In this short video, I explain why a racing, analysing mind rarely talks itself into peace, and where we look instead when we work on it together by video.
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Online overthinking therapy helps you when your mind keeps turning over the same choices, conversations and what-ifs long after the thinking has stopped being useful. Sessions are individual, by video and in English, a 1-hour appointment with 50 minutes of therapy, booked at a time that works in your own time zone.
I help you see what the loop is doing for you, which feeling it keeps at arm’s length and where the habit of analysing instead of feeling began. Overthinking is one focused strand of online anxiety therapy, which sits within my wider online psychotherapy.
To take a next step, arrange a free 30-minute call, find a session time, read through my client policy or get in touch by message.
Online overthinking therapy is for English-speaking adults, wherever they live, whose thoughts keep circling and will not let a question rest. You are probably thoughtful and capable, yet hours vanish into analysing, replaying and preparing. You want a quieter head and a way back into your own life.
Sometimes thinking too much is part of a different difficulty, and then another kind of help fits more closely. If one of these lines describes you, the linked page is a better place to start.
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These reviews describe clients’ experiences of working with me. They come from my wider practice and do not all relate to online sessions. Each person’s experience is their own, and a review does not promise a particular outcome.
“Since my first client in 2004, I have met very few overthinkers who lacked ideas. What they lacked was permission to feel. The loop looks like problem-solving, yet it is usually a guard posted outside a feeling you would rather not open. Beneath the analysis I hear ‘If I choose wrongly, will they stop caring about me?’ and, close beside it, ‘If I can solve this alone, I never have to lean on anyone.’ Sometimes both arrive together: ‘Decide with me, but never decide for me.’ No amount of thinking settles a question that is really a feeling. When you turn towards the feeling, the mind usually quietens by itself.”
Mark Colclough, MA, psychotherapist and EFT couples therapist
I am Mark Colclough, MA. I have practised since 2004 and offer online psychotherapy and couples therapy in English.
My training brings together your emotions, your thoughts and your relationships. My deep passion is the moment when what happens between you finally makes sense, to each of you and to each other. I have lived and worked in nine countries, so I know something of life across languages, cultures and borders.
Read about my background, or explore online psychotherapy and online couples therapy.
I meet regularly with experienced psychotherapists to reflect on my work, question my understanding and develop my skills. Supervision is part of the professional care I bring to individual and couples work, including online sessions.
My focus is thoughtful practice, integrity and responsibility.
You are welcome to ask about the kind of support you need.
Tell me where you are based and your time zone. We can then consider whether online sessions together are suitable.
Lucía is 33, a lawyer from Seville who has worked in Dublin for 6 years. Her partner has been offered a post in Melbourne and wants an answer by the end of the month. Lucía has a document of pros and cons running to 11 pages. She rings her sister in Spain at night, asks her opinion, then argues with every point. She sleeps badly, rereads her partner’s messages for signs of impatience, and feels that whichever way she chooses, she will regret it.
I would leave the document aside and ask Lucía what she imagines feeling the morning after she says yes, and the morning after she says no. In a first video session she would probably notice that the loop is protecting her from a grief about leaving, or about staying, that she has not yet allowed herself to feel.
I have presented this clinical example as a compound of 22 years of clinical practice.
You have tried to reason your way to calm, and your mind has only become louder for it.
No particular moment or reason is required before you seek help for overthinking. If your mind is taking more of your day than your life is, if the same questions keep stealing your sleep, or if the people close to you feel shut out by your thinking, that is enough. You do not need a diagnosis, a neat theory of your mind or a crisis. Over 22 years of practice I have learned to recognise when a careful mind has turned into a loop that needs professional attention.
I will help you see what the circling is about, what keeps it running and what has to change for it to ease. Read the 6 questions below and see how many describe your week.
If so, it is time to do something about it. You walk home from dinner and review every sentence you said. A simple choice swallows an hour. Your body stays slightly braced, waiting for the answer to a calculation that never ends, and people tell you that you seem far away.
I would look at when the loops are strongest, which questions set them off and whether they ease when life is calm. That tells us whether this is a busy patch or a habit that will not let go by itself. If you see yourself here, book a session with me and we can look at one loop together.
