The Pattern Library.
Every overthinking experience follows a pattern. Once you can see the pattern, you can work with it.
Overthinking, rumination, panic, and avoidance all run on patterns. The patterns are predictable. They have entry points, escalation points, and exits. The Pattern Library catalogs the patterns we see most often in the people we work with. Each pattern has its own page. Each pattern routes to the part of the shrinQ system that teaches you what to do.
A pattern is a loop your mind runs. It has four moves in it, close to the same order every time. Your body shifts first. Your brain writes a reason. You react to the reason. The reaction feeds the body, and the loop tightens. See how shrinQ works for the underlying framework, or open any pattern below to see the specific version of the loop.
The reasons your brain writes at step two are named things. They have a whole literature. For the reference explainer on the categories those reasons fall into, see the cognitive distortions entry on Shrinkopedia. shrinQ is the practice layer for working with the loop; Shrinkopedia is the encyclopedia layer for the concepts inside it.
If you're not sure which pattern is yours, a good starting point is the two-minute self-check. It's built to surface the pattern in the shape of your own thinking, without asking you to name it first.
The Reassurance Loop
You ask the same question, feel relief, then the doubt comes back. Each ask buys less.
The Rumination Loop
You replay the past as if enough thinking will fix it. It feels productive and isn't.
The Avoidance Loop
Avoiding the thing drops the anxiety, which trains you to avoid more. Avoidance grows.
The Nighttime Loop
Your mind reactivates the moment you lie down, and worry about sleep makes sleep harder.
The Perfectionism Loop
The standard rises every time you hit it, so finishing and starting both get harder.
The Procrastination Loop
Avoiding the task feels good now, the relief shrinks, and the task gets harder to start.
Why you keep falling into old patterns
You swear this time will be different, stress hits, and the old routine runs anyway.
Why you make yourself small
You hedge, apologize, and take up less room to keep the peace. It costs more than it saves.
The Doomscrolling Loop
You open the app for one thing and keep swiping through bad news, more wound up than when you started.
The Imposter Loop
You get the result, credit luck, and prepare twice as hard next time. The win never counts as yours.
The Masking Loop
You hide how you really think or feel to fit in. It works, and it leaves you exhausted.
Why you overshare when you're hurting
Pain looks for a way out, and sometimes it comes out on whoever's closest. The need is real. The timing is what hurts.
Why forced positivity backfires
Good vibes only works until it doesn't. Pushed down feelings come back louder.
Why old hurts still steer you
A small slight lands like an old wound. That's early experience talking, and you can learn to answer it.
Why your self-care isn't working
The bath helps for an evening. The stress is still there in the morning. Soothing and maintenance aren't the same thing.