21 Apr Stuck in a loop of worrying thoughts? Here’s how to stop it
To some extent, we all have worrying thoughts.
But for some of us, worrying or ruminating thoughts can be very intense and highly problematic.
Worrying thoughts are associated with anxiety and stress, depression and almost all forms of mental ill-health.
So if one’s goal is to overcome mental ill-health, and to enjoy more happiness and wellbeing, then overcoming rumination is important.
And the good news is that it’s possible …
via Psyche by Megan Rogers
Have you ever been stuck on a single thought, a string of thoughts, or a topic that you keep returning to in your mind over and over again? Perhaps you keep mentally replaying images of that awkward date you had with your long-term crush, thinking about how things could have gone differently. Or perhaps you are apprehensive about an upcoming project and are rehearsing all the ways it could go wrong. Mental rehearsal is a normal and universal experience. However, if you find that you tend to dwell excessively on certain experiences – especially negative ones – you may be engaging in rumination.
What exactly is rumination? It’s defined as a tendency to repetitively fixate on the causes, meaning and consequences of one’s distress. Rumination is characterised by a style of thought (repetitive and obsessive) rather than the specific content of thoughts; however, it most often involves a preoccupation with negative content. Moreover, some evidence suggests that rumination may reflect difficulties with disengaging from negative information, as opposed to a tendency to easily engage with it.
If you tend to ruminate, you may be wondering what the harm is. Often, rumination starts as an attempt to make sense of, and move on from, a frustrating, depressing or anxiety-inducing experience. Other times, it stems from the desire to solve a problem or prevent one from occurring in the future. In these instances, rumination might help you feel as though you are more in control and that you are capable of handling problems or threats. But frequent rumination can induce chronic stress and worsen mental health difficulties.
Researchers have divided rumination into two subtypes: brooding and reflection. Brooding involves passively dwelling on one’s distress without active attempts at problem-solving, and it has been consistently associated with a host of negative mental health outcomes. If you find yourself repetitively wondering what you’ve done to deserve your current situation or simply fixating on how poorly a recent conversation went, you might be engaging in brooding rumination. Reflection, on the other hand, is more analytical and involves attempts to understand the reasons for one’s distress. This might look like repetitively analysing recent events and thoughts in an effort to better understand your feelings. Despite the potential benefits of problem-solving and understanding one’s thoughts and behaviours, reflective rumination, too, has been linked to mental health problems.
The mental health outcomes related to rumination are wide-ranging. Researchers have linked rumination to the onset, continuation and recurrence of multiple psychological disorders, including major depressive episodes, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, alcohol/substance use disorders, and eating disorders. And a meta-analysis that I conducted found that rumination is associated with suicidal ideation and attempts, both concurrently and prospectively over time. These findings highlight that this style of thought is not merely a symptom of one disorder, but potentially a driving feature of many…
… keep reading the full & original article HERE