Many people who overthink feel exactly this, and both wishes make sense. One part of you wants a decision and an end to the circling. Another part fears what an answer would bring: a door closing, a loss to mourn, a responsibility to carry.
I treat neither side as the enemy. I work with these as inner voices, each holding something worth hearing. I help you discover what the hesitant part is protecting and what the impatient part is longing for, so that when you do choose, it is your choice and not just the loop giving up.
A brief reply, a missing greeting or a pause on a call, and your mind is away. You scroll back, compare, theorise, and delete the question you nearly sent. Until you know where you stand, you cannot rest.
Wanting to feel sure of the people you love is legitimate, and I will not shame it. I help you notice the moment that uncertainty turns into an alarm, usually well before there is any evidence. Then we work on asking directly, so the theories no longer have to do the asking for you.
Yes, and it can confuse the people around you. You phone a friend in a spin and ask what they would do. As soon as an answer comes, you bristle, list the flaws in it and hang up soon after. Part of you wanted company in the problem. Another part could not bear to be steered.
I help you slow this down in our sessions, so we can see exactly when wanting help turns into fending it off. Often it is the moment someone seems to take the decision from you. I respect that reflex, and I will also ask you to see its cost.
For many people, thinking is a place to hide. When a partner wants to talk about feelings, or a family call turns emotional, you become reasonable, analytical and slightly absent. You summarise and explain, and somehow you are no longer in the conversation. Inside, it feels like being in charge. From the outside, it looks like a door quietly shutting.
In my view this distance usually protects something real, and I will not shame your need for quiet. I help you discover what it shields you from, so you can stay with a feeling a little longer without being overwhelmed. We practise saying “Give me 10 minutes, then I am back” before the retreat becomes a wall.
This happens after years of overthinking. When every choice must pass through a long internal committee, the quiet voice of your own wish gets outvoted. You know what is sensible, what others expect and what would be easiest to defend, but not what you would choose if nobody were looking.
I help you find it again, which often means looking at where you learned that your wishes had to be justified first. I will challenge you when you hide behind reasoning, but I will not tell you who to be. What we are working towards is a plain, trusted sense of your own preferences.
If you recognised your own loops here, a free call lets you talk it through, and booking a session lets you start without another round of deliberation.
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Tell me briefly what kind of support you are looking for.
Include your country and time zone so we can discuss whether online work together is possible and find a suitable time.
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Knowing why you overthink is a start, but the work has to change how you decide, rest and meet the people in your life.
Working on overthinking with me will help you understand what your mind is doing when it loops, see the pattern that keeps it alive and make changes you notice in your evenings, your choices and your relationships. Most overthinkers already have plenty of insight.
In 22 years of practice, I have found that this work moves when I play an active part. I will not just listen while you think out loud. I will interrupt the loop, say what I notice and bring you back to what you feel. These 6 questions show what we aim for.
Related reading: Why can’t I stop going over things in my head? and Why am I calm all day and anxious at bedtime?.
The email, the move, the comment in the meeting are rarely the real subject. Underneath sits a feeling the thinking is designed to manage: fear of regret, dread of disappointing someone, shame about mistakes, or grief about a road not taken.
I tell you what I think the loop is protecting, which questions deserve real thought and which explanations keep you stuck, such as “I am just a careful person.” When you feel ready, book a session with me and bring one recent loop with you.
You can learn to feel the moment a thought turns into a spiral, and that is where change begins. There is usually a first step: a flicker of unease, a question that starts with “what if”, a reach for your phone or a new browser tab. Once you sense that step, a short pause opens in which you can do something else.
I help you slow the chain down until each link is visible: the trigger, the feeling it stirs, the first thought and the urge to solve it now. Seeing it is not enough. We practise stepping out, in sessions and between them, until you can do it at your desk without anyone reminding you.
Calming your mind does not mean emptying it or forcing thoughts away. It means being present enough to notice what is happening and decide how to respond. A racing mind is usually a body on alert, and arguing with the thoughts leaves the alert switched on.
