is a telltale sign that you could be overthinking.
Depression and stress
Overthinking can cause depression and increase. Stress.
Overthinking a tough decision you have to make can often cause more problems than it solves.
Remember that even making the wrong decision is better than making no decision – you can learn from failure, but you can’t learn from doing anything.
Related: Stressed? You need a stress management plan!
The Solution to Overthinking
Overthinking is a common struggle. If you get caught up overthinking, know that you are not alone!
Thankfully, there are some techniques and tools that can help with overthinking.
The Best Books for Overthinkers:
Whatever area of life you want to improve, there’s a book out there that can help you start making positive changes today.
Get Out of My Head: By Meredith Arthur
Inspiration for Overthinkers in an Anxious World
Calm your thoughts, navigate your stress, and understand your anxiety with this compact illustrated guide for overthinkers everywhere.
Anxiety sometimes feels inevitable in a world of deadlines, technology, and constant stress.
But what if you learned to ride the wave of anxiety instead of getting lost?
This book provides guidance and inspiration for anxious overthinkers.
Stop Overthinking: By Nick Trenton
Relieve Stress, Stop Negative Spirals, Declutter Your Mind, and Focus on the Present.
Stop Overthinking will help us break free from anxiety and stress by teaching us how to rewire the brain and get control over thoughts again so that we can change our mental habits.
With detailed techniques proven through science, this book provides us with approaches to what it takes for a complete lifestyle transformation, which ends vicious thought patterns once and for all time!
Unfu*k Yourself: By Gary John Bishop
Get Out of Your Head and into Your Life
This was the third self-help book with the word F*ck in the title that I’ve read. 🙂
It’s a great book if you’re looking to get out of your head and get busy living daily life.
It provides readers with clear steps to take responsibility for their lives and make meaningful changes within themselves.
If you’re looking to take control of your thoughts and feelings, this book offers a refreshing perspective on gaining clarity in life and making changes that can lead to true happiness.
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living-By Dale Carnegie
This book offers a step-by-step guide to help you break the habit of overthinking.
It covers everything from identifying the signs of overthinking to dealing with the stress and anxiety that can come with it.
Clear Your Mind -By Steven Schuster
This book offers an array of techniques for relieving stress and achieving inner peace.
It provides readers with strategies for calming the mind, developing resilience, and cultivating a positive attitude toward life.
Unf*ck Your Brain: By Dr. Faith Harper.
Using Science to Get Over Anxiety, Depression, Anger, Freak-outs, and Triggers
Based on personal experience with mental illness, Dr. Harper explores the role of neuroscience in understanding mental health.
It covers anxiety management, cognitive therapy, overcoming fear and anger triggers, and developing positive habits.
Using real-life examples, it explains how to access our inner power to improve mental health and well-being.
It is packed with inspiring stories, simple explanations, and life-changing advice to help unlock the full potential and live a happier life.
Readers can learn to take control of their anxiety and find a better way to move forward in life.
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Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy -By David D Burns
If you’re fed up with negative thinking, this book is for you.
It provides practical tools and step-by-step solutions to help break old habits and develop new positive ones.
You’ll learn to identify negative thinking patterns, stop them in their tracks, and start making changes to improve your life.
Reclaim Your Brain: -by Joseph A. Annibali
How to Calm Your Thoughts, Heal Your Mind, and Bring Your Life Back Under Control.
If your mind feels chaotic or too busy, this book may be for you!
If you’re having difficulty controlling your thoughts and feeling distant and unfocused, this book will help you regain control of your brain and could alter your life.
Through these practical strategies, easy-to-understand explanations, and mind-management techniques, Dr. Annibali helps improve thoughts, focus, and ability to balance the chaotic mind.
The Book of Overthinking: By Gwendoline Smith
How to Stop the Cycle of Worry.
Psychologist Gwendoline Smith explains in clear and accessible language the concepts of positive and negative overthinking, the truth about worry, and how to deal with the “thought viruses” that hold you back in life.
This book helps to understand what’s going on in our heads using examples, anecdotes, and plenty of humor while offering powerful strategies for addressing overthinking and worry.
