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We’re all guilty of doing it. We try not to, and we know we shouldn’t, but we just can’t resist the urge. When it gets too tough to do it alone, we drag our friends and family down into that dark little pit with us, creating accomplices to our act of guilty pleasure. Drained of energy and stressed almost to the point of mental breakdown, we finish the job and vow never to return to this evil place of tension and strain ever again.

Yet invariably, we will.

Over-analysis is a method we all use in the search for solutions to tough problems. Shredding a much larger situation into smaller, easier-to-deal-with pieces, analysis allows us to get a better hold on something seemingly too mammoth for our own two hands. With every rip and tear we discover a new question to answer, a new avenue to ponder, allowing us to feel we are in control of the situation; with every possibility outlined, we feel as if nothing can surprise us. Nothing, that is, besides stress.

Although some over-analysis is completely normal, even helpful, too much analyzing is simply that—too much. According to Lisa Lipani M.S.W., C.S.W., a psychotherapist in Rochester, N.Y., the word itself implies excess; when you’re over-analyzing, you’re “going over and over and over something to find out the cause.” While in medical or legal circumstances this process is necessary, most of us really have no need to spend this much time worrying about everyday situations. When we do, however, we often find the process turning into a vicious cycle.

The irony about over-analysis lies in the reasoning behind why we over-analyze in the first place. When we feel we don’t have control over an event, we become almost obsessive in our attempts to get a handle on what’s going on. Once the obsession sets in, however, we often lack the control to stop it; this leads to even more obsessing in order to regain some sort of control. Like a twisted version of a merry-go-round ride, the cycle just keeps spinning and spinning, each facet of the problem providing the fuel behind the motion. “It’s a continuous loop,” Lipani explains, and the more time spent within the cycle, the more stress is created.

Just like a merry-go-round ride ends without having traveled anywhere, so too does the over-analysis process. Each new solution and possibility we find or create during our analysis of a situation only leads to more stress and frustration. As Lipani expounds, the over-analyzer finds “so many answers [that] no one answer can be decided upon.” Exasperation builds as the end seems further and further from sight. Lipani warns, however, “you’ll never get a resolution if the loop keeps going and going.”

And the anxiety this causes can overflow into other areas. The residual stress created by the process of over-analysis can affect work and school, as well as social and family relationships. “Obsessing takes up so much time and energy that other areas begin to suffer,” Lipani says.

Why, then, would anyone put himself or herself in this position?

For most people, the problem of over-analysis is due mostly to their personality and how they reason through problems. For others, though, the problem may stem from biogenetic or hereditary factors. People with obsessive-compulsive disorder, or who have obsessive qualities associated with Tourette’s syndrome, may be over-analytical due to the chemical nature of their disorders. Also, highly intelligent people tend to have more analytical minds. Always worrying about everything, this type of person feels the need to analyze the most common of situations. “They get some little piece of information and make all types of questions [surrounding the information],” Lipani explains.

But over-analysis is not a warning sign of mental or biological problems, Lipani assures. “There are different degrees of the problem; some [people] have only a little bit of the problem.”

Analytical minds can also be the byproduct of one’s profession. Schooling behind some professions can train the mind to think in a more critical way, causing more analysis of everyday occurrences. Lipani even finds this quality in herself. “When I’m talking to my husband, he finds my questions to be too picky or too deep for the type of conversation [we’re having],” she says. “But that’s what I was trained to do; that’s my job.”

Through her job, Lipani has encountered many individuals whose lives are unduly stressful because of their over-analytical tendencies. And for those without chemical or biological disorders, there are ways to stop the cycle of control and obsession. Lipani suggests learning cognitive behavioral skills and different approaches to changing thoughts. One method is a sort of thought interruption. With this skill, over-analyzers learn to recognize when they are being consumed with obsessive, analytical thoughts, and then find ways to distract themselves from continuing the stressful thinking. “It’s an awareness of how you’re thinking and figuring out how to stop [the thoughts] and replace them with other [thoughts] or a distracting behavior,” Lipani explains.

Relaxation techniques are also helpful in quelling over-analytical tendencies. Meditation is one of the easiest methods to de-stress and quiet the mind. “The goal of meditation is to quiet the ‘monkey mind,’” Lipani explains. “That’s the part of the mind that is constantly working and being noisy.” Through meditation and similar techniques the mind can be quieted and calmed, and stress levels lowered.

So the next time a situation comes up and the urge to over-analyze strikes, take a moment to think…and then strike back. Try and focus on another activity, or do something that requires full use of your mind and thoughts. But if the desire to obsess and nitpick remains, remember that it’s OK, every now and then, to just rip a situation to shreds until you get to the bottom of it. Just don’t let the stress pull you onto a merry-go-round ride you didn’t pay for.