Rumination and Mental Health

Ruminating is when you repeatedly go over and over things from your past. It’s a bit like your mind continuously pressing replay on your past; it keeps going on and on and on. I guess you could say its obsessive thinking. It would be lovely if those thoughts going around and around in our minds were positive, but unfortunately, it’s all those negative events, or things we would have preferred to happen differently, that we ruminate or obsess over.

What’s the Difference Between Worry and Rumination?

Worry focuses on the future, tends to use “what if” type thoughts, and we feel anxious or afraid. For example, “What if people don’t like my speech” or “What if I make a fool of myself”. Whereas rumination focuses on the past, involves “I should have” or “if only” type thoughts, and we feel guilt or remorse.

Is Rumination Normal?

To some extent everyone ruminates or dwells on problems or concerns they have with work, relationships, and life in general. Thinking about our problems can be helpful especially if we reach a solution and put it into action. Hence for most people, ruminating is time-limited, it stops when they have solved their problem. However, excessive use of rumination can become problematic.

Unhelpful Rumination

Rumination tends to focus on what has gone wrong in the past and can lead to negative thinking. It can become a fast track to feeling helpless as it paralyses problem solving skills. We become so preoccupied with the problem that we’re unable to push past our cycle of negative thoughts. Unhelpful rumination tends not to be solution focused. Instead it focuses on causes and consequences e.g. “What did I do to deserve this”; “Why do these things always happen to me” and “Will my life get any better?” Instead of “How can I make my life better?”. When people who are depressed ruminate, they remember more negative things that happened to them in the past, they interpret situations in life more negatively, and they feel more hopeless about the future.

Stopping the Rumination Cycle

The first step to gaining control over rumination is to recognise when it happens. Once you think you may be ruminating, continue what you’re doing for two minutes, then stop and ask yourself three questions:

1. Am I making progress toward solving a problem?

2. Do I understand more about my problem or my feeling?

3. Do I feel less self-critical, or less depressed than before I started thinking about this?

Unless the answer to one of these questions is a clear yes, chances are you’re ruminating. Once you catch yourself rumination, try and get some distance from your thoughts. The simplest way to do this is by saying to yourself “I notice I’m ruminating about …”. Gaining distance from your ruminating thoughts will be difficult at first, especially if you are and excessive ruminator. However, like anything, the more you practice, the easier it becomes.

Take the time to notice what’s around you (ground yourself), using your five senses, when you catch yourself ruminating. What can you see, touch, hear, smell, and, taste? You can also use your rumination as a cue to do get active. For example, if you catch yourself ruminating while driving, turn on the radio and start singing. It’s very difficult to ruminate while you are singing. You could also use rumination to cue you to read a book, exercise, garden or watch a movie.