Assisting over thinkers to reframe cognitive processes

Abstract

Overthinking refers to the process of dwelling on thoughts and ideas for an extended period of time, often leading to a feeling of mental exhaustion and anxiety. It involves analyzing and interpreting situations and events in excessive detail and repeatedly replaying scenarios in one's mind. We found that people who are experiencing an overthinking issue, are unable to make tough life decisions or when they are dealing with insecurities. Causes of this mental clutter are daily stress, the paradox of choices, too much stuff, and the negativity bias. We also found the SMART (which stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound) goals design approach during our literature study. Through our research paper, we try to solve this issue by employing Design Research Methodology (DRM). During this DRM, we did secondary research, conducted interviews with stakeholders as a part of our primary research, and talked with psychologists to deepen our knowledge in this domain which helped us to define our target users. The outcome of this research was a mobile application that aims to assist overthinkers in social interaction and achieving their individual goals while also assisting them to reframe their cognitive processes. Keywords—Anxiety, Cognitive process, Goals, Overthinkers, Stress.