![]() This is especially true as rumination goes on - compassion, patience, and interest may dissipate for those who don’t have the same invested stake in obsessing that a ruminator might.Īdditionally, rumination seems to be a huge correlative factor in the development and severity of clinically diagnosed mental illnesses. Ruminators may reach out to others for confirmation or reinforcement of their negative thoughts and end up either sinking further into their fatalistic mindsets (a process called co-rumination) or end up rebuffed by friends or loved ones for their obsessions, which can end in further feelings of alienation. However, rumination can become unhealthy when it is engaged frequently enough - it can break down one’s ability to engage in solution-oriented problem solving and may have a negative impact on interpersonal relationships. When we worry about how a date went, or think about an embarrassing moment from our childhood, we are engaging in some degree of rumination. ![]() ![]() It’s a common type of thought process that all individuals may indulge in from time to time, regardless of the presence or absence of underlying mental illnesses. Without anyone but ourselves to talk to and to review events with, the process of rumination quickly creates internal narratives and points of view that may not exactly correlate with reality. It’s not uncommon for ruminators to look back at events with a black-and-white point of view, or to filter out the positive aspects of an event and only remember the negative parts, or to jump to conclusions when not enough evidence is present. Ruminative thought is also often loaded with cognitive distortions. Some people may use rumination interchangeably with worry to describe having fears over the future, but generally, rumination is over situations in the past or present. It may also take the form of revisiting bad things that have happened to you that were out of your control. It may include extended, focused self-criticism, such as frequently thinking about your perceived character flaws for no reason in particular, or reviewing the details of a past failure over and over again without intent to change or move forward. It is not traditionally solution-oriented, and for many people, it persists regardless of external stimulus confirming or denying the validity of the negative thought process. Rumination is a pattern of excessive, obsessive, and repetitive thinking of negative events, concepts, or outcomes from the past and present. Thankfully, it is not impossible to re-train yourself to focus less on the negatives in your life. If you suspect you might be a worrier or ruminator, you may be wondering how to stop obsessive thoughts. However natural, though, at what point is it unhealthy to indulge in this? How is it impacting you? And how can it be limited? For whatever reason, it can feel both interesting and necessary to obsess over what we think has gone wrong, or to review the woeful details of ourselves, others, or a particular situation in our lives. When we’re upset, it’s not uncommon to think frequently about what’s bothering us in an attempt to “press the bruise,” so to speak.
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