I help you spot the physical signs of a loop sooner and understand what your nervous system is bracing for. We find simple ways back into your body and the room you are in. They only work if you practise them daily between sessions, so I will ask you to.
Speaking freely starts with knowing what you feel and need, not what you have prepared. Overthinkers often rehearse an important talk for days, then deliver a polished speech that leaves out the real point, or never have it at all. Fear of being misunderstood keeps the words locked in your head.
I help you find words that are honest, specific and sized to the situation. I will challenge you when you over-prepare to avoid being seen, and when you expect others to read meaning between your lines.
Decisions become possible once you separate what you know and value from fear, habit, duty and the hope of a perfect option. Overthinking treats every choice as if enough information could make it risk-free. It never can, so the question stays open, and leaving it open becomes a choice of its own.
We lay out the options that are actually on the table and what each would demand. You hear my view, and I will name it whenever analysis is standing in for choosing. I will not choose for you. If high standards keep the question open, online perfectionism therapy looks at that directly.
Real change shows up outside our sessions. Can you leave a party without reviewing it all night, send an email and move on, book a trip without a week of research? You may need new evening habits and a limit on how long a decision may take.
Together we separate the careful thinking worth keeping from the circling that only drains you. The aim is that your mind works for you, and that you can tell when it has stopped.
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You do not need to have worked your thinking out before you come. We start with the loop that is running now and what you want to change.
When you begin, I listen carefully, help you name the loop that costs you most and give the work a direction from the very first session. Please do not prepare in detail. I need neither a diagnosis nor your history in order.
Overthinking work is a focused form of online psychotherapy, structured individual work on your inner life and your relationships. If your thinking mostly circles your relationship and your partner is willing, online couples therapy offers long-term relational development and healing. A therapy bundle gives real savings and an agreed plan when you know the work will take a while.
I ask what brings you now, which loops take most of your time, what you have tried and what you hope will be different. I also ask for one recent loop in detail, because a single real example tells us more than any general description. Your life story can come later.
By the end I give you my first understanding of what the thinking protects, and propose a direction. You decide whether my approach feels useful. If you want to ask questions before committing, book a free 30-minute call first.
Individual work is right when the loop lives mainly in you: in how you decide, rest, handle uncertainty and keep feelings at a distance. That is true of most overthinking, even when it is about other people. We can explore your relationships closely with nobody else on the call.
Working one to one, I hold the thread between sessions, steer us back when we drift into analysis and tell you when a clever argument is just another loop. To look at your life more broadly, online psychotherapy describes my structured individual work as a whole.
Couples therapy is the better route when your thinking has fixed on the relationship and the relationship most needs the work. If the 2 of you keep having the same argument about decisions, or one of you analyses while the other withdraws, the pattern lives between you as well as inside you.
In couples work I help you both see the cycle you are caught in, own your part and build steadier ways of being together. Online couples therapy is long-term relational development and healing, not the settling of one disagreement.
The right pace depends on how much the loops cost you, how much room your life has and how much continuity the work needs. Overthinking fills any gap with more analysis, so long breaks often let the old habit take over again.
I recommend starting weekly, or every second week if weekly is not possible. I will tell you honestly if sessions are too far apart for anything to build, and when we can safely space them out. To work on one big decision in a concentrated way, back-to-back online psychotherapy places several sessions within a few days.
A bundle makes sense when you know the work will take several sessions and you want continuity instead of deciding after each one whether to continue. Otherwise the question “shall I book again?” becomes one more loop.
A bundle also brings the price of each session down, and I will tell you honestly whether it fits. The few options are on therapy discounts and bundles and in the cards lower down.
The work has done its job when the loops have loosened enough for you to carry on without the same support. You will still think carefully. The difference is that you can stop, decide, sleep and be present, and you can tell when your mind is helping and when it is circling.
We take stock openly at agreed points, and I have no interest in keeping you in therapy longer than it serves you. Sessions can thin out, pause or end once the work is done. Returning one day with a fresh question would not undo what you gained.
