LATELY, I have been experiencing a reoccurring event, one that I often taught my clients how to overcome. Sometimes, even though you know exactly what to do, you aren’t capable of doing it yourself. While frustrated at myself, I then thought about the thousands of people who consistently do this but do not know what to do at all. This recurring experience is called rumination and I’m going to try and help many of you identify it and make a positive change in your mental health.

Have you ever had negative thoughts, especially about things that have already happened, that play over and over in your mind? It’s more than worry- it’s the (what seems like) unstoppable thoughts that constantly repeat and often lower your mood and results in lack of sleep?

That is what psychologists call rumination. It’s the focus on the negative thoughts and outcomes, as opposed to any solutions.

Some of you may think that it just sounds like ‘worry’, but there is a major difference between the two. Worry is known as almost being preventative and tends to focus on problem-solving options. Worrying itself is an attempt to engage in mental problem- solving on an issue where the outcome may be uncertain, but it involves the many possibilities to resolve the problem.
Rumination tends to focus more on the past, the negative and leaves little room for problem-solving and improvement.

Before I get into how we can reduce rumination, why should we even bother in the first place? As we all know, it causes extra and unnecessary stress as well as a lack of sleep, but rumination is also highly correlated with a wide range of mental health issues and illnesses such as depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, substance abuse disorders, self-harm and suicidal thoughts.

Now, it’s not your fault as there are many causes of rumination. The most common is a specific trauma such as a death or a breakup, low self-esteem, a desire to be perfect, an event that happened that you deemed as a failure etc. Now, who hasn’t experienced one or more of those in their lifetime or even in the last year?

There are signs and symptoms that determine if it is rumination. It is especially when your thoughts lead you to feel sad, worthless, and angry. There are also physical indicators such as increased heart rate, shortness of breath, trembling/shaking or muscle tension and pain.
So, to prevent the above, let’s try practising the below.

Here are some tips that will aid in reducing rumination. The first is the most important and therapeutic one – one that helps so much that the rest just supplements it.
When you find yourself ruminating, ask yourself three very important questions
1. Have I come any closer to finding a solution to this problem?
2. Do I understand something more about myself or the situation?
3. Do I have any less self-hatred or more self-esteem since I began thinking about this?
More often than not, your answers to all the above will be ‘No”- and that’s how you know it’s rumination and not worry. But if your answers are no, that’s not a problem- what you do now is tailor your thoughts to now answer those questions.

So, what do you do when you have answered ‘no’ to these questions? Plan to take action. This means, instead of repeating the same negative thoughts, take your time and list out ways that you can address the problem.

Make a list of the problems on your mind and put them in columns, side by side, so you can see if there are any connected parts. This could mean identifying that there is one issue in general that keeps repeating and allows for identification of any consistencies in your triggers, time of day/ night you are having these thoughts etc.

When you have identified these, write down two proactive solutions for each thought. Meaning, how can you change this situation- is it one that can be changed? If not, how can you learn from it? Overcome it? This is very specific to each individual and situation. Being specific is key when it comes to making plans – what exactly are you trying to achieve? What date will you start? Are there any barriers to work on that may prevent your best-wanted solution?

Another option commonly used is a distraction- however, this is more short term and does not actually address the real issue. It just helps until you are ready to. This means finding something that you’re passionate about- something that you enjoy doing, something that makes you feel good that can turn your thoughts away from the negative spiral. This can be anything at all, such as music, movies, sports, calling a loved one, art, prayer- literally anything that you are into.

Also, the following basic, everyday tips are also beneficial in reducing rumination.
Avoidance of triggers – when you have written everything down and have figured out a pattern- is it something you can avoid? Simple examples are avoiding social media if this triggers anger or low self-esteem; limit the amount of news you watch if it brings sadness and feelings of helplessness.

Exercise: I’ve written time and time again that exercise allows for the release of more serotonin and dopamine in the brain (happy hormones) and reduces cortisol (stress hormone).

Increase self-esteem and self-confidence: Many ruminate because they believe they could have done something better or different. While it may be true that you probably could have handled a situation better in the past, that is self-awareness and should alone bring forward the aforementioned because it means not only do you know you can do better, but you are striving to. What good practices make you feel good about yourself? Mentally and physically? Increase these!

These are the basics, and I hope they are helpful. If you have any further questions on rumination, please feel free to reach out.

Thank you for reading and please continue to send all interested topics to caitlinvieira@gmail.com