I don’t think it’s good to call it over-analysing. I would rather call it ‘Thinking for too long and hard about a problem’ where too long means that if you thought about the problem for, say, 5 minutes and then either stopped thinking about it or took some action about it, then that would be ok, whereas if you thought about it for longer than that without letting it go or taking some kind of action about it, then that would be unhealthy for you and those around you (if there are others around you listening to you), as it can cause you and others more stress, worry and anxiety than it is worth.
One has to bear in mind that how much thinking or for how long is to much or too long is very subjective. For example, one person in a group who is listening to someone else analyse a problem or difficulty might be interested in it and have the patience and concentration-span to listen, whereas someone else in the same group isn’t interested in the problem in the first place, needs to do something else very important really soon, has had a crap morning, and isn’t a patient type of person in any case. That person would very easily think that the speaker is over-analysing, and if he/she said this out loud, the other more patient listener might say ‘How can you say that? This is a very interesting subject he/she is talking about, and I want to help him/her to solve the problem’, to which the impatient listener might reply ‘Well I have to get back to doing an essay really soon that’s due first thing tomorrow morning, and I had a really crap morning today, so there!’
One final point: Some people haven’t been brought up in a family that thinks much about things or questions them, and sometimes if they’re asked a simple question about, say, a movie they’ve watched before e.g. what do they think the movie means, what’s the moral of the story, why do they think the actors and actresses were good or not so good, etc, then their response is ‘I don’t know; not sure.’ My girlfriend is like that. I do love her to bits, but sometimes it’s frustrating for me when, for example, I ask here why she doesn’t like a certain actor or actress, to which she responds, ‘I don’t know. I just don’t like him’ – end of! And if I persist in trying to get something more – which I don’t anymore – she will start feeling like her head is spinning because maybe the thoughts are overwhelming her and she doesn’t want to think or talk about it anymore. She does have a lot of good points, mind. She is very kind, gentle, caring and helpful with things around the house. She also does have a good brain on her with some things.
I end here. Thanks to anyone who has read this.