Unsure whether this is where to begin? Here is how online overthinking therapy compares with the options that sit closest to it.
| Option | Choose it when | Pace |
|---|---|---|
| Online overthinking therapy (this page) | Your mind keeps circling decisions, conversations and what-ifs long after it helps. | Weekly 1-hour video sessions at first |
| Online anxiety therapy | The looping is part of a broader, physical worry that colours most days. | Weekly or fortnightly video sessions |
| Online intrusive thoughts therapy | Unwanted, disturbing thoughts arrive suddenly and frighten you. | Regular 1-hour video sessions |
| Online perfectionism therapy | You keep questions open because nothing ever feels good enough. | A steady course of video sessions |
Online overthinking therapy with me is individual psychotherapy by video, in English, for adults whose minds keep circling decisions, conversations and worries after thinking has stopped helping. Rather than teaching tricks to stop thoughts, it helps you understand what the loop protects you from and where the habit began.
I work in depth, with the whole person: your feelings, your body, your relationships and what your family taught you about mistakes and uncertainty. It is a branch of online anxiety therapy.
Come when the thinking is costing you sleep, presence, decisions or closeness, or when people you love feel shut out by it. You do not need to wait until it has worn you down. If you suspect your head has taken over, trust that suspicion.
I look at how long the loops have run, how far they reach and what you have given up because of them. Months of effort with the loop still winning is a clear signal.
Yes, I can often help you overthink far less, though not by switching your mind off. How quickly that happens varies, and I sell no shortcuts. What shifts is your relationship to the loop: you notice it sooner, understand it and step out more often.
In my clinical experience, the people who change most are those who grow curious about the feeling under the thinking rather than the content of the thoughts. That is where I would put our attention.
Partly, perhaps, but not in the way you fear. A reflective mind may well be part of who you are. The loop that will not let you rest is usually learned, often because thinking ahead once kept you safe, and what was learned can change.
I help you tell the thoughtfulness you want to keep apart from the habit that drains you. We look at where it started, what it protected then and whether it still needs to. You keep your mind and lose some of its tyranny.
Because they matter most. When someone is important to you, any sign of distance can feel like danger. Some people respond by checking and asking where they stand. Others pull back and analyse in private, so they never have to ask. Many do both, depending on the day.
I help you see which way you lean, what it is trying to achieve and what it costs. Then we practise steadier options: asking directly, tolerating not knowing for a while and settling yourself without solving the relationship tonight.
I ask you to walk me through a single loop from the last few days: the trigger, the thoughts, the body, the aftermath. A little history follows, since the habit usually has roots. Before we end, I tell you what I think the loop protects and where I suggest we begin.
You do not need to prepare, even if part of you badly wants to. Pick one option and stop there: book your first session or a free 30-minute call.
Plan for a course of sessions over a few months, usually weekly at first, rather than one or 2 conversations. Within that time most people grasp their pattern and begin to act differently. Circling with roots in childhood tends to take longer.
Over 22 years of practice I have found it works far better to commit to a clear first stretch and review it honestly than to reconsider after every session. At the review we agree whether to go on, slow down or stop.
Yes, for most people it works well. Meeting from your own room saves travel time your mind would only fill with more thinking, and your therapy continues if you move or travel.
You will need privacy, headphones, a steady connection and a laptop or tablet rather than a phone. Times are shown in your own time zone. We can settle doubts on a free call.
Overthinking therapy follows the same format as all my individual work: 1-hour online sessions with 50 minutes of therapy. The fee for a session today, in US dollars, is listed on my prices page.
A bundle saves you 10 per cent and spares you the question of whether to come back after each session. There are only a few sizes to choose between, all on therapy discounts and bundles.
Go ahead and book your first session, or choose a free 30-minute discovery call if you would like to ask a few questions aloud first. One line on the question that keeps you up is all I need.
If no time suits you, contact me directly. When something acute is driving the racing thoughts, I keep some room for urgent cases, and acute online psychotherapy explains how that works. Then book, and let this first decision be a simple one.
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I want therapy to help you understand your experience and make choices you can use in everyday life. We pay attention to feelings, needs and the responses that happen before you have time to think.
Our online room should offer enough trust and honesty to explore what is difficult. I bring attention and professional judgement. You bring your experience, questions and the right to say when something does not fit.
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P.S. I’ll call you in a bit!
