What is mental rumination and how to deal with it effectively?
Psychological advice on how to manage mental rumination.
Mental rumination is a psychological phenomenon that appears as a symptom in several of the most common psychopathologies, although it can also occur as a form of discomfort in people free of disorders.
In fact, most people experience this disturbance at some point in their lives, to a greater or lesser degree, and there are those who have to deal with it on a relatively regular basis. Fortunately, there are several things we can do to put a stop to this unpleasant experience, and to manage it so that it does not become a factor of wear and tear on our mental health.
In this article you will find different solutions to the question: how to deal with mental rumination? But first of all, let's start by defining this concept.
What does mental rumination consist of?
As we have advanced before, the mental rumination is a psychological alteration linked to a sensation of discomfort but that does not constitute in itself a psychopathology. In fact, it is commonly present in cases of psychological disorders as widespread as depression or generalized anxiety.
But let us be more specific: what is the annoying or even emotionally painful element of mental rumination? This phenomenon manifests itself through the tendency to suffer intrusive thoughts with the capacity to disturb us in one way or another, and which we cannot "expel".and which we cannot "expel" from our head even though we feel we need to stop thinking about them.
The frustration generated by mental rumination causes a vicious circle: the discomfort leads us to keep desperately trying to get away from those ideas or images that appear in our consciousness, and that makes it easier for them to come back to us again and again.
However, mental rumination should not be confused with rumination disorder: the latter is part of eating disorders and consists of an almost literal rumination of the food eaten, so it has nothing to do with the subject of this article.
Characteristics of this phenomenon
The characteristic aspects of mental rumination are the following.
1. Intrusive thoughts have a painful emotional charge.
If an idea that comes over and over again to our mind does not become unpleasant, frustrating, sad or anxiogenic in some way, we cannot speak of mental rumination.
2. Often associated with guilt
Intrusive thoughts often have to do with memories that make us feel guilty in some way. in some way. For example, someone who is reminded over and over again of a day when he or she disappointed his or her best friend.
3. It often causes sleeping problems
The moments in which we try to fall asleep are a magnet for the kind of mental contents on which mental rumination is based. If someone experiences this phenomenon, it is very likely that a good part of the time in which their attentional focus is fixed on these intrusive thoughts occurs when they are in bed..
How to deal with this problem?
Follow these tips to prevent mental rumination from affecting you too much.
1. Practice Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a set of very useful exercises to manage emotions that we usually consider "negative", and it is easy to learn. In fact, many teams of psychologists focus much of our activity in the use of this therapeutic resource, both in sessions with patients and in courses and workshops we organize.
In short, Mindfulness leads us to a state of consciousness in which we focus on the here and now, without letting obsessions or worries drag us down and make us lose control.
2. Do moderate exercise
Exercising is a very good way to disconnect, because it brings our attention to very specific bodily sensations and very short-term goals. In fact, much research shows that aerobic exercise is an excellent dissipator of anxiety..
3. Use the thought-stopping technique
This is a technique widely used in psychology to manage anxiety-related problems, although it needs to be repeated (i.e. practiced) several times to benefit from its effects.
When you feel that the mental rumination begins to express itself, go to a quiet place and dedicate a couple of minutes to think about those mental contents in a deliberate way; at some point, you should have planned ahead by setting a time limit, pronounce a key word that you associate with the cessation of the movement of your flow of thoughts: e.g., "End" or "End".For example, "End" or "Enough", and let that concept freeze your mental activity. Once this is done, you can go on with what you were doing.
4. Do not try to completely block unpleasant thoughts.
It is one thing to try to make the torrent of thoughts stop in order to stop the inertia of mental rumination, and it is another thing to try to specifically eliminate painful mental contents; the latter is impossible, and if you try to do so, you will not only be frustrated, but you will also be feeding mental rumination. if you try to do so, you will not only be frustrated, but you will also be feeding the mental rumination..
Are you looking for psychotherapeutic assistance?
If you are thinking of starting a psychotherapy process to treat a psychological problem that is affecting you, whether it is based on a psychopathology or simply based on a dysfunctional behavior pattern (poor management of arguments, coping with a couple crisis, etc.), please contact us. At Psicotools we have many years of experience attending patients, we offer our services both in our psychology center located in Barcelona and through online therapy by video call. On this page there is more information about how we work and our contact details.
Bibliographic references:
- American Psychiatric Association -APA- (2014). DSM-5. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Madrid: Panamericana.
- Caballo, V. (2010). Manual de modificación de conducta. Guayaquil: Universidad de Guayaquil.
- Magee, J. C. & Teachman, B. A. (2012). Distress and Recurrence of Intrusive Thoughts in Younger and Older Adults. Psychology and Aging, 27(1): pp. 199 - 210.
(Updated at Apr 14 / 2024)