Rumination is the continuous dwelling on issues in our past and difficulties and things that distress us in the present. It is becoming preoccupied with something and not being able to get it out of your mind. There is helpful and unhelpful rumination. The problem comes when you are focusing on what has gone wrong and this leads to negative thinking. Too much negative thinking can lead to depression and maintaining a depressive episode.

Rumination is normal because everyone dwells on their problems to a point. It’s when the circular thinking patterns that are rumination continue in overdrive, that it becomes a problem. Rumination is different than worry in than worry is future focused and often leads to anxiety. Rumination is past focused and leads to depression. Rumination is a learnt strategy for dealing with our problems however unhelpful rumination can lead to inactivity and avoidance of problem-solving.

One of the biggest strategies for unhelpful rumination is accepting the situation and being mindful in the present moment. Mindfulness is the most useful coping skill for dealing with depression and will be discussed in a future post.

There are many steps to stopping rumination. Some examples would be accepting your situation, being aware that you are ruminating, or distracting yourself. Please follow this link for a list on 11 Steps to Stop Ruminating.

Remember rumination can be helpful if it is time-limited and problem-solving. However, unhelpful rumination can cause and continue depression, so it is better to find ways to stop rumination if you want to continue your road of recovery.

http://jayuhdinger.com/chapters/chapter-3-practice-11-steps-to-stop-ruminating/

http://jayuhdinger.com/chapters/chapter-2-rumination-faulty-thinking/