Reflection (ruminating) is a chronic focus on problems, unpleasant life circumstances, or symptoms of depression that serves to maintain depressive episodes. Ruminating can prolong depression, and can make future depressive episodes more likely.
The habit of rumination is often developed in childhood. If you are a child who is sensitive to criticism or who does not have many sources of self-assurance, you are likely to ruminate about minor setbacks.
Causes of Rumination
There are many possible causes of rumination, but some of the most common include:
- Feeling overwhelmed or helpless
- Low self-esteem or feeling defective in some way
- Difficult life events or problems that seem insurmountable
- Seeing oneself as a victim
Ruminating thoughts or ruminative thinking styles are often triggered by:
- Life stressors or major life changes, such as a death, illness, or divorce
- Sensitivity to negative feedback from others
- Negative thoughts about oneself
According to American Psychological Association, there are three main styles of ruminative thinking:
- Discrepancy – focusing on discrepancies between the way things are and the way they “should” be, or ruminating about a specific event that did not go as planned
- Dysphoric – seeing everything as negative; making overarching negative judgments; believing all misfortune is significant or permanent
- Self-referent – ruminating about oneself, one’s experiences, or one’s feelings
Downward ruminations are more likely to lead to depressive symptoms than upward ruminations. This is because downward ruminations tend to focus on things that cannot be changed, such as negative self-attribution and past failures. These types of thoughts tend to prolong and intensify depressive symptoms.
Rumination: An obsessive-compulsive disorder
The negative thinking of ruminators can lead to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). In OCD, the ideas keep coming back and people cannot stop them from occurring. Rumination is similar because you try very hard to get rid of a thought but it will not go away.
Distracting the mind with repetitive thoughts or activities (compulsions) is a common way to try to stop rumination.
Rumination may lead to other mental health conditions
Depressive rumination is linked to other mental health conditions, such as OCD, generalized anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, social phobia, and eating disorders.
Obsessive thinking, also known as rumination, is a type of thinking where a person repetitively thinks about the same problem or question without being able to find an answer.
Rumination is also associated with personality disorders. It tends to have a more negative bent – often including thought patterns that involve pessimism and cognitive distortions and focusing mainly on the negative aspects of a situation. It affects the way people relate to one another. People who ruminate may feel tense in social settings or have problems interacting appropriately with others. The tendency to ruminate can be assessed with the Ruminative-responses scale (RRS).
How to Stop Rumination Professionally
Few mental health professionals suggests that there are a few things that can be done to stop rumination:
- Identify the thoughts that tend to trigger rumination. Once these thoughts have been identified, they can be challenged and reframed. For example, if you find yourself ruminating about something your boss said, you need to challenge the thoughts—is there a chance that your boss was having a bad day? What other explanations can you think of for why he or she made those comments?
- Pause before engaging in rumination. Ruminating is often unproductive and self-defeating. If you find yourself ruminating about something, do not continue to beat yourself up or let the thoughts take over. Pause and think about other possibilities for what may have occurred.
- Practice mindfulness. Mindfulness meditation focuses on the present moment instead of the past or future. By practicing mindfulness, you are able to become more aware of your thoughts and feelings. For example, when you notice that you are ruminating, pay attention to the thoughts and feelings that are occurring at that moment.
- Seek social support. It can be helpful to talk to someone about such thoughts and feelings that are causing you distress. Talking to a friend or therapist can help you gain a different perspective on the situation.
- Get adequate sleep and exercise. Lack of sleep and exercise can contribute to rumination. Make sure you are getting enough shut-eye (7 to 8 hours per night) and try to get regular exercise, which has been shown to improve your mood.
- Seek professional medical advice if the rumination is proving to be too much for you to handle on your own. If the thoughts are persistent, intrusive, and causing you a great deal of distress, then it is important to seek professional help.
Treatment for Rumination
At Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, we specialize in the treatment of certain mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety, including treatments to stop ruminating thoughts. CBT interventions are specifically designed to teach people how to stop ruminating thoughts. CBT for ruminating involves a combination of learning new ways of thinking and behaving to stop ruminating thoughts. Unlike traditional talk therapy, CBT is targeted to the problems that need addressing and focuses on current factors maintaining symptoms. CBT treatment for ruminating usually involves some combination of the following components:
Functional Analysis: Functional analysis is a way of identifying all of the factors that serve to maintain ruminating. Through functional analysis, it becomes clear which behaviors need to change in order to stop rumination.
