21/02/2023
Rumination can be a bit like a thought tornado spiralling us into negative thoughts, assumptions and predictions and can generate emotional distress 🌪🤯
Rumination is a cognitive process whereby we overthink the past and future and focus our attention on negative content. It is very common and all of us will engage in this from time to time, particularly when we are under stress. Rumination is often a co-occurring symptom of anxiety and depression.
We may hold the belief that by ruminating, we are going to solve a problem, gain insight or better prepare ourselves for the worst case scenario. However, rumination keeps us stuck, keeps us focussed on things out-with our control and generates negative repetitive thought cycles. It can also lead us to make negative, unhelpful and unrealistic predictions.
Unhelpful rumination often involves asking ‘why’ questions such as “why did this happen to me?” This type of questioning can lead us to focus more on the problem, the causes and the worst case. It can be helpful to replace ‘why’ questions with ‘how’ and ‘what’ questions. For example, “how can I get myself out of this situation?” and “what can I learn from this?” and “what can I do to make this better?” This can allow us to process events and problems from a more helpful stance of problem solving. We can also take back our control and engage in a more productive reflective way of thinking.
