My partner and I both get stuck in these spiraling thought patterns about different things - I obsess over work decisions that don't matter and they replay every social interaction looking for signs people don't like them. We've started pointing out when the other person is spiraling but somehow that just makes us both more self-conscious about our thoughts and creates this weird meta-loop where we're analyzing our analyzing.
More people experience this than they realize.
Two people caught in separate but interlocking cycles of repetitive thought are inadvertently amplifying each other's mental traps through their attempts to help.
“Where Are You with Rumination and psychological loops?”
If this sounds familiar, the Library can help you find the bigger picture.