- Behavioral Activation: Behavioral activation involves increasing rewarding behavior, as depression tends to cause people to withdraw from pleasurable or mastery-inducing activities. By shifting the mode of problem-solving from thinking to taking action, ruminating and depression are dramatically reduced.
- Cognitive Restructuring: Cognitive restructuring involves identifying the unhelpful thoughts that are the focus of rumination, and learning new, more balanced ways of thinking about things. By replacing unhelpful ruminating with more reality-based thinking, it becomes easier to stop ruminating thoughts.
- Mindfulness Training: Mindfulness is the practice of bringing one’s attention to the present. This is used in therapy for ruminating, as ruminating can be understood as getting lost in thoughts. Mindfulness, on the other hand, is about de-fusing from thoughts and engaging fully in life.
Many academic research institutions have suggested CBT as the most effective form of psychotherapy for Rumination Disorder. If rumination is significantly impacting your life, it might be time to seek out a therapist who specializes in CBT interventions.
Some Lifestyle Changes
People ruminate for a variety of reasons. It’s important to try and identify why you might be ruminating so that you can address the underlying issue. However, there are also some general tips that might help stop rumination thoughts from occurring:
Pay attention to your body. When you start to ruminate, take a moment to notice the physical sensations that are occurring in your body. This can help you ground yourself in the present moment.
Label your thoughts. It can be helpful to give your thoughts labels so that you don’t get lost in them. For example, you could say to yourself, “I’m having the thought that I’m a terrible person.”
Challenge your thoughts. Many times, the thoughts that we ruminate on are not accurate or helpful. When you notice that you are ruminating, take a moment to challenge the validity of your thoughts. Is your thought an accurate reflection of reality?
Don’t let yourself get stuck in loops. Rumination is often like a tape playing over and over in our heads. The more we ruminate, the worse it gets — so try to break this cycle by distracting yourself with something you enjoy.
If your ruminating thoughts are severely impacting your life, it might be time to seek professional help.
Identify actionable solutions
Rumination differs from normal worry in that rumination often focuses on negative events or thoughts that are out of our control. This can lead to a lot of frustration and feelings of helplessness. One effective way to block ruminating thoughts is to identify actionable solutions to the problem.
For example, if you’re ruminating about an upcoming test, try to come up with a study plan that will help you feel prepared. If you’re ruminating about a fight you had with your partner, try to identify some steps that you can take to repair the relationship.
By taking action and working towards a solution, we are able to reduce the sense of helplessness or the anxiety symptoms that often accompanies rumination.
If you’re struggling with rumination, it can be helpful to take a break from the situation.
Take a Break from it All
Rumination often occurs when we get caught up in a depressed mood and lose sight of what is happening in the present moment. To stop rumination, it can be helpful to simply take a break from the situation.
Healthcare professional suggests that when we take a break from the situation, it allows us to reassess the problem in a more clear and logical manner. This can help us find a solution or come up with a different approach to the problem.
Cognitive Therapy and Research states that these anxious thoughts might be helpful in the short term, but they are usually unhelpful and can lead to more ruminative thoughts in the long run.
Rumination Therapy Techniques
For patient’s informational purposes it is important to know that there are three types of therapy techniques for rumination:
- Behavioral: involves changing the way you behave, such as avoiding certain situations that always lead to rumination or breaking the cycle of rumination by distracting yourself with something enjoyable.
- Cognitive: helps you change the way you think, for example by challenging and reframing negative thoughts about yourself or situations.
- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy: combines cognitive and behavioral techniques, and helps you tolerate difficult emotions and thoughts.
All three of these techniques can be helpful in stopping ruminative thoughts. However, it is important to find the therapy approach that works best for you. If you are struggling with rumination, it is recommended to seek professional help.
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What does it mean when a person is ruminating?
Refrimination refers to an ongoing mental thought centered on something that tends to be dark or sad at times. Rumination may have a negative impact on the mind and body as it tends to prolong or deep-end stress and affect your ability to process and analyze emotions.
Is rumination a form of anxiety?
Rumination is also a common manifestation of anxiety and depression. The symptoms are usually associated with anxiety and depression. When someone is distressed or depressed, topics resonating tend to focus on being too inept or irrelevant.
Is rumination a mental illness?
Rumination is sometimes described as a “silence” psychological problem because its effect is underestimated. These chemicals can cause problems including mania and addiction. But mental illness has large consequences.
What is an example of rumination?
Ruminating ideas are intense ruminations on negative emotions etc. In some cases, people suffering from childhood trauma could not stop the thoughts, while people with depression could often believe in self-destructive thoughts.
