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- Rumination involves negative thought patterns that are immersive or repetitive. Many people slip into rumination when trying to process their emotions, but they become “stuck” in negative patterns of replaying past hurts without moving toward solutions or feelings of resolution.
www.verywellmind.com/repetitive-thoughts-emotional-processing-or-rumination-3144936Rumination: Definition, Signs, Causes, Effects, and How to Cope
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Aug 28, 2024 · Rumination is a pattern of negative thoughts. It often becomes a cycle of negative thinking and can contribute to mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, and OCD. People can ruminate over anything, from an embarrassing moment to the loss of a loved one to a breakup.
- Overview
- Signs of Rumination
- Rumination vs. Emotional Processing
- Causes of Rumination
- Impact of Rumination
- How to Overcome Rumination
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Rumination involves repetitive and passive thoughts focused on the causes and effects of a person's distress. However, these thoughts do not lead to the person engaging in active coping mechanisms or problem-solving strategies that would relieve distress and improve mood.
While people are prone to rumination from time to time, it can magnify stress to the point that it creates additional problems. Rumination is associated with many negative effects on the mind and body.
Unfortunately, these repetitious thoughts are an easy mode to slip into when people are stressed. This pattern often begins with the simple desire to solve the problems that people are experiencing.
What does rumination look like, and how is it different from productive emotional processing? Rumination and emotional processing both focus on problems and usually on emotions surrounding these problems.
Rumination, however, 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. Emotional processing, by contrast, may start out this way, but leads to acceptance and release of negative emotions, while rumination keeps you "stuck."
As a general rule, the following can be indicators that you may have fallen into the trap of rumination:
•Focusing on a problem for more than a few idle minutes
•Feeling worse than you started out feeling
•No movement toward accepting and moving on
As you look at the difference between rumination and emotional processing, you might have several concerns:
•If we don’t think about our problems, how can we hope to solve them or learn from the process?
•Should we just focus only on the positive?
•Don’t we sacrifice growth and solutions if we don’t focus on unpleasant situations from time to time?
These are important questions because knowing the happy midpoint between ignoring problems and engaging in rumination can save us a lot of stress.
Rumination involves negative thought patterns that are immersive or repetitive. Many people slip into rumination when trying to process their emotions, but they become “stuck” in negative patterns of replaying past hurts without moving toward solutions or feelings of resolution.
It is normal to ruminate on things from time to time, particularly if you are thinking about a stressful or upsetting experience. People may ruminate because they believe they can solve a problem or gain insight by thinking about it repeatedly. Having a history of trauma or dealing with stressful situations in the present can also contribute to rumination.
Some factors that might cause rumination:
•Certain personality traits such as perfectionism or neuroticism
•Stressful events such as job loss or a relationship break up
•Poor self-esteem
•Stressing about something you fear
Rumination is also associated with several different mental health conditions. These conditions can contribute to rumination, but experiencing these repetitive thoughts can also contribute to or worsen the symptoms of these conditions.
Mental conditions that can cause rumination or be worsened by it include:
•Anxiety is often marked by worrying or ruminating over specific fears or anticipated situations. Research has shown that rumination is a risk factor for anxiety.
•Depression can cause people to ruminate over negative thoughts. Numerous studies have linked rumination as a significant risk factor for the onset of depression. Research suggests that rumination can be a maladaptive way of responding to a depressed mood, leading to more feelings of depression.
•Eating disorders can cause people to ruminate about food, dieting, and exercising. Research has found that people who exhibit eating disorder psychopathology are more likely to experience ruminating thoughts, and such thoughts tend to decrease mood and cause more negative body-related thoughts.
•Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) causes intrusive, obsessive thoughts that may lead to compulsive behaviors to relieve distress. One study found that rumination plays a role in maintaining OCD symptoms that can also contribute to depressed mood.
Rumination can be difficult to give up, especially if you don't recognize it as rumination or don't know how to stop. Letting go of stress and anger can help with ruminative thinking. Properly dealing with negative emotions can also help with rumination and the feelings of stress that come with it.
Some strategies that might help you learn to let go of repetitive thoughts include:
•Try meditation: Meditation can help relieve feelings of stress and redirect thoughts toward less negative patterns.
•Distract yourself: When you ruminate on negative thoughts, break out of the pattern by doing something to distract yourself from your thoughts. Try doing a puzzle, reading a book, calling a friend, or watching a movie.
•Challenge your thoughts: Remind yourself that thoughts are not facts. Instead of accepting a negative thought as reality, actively challenge it and look for alternative explanations.
•Engage in exercise: Physical activity can be a great way to distract from negative thoughts, but research has also found that it can significantly reduce rumination in people with a mental health diagnosis.
- Elizabeth Scott, Phd
Stress-reactive rumination is a pervasive detailed reviewing of painful experiences that specific stressful events induced and a cognitive bias enhances by memorising these events generally more stressful that they were while triggering depression.
Rumination: Definition, Examples, and How to Stop. Reviewed by Tchiki Davis, MA, PhD. Rumination is tiring, frustrating, and distressing. Keep reading to learn more about rumination and tips to help you overcome obsessive thinking.
Jan 13, 2011 · So rumination clearly sucks. It is associated with depression, worry, anxiety, neuroticism and other personal issues. It may also lead to biases in memory and problem solving. However, it isn't all bad news – there are ways of avoiding these negative consequences.
Rumination refers to the mental process of continuously thinking about the same thoughts or experiences, often revolving around negative or distressing events. It involves repetitively analyzing, evaluating, and dwelling on past situations, problems, or perceived failures.
Jan 30, 2018 · Rumination is a process of uncontrolled, narrowly focused negative thinking that is often self-referential, and that is a hallmark of depression. Despite its importance, little is known about its cognitive mechanisms. Rumination can be thought of as a specific, constrained form of mind-wandering.
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