“amygdala sets off a chain reaction of protective and defensive responses (Pittman and Karle 2015). Your heart rate speeds up, and your blood pressure increases. Neurochemicals spill into your bloodstream. The same information setting off your amygdala arrives at your cortex too, milliseconds later. By the time your rational mind catches up with what’s happening inside you, your body has prepped itself to fight, freeze, or flee. This is the point at which rumination kicks in. Sensing the body’s anxiety, your cortex uses its cognitive abilities to control, manage, and make sense of a formless internal experience of danger. How does your mind exert control? Take a wild guess. Bingo. Overthinking.”