Based on cognitive behavioral theory, this book will help you combat anxious thought patterns in all areas of your life.
The Worry Trick: By David Carbonell
How Your Brain Tricks You into Expecting the Worst and What You Can Do About It
In this book, The Worry Trick, anxiety expert, and psychologist David Carbonell say that anxiety can trick us into doubting ourselves, worrying about the future, and feeling dread and emotional instability.
This book guides us through the trickery of anxious thoughts to gain greater clarity around anxieties and learn to observe them from a distance rather than getting tricked by them repeatedly.
Using methods of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
The Mindful Way Through Anxiety: By Susan M Orsillo and Lizabeth Roemer
Break Free from Chronic Worry and Reclaim Your Life
Susan Orsillo and Lisabeth Roemer say you can’t just “get over anxiety” and that the popular ways to treat anxiety may be making it worse!
This book is a powerful new alternative that can help you break free of anxiety by fundamentally changing how you relate to it.
Includes helpful clinically tested mindfulness practices and strategies for gaining awareness of anxious feelings, loosening the grip of worry and fear, and achieving a new level of emotional and physical well-being.
The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael Singer
The Untethered Soul is worth the read for anyone seeking peace and peace of mind.
Beginning with the relationship between thoughts and emotions, this book helps offers ways to become free from the habitual thoughts, emotions, and energy patterns that limit consciousness.
This book opens the door to a life lived in freedom using meditation and mindfulness, teaching the mind to dwell in the present moment and let go of painful thoughts and memories, and overthinking.
The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment -By Eckhart Tolle
This book helps readers to awaken to their spiritual nature.
The Power of Now teaches us to focus on the present, understand the ego, which keeps us from happiness, and observe our mind without judgment.
By accessing our deepest selves, we can free ourselves from conflicts and unreasonable demands of the mind and live a happy life.
10% Happier -By Dan Harris
Written by Nightline anchor Dan Harris.
After he suffered a nationally televised panic attack, he knew he had to make profound changes.
Through his journey, Harris realized that the source of his problems was the voice in his head or his thinking.
This book will take you on a beautiful ride through Dan’s experience while sharing invaluable life-changing insight.
Mind Over Mood: -By Dennis Greenberger and Christine A. Padesky
Change How You Feel by Changing the Way You Think
This book can help to overcome emotional distress and feel happier, calmer, and more confident.
This life-changing book uses cognitive-behavioral therapy to conquer depression, anxiety, panic attacks, anger, guilt, shame, and more.
It’s packed with helpful tips on setting personal goals and maintaining progress; happiness rating scales; gratitude journals; exercises on mindfulness, acceptance, and forgiveness, and much more.
The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook -By Edmund J Bourne
Living with anxiety, panic disorders, or phobias can make you feel like you aren’t in control of your life.
This go-to guide can help!
Packed with practical skills for assessing and treating anxiety, this workbook contains the latest clinical research and an arsenal of tools for quieting worry, ending negative self-talk, and taking charge of your anxious thoughts.
This workbook provides the latest treatment solutions for overcoming the fears that stand in the way of living a meaningful and happy life.
The Anxiety Toolkit: By Alice Boyes
Strategies for Fine-Tuning Your Mind and Moving Past Your Stuck Points
Do you overthink and worry? Are you self-critical?
Do you struggle with perfectionism?
If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, you could be suffering from some degree of anxiety, and you’re not alone.
In this book, Dr. Alice Boyes translates powerful, tools used in therapy clinics into simple tips and tricks you can use in everyday life.
Whether you have an anxiety disorder or are just anxiety-prone, you’ll discover how anxiety works and strategies to help you cope and succeed in life and work.
The Art of Thinking Clearly -By Rolf Dobelli
Do you tend to overthink things and still make bad decisions?
Then this book may be an excellent read for you!
Simple, straightforward, and always surprising, this book will change how you think and transform your decision-making.
In 99 short chapters, it reveals the most common errors of judgment and how to avoid them.
Unwinding Anxiety: By Judson Brewer
New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind
A step-by-step plan has been clinically proven to break the cycle of worry and fears that drives anxiety and addictive habits.
