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Real overthinking creeps, but this kind flips a switch.

The “switch” that's more easily overlooked is in the immune system, not the mind.

A strep infection or another illness can trigger the immune system to attack the brain.

Most of the time, I see overthinking in children build slowly. It's a worry here, a reassurance-seeking habit there, until a child is quietly stuck in a loop. But every so often in my more than 35 years as a child psychologist, a parent describes something stranger: Their easygoing kid becomes, almost overnight, someone unrecognizable. Parents say things like "He is obsessed with needing reassurance," or "All of a sudden she's terrified of germs or mistakes." The theme is kids who suddenly panic over things that never bothered them a week earlier. That’s not typical overthinking. That’s a red........

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