overinternalize means to tend to take responsibility for things one isn't responsible for. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 86 out of 100.
Why “overinternalize” is a great word
OVERINTERNALIZE — [Verb] To take excessive or undue personal responsibility for external events or circumstances. From the English prefix over- (meaning "excessively") + internalize (meaning "to make something internal or personal"). Unlike internalize, which suggests a neutral absorption, or externalize, which projects cause outward, to overinternalize is to construct a private, punitive court where one is always the guilty party. It is the flinch when a plate breaks in another room, the student who hears a teacher's sigh and shoulders the weight of the entire class's failure, and the quiet conviction that a rainy wedding day is a cosmic verdict on your worth—a self-imposed tyranny of believing the world's random arrows were always meant for you.
verb
- To tend to take responsibility for things one isn't responsible for.“Try not to take things personally. You do not want to overinternalize events for which you are not responsible.”