Abstract
<jats:p>Overthinking is a recurring thought pattern characterized by excessive worry and difficulty letting go of negative thoughts, which can potentially trigger anxiety or other issues that interfere with an individual's psychological well-being. This condition is increasingly found in Gen Z today due to social demands, academic pressure, and uncertainty about the future. This study aims to compare the effectiveness of art therapy and cognitive defusion in reducing overthinking levels in young adults. The method used in this study is a pure quantitative experimental approach with a between-subjects pretest-posttest using a double posttest design. There were 26 young adults aged 18–24 years who were divided into the Art Therapy group (n = 13) and the Cognitive Defusion group (n = 13). Overthinking levels were measured using the Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire (PTQ) at the pretest, posttest 1, and posttest 2 stages. Data analysis was performed using paired sample t-tests and independent sample t-tests. The results showed no statistically significant differences between the two intervention groups. However, there was a decrease in the average score in the Art Therapy group, indicating a decrease in overthinking levels compared to the Cognitive Defusion group. ABSTRAKOverthinking merupakan pola pikir berulang yang ditandai dengan kekhawatiran berlebihan dan memiliki kesulitan untuk melepaskan pikiran negatif, yang berpotensi memicu kecemasan atau hal-hal yang dapat mengganggu kesejahteraan psikologis individu. Kondisi ini semakin banyak ditemukan pada kelompok Gen Z saat ini akibat tuntutan sosial, tekanan akademik, dan ketidakpastian masa depan. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk membandingkan efektivitas art therapy dan cognitive defusion dalam menurunkan tingkat overthinking pada dewasa muda. Metode dalam penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kuantitatif eksperimen murni dengan between subject pretest-posttest using double posttest design. Partisipan berjumlah 26 dewasa muda berusia 18–24 tahun yang dibagi ke dalam kelompok Art Therapy (n = 13) dan Cognitive Defusion (n = 13). Tingkat overthinking diukur menggunakan Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire (PTQ) pada tahap pretest, posttest 1, dan posttest 2. Analisis data dilakukan menggunakan uji paired sample t-test dan independent sample t-test. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan tidak terdapat perbedaan yang signifikan secara statistik antara kedua kelompok intervensi. Namun, terjadi penurunan skor rata-rata pada kelompok Art Therapy yang menunjukkan bahwa terjadi penurunan tingkat overthinking dibandingkan kelompok Cognitive Defusion.</jats:p>