Thinking about thinking: second-layer thoughts

Second-layer thoughts are thoughts about emotions and thoughts. For example, you have a presentation coming up. Just thinking about getting up to speak in front of a group has your palms damp and your breathing shallow.

The pre-presentation anxiety is your initial, or first-layer, emotion. A second-layer thought would be: why am I so nervous about this presentation, there must be something really wrong with me to feel this anxiety. You begin to have anxiety about the fact that you’re experiencing anxiety.

Thinking about thinking is also called metacognition. A fancy term for a whirlpool that we all occasionally get stuck in. Metacognition can have its uses.

Thinking about thinking can be useful as a diagnostic tool. If you break down your own thought processes and identify when and where certain thoughts crop up, you can better tackle your approach to the thoughts themselves. Always, you should remember that your thoughts are not you.

EMDR is one way to address the root cause of excessive rumination. Mindfulness meditation is another. The greatest strength lies in our ability to accept the fact that we’re thinking about thinking. As you train your mind to be more resilient, there will be times that you find yourself slipping into a negative cycle of metacognition. That’s okay. The important thing is to trust the process, understand that your brain will let go of these thoughts if you let  them dissolve.

Read up on our full breakdown on what EMDR is and how it works

How to reduce thinking about thinking

There are many different ways to go about reducing the harmful impact of rumination. All of them revolve around accepting thoughts and letting them dissolve, which they always will.

Meditation for overthinking

The real power of meditation lies not in its anxiolytic properties, but in its ability to immediately blunt or remove your capability to feel fear or anxiety. Meditation’s power lies in the space it introduces between your thoughts/emotions and you. It gives you the power to sit in front of a particularly difficult emotion, acknowledge its existence and wait patiently for it to dissolve.

If you’re able to sit with the first-layer thoughts and emotions, the second-layer, fear and anxiety-compounding thoughts, shouldn’t pop up. 

EMDR for second-layer thoughts

EMDR is an excellent tool to get at the root cause of certain cycles of overthinking. Negative rumination cycles often spring up because of a particular traumatic event that triggers them. The event may seem relatively innocuous, but if it’s something your mind keeps returning to and picking at, then it’s worth seeing if EMDR, either self-administered or therapist-led, can help heal that wound and let you move on.

Breathing exercises for overthinking 

Sometimes, what you need to break out of a cycle of thinking about thinking is a short, intense breathing exercise. The exercise below is simple and effective, particularly because it activates the nervous system’s fight or flight response. By staying with the (sometimes difficult) feelings that crop up during the exercise, we force ourselves to be present, letting thoughts and feelings pass. This is essentially the inverse of a breathing technique called Kapalbhati, in which you exhale forcefully and let the inhale happen automatically.

Note: Be prepared to experience tingling in your arms and legs. Becoming lightheaded is also common.

Breathing Technique

• Take 30-40 deep, rapid inhalations in quick succession
• Breath out fully
• Hold for 30 seconds
• Take a deep breath in
• Hold for 15 seconds
• Repeat for 2-4 rounds

Here is a link to a guided version of this breathing exercise

Additional resources from EMDR Healing

• How to self-administer EMDR therapy from home
• Find an EMDR-licensed therapist near you