Rumination Is a Common Response to Life's Challenges

Source: Katie Willard Virant

Rumination: We’ve all done it. Perhaps an interaction with a friend has gone poorly and we are unable to stop replaying it in our mind. We imagine what we should have said, mentally review the entire course of the friendship, and fantasize about getting our revenge. Or maybe a work disappointment occurs and we shoulda coulda woulda the scenario so intensively that we feel paralyzed to move forward in any meaningful way. Rumination is a response to a disappointment or injury that involves repetitive and prolonged thinking about the upsetting experience (Watkins and Roberts, 2020). Rumination is a common response to the difficulties of chronic illness, causing people living with illness to perseverate on their challenges in a way that keeps them feeling stuck.

Dangers of rumination

Chronic rumination is linked to poor mental health outcomes, including depression, anxiety, and substance abuse (Watkins and Roberts, 2020). People who habitually ruminate are more pessimistic and less able to focus on problem-solving. Rumination keeps people focused on themselves instead of being responsive to others, leading to isolation and interpersonal difficulties.

Rumination also is linked to poor physical health outcomes, as it activates the body’s stress response and keeps it elevated well past the actual occurrence of the upsetting event. This chronically elevated stress response is a factor strongly linked to the onset and exacerbation of disease.

Antecedents of rumination

Certain circumstances prime people for rumination. These precipitating factors include early adversity, including childhood abuse; having been raised by parents who are themselves ruminating and or overly controlling; and difficult life circumstances (such as chronic illness).

Mechanisms of rumination

Rumination is a learned response to a stimulus. It becomes a habit when it occurs frequently and unintentionally. Researchers theorize that the stimulus that prompts rumination is typically a low mood associated with a difficult situation. As the brain continues to respond to lowered mood with rumination, it learns to link the two automatically such that rumination becomes an automatic response to hardship.

Some researchers believe that rumination is a malfunction of the helpful capability to analyze challenges. That is when we are not faring well, it’s adaptive to be able to think through what is causing us distress and brainstorm ways to solve the problem. When we ruminate, we have the right instinct, but a flawed execution. It's appropriate to analyze our challenges to problem-solve. It's counterproductive, though, to get stuck in an endless analysis and never move through to the problem-solving stage.

The ruminating brain tends to favor an abstract processing style, thinking in generalities rather than specifics. One example of an abstract processing style is all-or-nothing thinking. A ruminating brain will think, “I am always disappointed. It’s always been this way and it always will.” By contrast, a problem-solving brain will think concretely, “What is happening right now in this context? What can I do to make a positive difference in this specific incident?”

The ruminating brain also attaches to negative information and ignores or downplays positive information. Specifically, it attends more to negative information, interprets ambiguous information in a negative way, and recalls negative memories over positive memories.

Treating rumination

If you recognize yourself as someone who tends to ruminate, you’re going to want to decrease it. As you do so, think about implementing the following strategies:

• Remind yourself that rumination is harmful to your health. When you find yourself stuck there, remember why it’s important to stop. If it’s helpful, you can visualize a large stop sign that reminds you to interrupt rumination.
• Look for the triggers that cause you to ruminate. For example, if you notice that a low mood tends to cause a rumination response, make a list of other responses to a low mood that may be more helpful. Perhaps you could try moving your body, listening to music, or talking to a friend. Your goal is to replace rumination with other, more useful responses to lowered mood.
• Address the abstract style of thinking that correlates with rumination. Be particularly aware of all-or-nothing thinking. Are you dwelling on thoughts like: “This always happens to me.” And “It’ll never change.” Instead, ask yourself to think concretely. What is occurring at this particular moment? What are ways to respond to this situation? Is there a small step you can take to improve the situation even a little bit?
• Address any negative thinking bias by turning your attention toward positive information. Make a daily gratitude list, even if you start with one item a day. Taking in positive information doesn't magically make difficulties disappear, but it does place those difficulties in a more realistic context.
• Incorporate attention to the body into your life. Rumination pulls you into your mind and away from your physical being. Connect daily with your five senses. Pay attention to experiences of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. When you find yourself ruminating, use your senses to reorient to the world around you. Consciously be in your body.
• Be gentle with yourself. Unlearning a habit like rumination is a process. Slow, incremental progress is worth celebrating. Be proud of yourself for investing this effort into improving your quality of life.