But in this timely book, Judson Brewer explains how to uproot anxiety at its source using brain-based techniques and small hacks accessible to anyone.
According to Dr. Brewer, we get stuck in anxiety habit loops that we can’t think our way out of or use willpower to overcome.
This book teaches us how to discover our triggers, defuse them, and train our brains using mindfulness and other practices.
A Great Books For Overthinking Christians
Get Out of Your Head: Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts by Jennie Allen
In Get Out of Your Head, Jennie inspires and equips us to transform our emotions, outlook, and circumstances by taking control of our thoughts.
Our enemy is determined to get in our heads to make us feel helpless, overwhelmed, and incapable of making a difference for the kingdom of God.
But when we submit our minds to Christ, the promises and goodness of God flood our lives in remarkable ways.
It starts in your head. And from there, the possibilities are endless.
The Battlefield of the Mind -By Joyce Meyer
If you suffer from negative thoughts, they can take heart! There is hope.
In The Battlefield of the mind, Joyce Meyer shows readers that worry, doubt, confusion, depression, anger, and feelings of condemnation: are attacks on the mind and that we can change our lives by changing our minds.
She teaches how to deal with thousands of thoughts that people think every day and how to focus the mind the way God thinks.
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FAQs: Books for the Overthinker
Q: How can books help with overthinking?
Books provide a therapeutic escape for overthinkers by offering diverse perspectives, engaging narratives, and valuable insights. They often provide a mental break and a chance to focus on a structured storyline or concept.
Q: Are there specific genres that work well for overthinkers?
While preferences vary, genres like self-help, psychology, mindfulness, and fiction with complex narratives tend to resonate well with overthinkers. (I love them all!)
Experimenting with different genres allows individuals to discover what works best for you.
Q: Can fiction books be helpful for overthinkers?
Absolutely. I find that fictional stories with rich character development and intricate plots captivate my overthinker’s mind and provide a temporary escape from my busy thoughts. 🙂
Q: How can overthinkers use books to manage stress and anxiety?
Reading books on stress management, mindfulness, or novels with relatable characters navigating similar challenges can offer coping mechanisms and a sense of connection. The act of reading itself can be a calming and centering activity.
Q: Can reading too much exacerbate overthinking tendencies?
It’s essential to strike a balance. While reading is generally a healthy activity, overthinkers should be mindful of obsessive behavior. Taking breaks, diversifying reading materials, and practicing moderation can help maintain a healthy relationship with books.
Q: Can reading become a form of escapism for overthinkers?
Yes, reading serves as a healthy form of escapism for overthinkers! At least that has been my experience. 🙂
Engaging in captivating stories or informative literature can temporarily shift focus, providing a mental break and helping manage overthinking tendencies.
Best Books for Overthinkers Based on Circumstances:
For business and career advice, try: Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
If you’re looking for a relationship book that will help you stop overthinking things, check out, The Overthinker’s Guide to Love by Kristen Ruth Smith
Want to learn how eating the right foods can calm anxiety? Pick up a copy of The Anti-anxiety Food Solution: by Trudy Scott.
If you struggle with bad habits or addictions, pick up a copy of Rewire by Richard O’Connor
And if you want a book to help you take your mind off your overthinking habits, try “The Happiness Project” by Gretchen Rubin.
Conclusion: The Best Books for Overthinkers
As an overthinker myself, I can attest that there is nothing wrong with getting lost in your thoughts from time to time.
Some of my best ideas have come from when I’ve taken the time to think things through. When I dwell too long in my thinking, it can become a problem.
If you’re an overthinker like me, hopefully, this book list has pointed you in the right direction toward a few good books that may help you navigate overthinking.
Happy reading!
XO, Christine
I’ve been keeping it real since 1963. 🙂
I’m a child of God, a wifey, mama, grandma, full-time creative, domestic engineer, and self-care enthusiast.
I am obsessed with all things makeup and skincare and love getting my hands dirty out in the garden, my art room, or in the kitchen, whipping up something yummy for the fam.
I’m always down to chat and love collaborating with other creatives and brands alike!
Feel free to reach out anytime!
