Rumination: Why Do People Obsess Over Things

If you’re like most people, you’ve had the experience of obsessing over something stressful that happened in your day. This article discusses what rumination is and the negative effects it can have. It also covers some of the steps you can take to avoid rumination.

What Is Rumination?

Rumination involves repetitive, excessive thoughts that interfere with other types of thinking.

• It often occurs with conditions such as generalized anxiety disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, but it is also common for people without a diagnosable disorder to engage in this type of thinking from time to time.

Establish a Time Limit

Set a time limit on how many minutes you will allow yourself to devote to talking about the problem and your feelings around it.

• Brainstorm solutions with a friend or on your own in a journal, or write them down in your journal.

Create Boundaries

Look at what happened with the eye of change-not to blame the other person for hurting you, but to come up with solutions that will prevent the same situation from occurring twice.

• Come from a place of strength and understanding-it may take some practice, but you can change your habitual thought patterns.

A Word From Verywell

Personal reflection can be a helpful way to process emotions and experiences, but it can be harmful to your mental well-being when it turns into rumination.

• If you feel like rumination is affecting your state of mind, there are ways to get help.

Less Proactive Behavior

Excessive rumination is associated with less proactive behavior, higher disengagement from problems, and an even more negative state of mind as a result

Causes of Rumination

Different people obsess over things for different reasons

• Some people want to make sense of a situation, but can’t seem to understand or accept it, so they keep replaying it
• Other people want reassurance that they were right, or just want to feel heard and validated
• Specific situations can trigger rumination, such as a stressful event or a relationship ending

Hypertension

Rumination may prolong the stress response, which increases the negative impact of stress on the heart.

Keep an Open Mind

What upsets us about others may be a mere reflection of what we don’t accept in ourselves

• Try and draw on a similar experience in yourself to help better appreciate their perspective and the reasons behind what they did
• The loving-kindness meditation can be a wonderful tool here for forgiveness and letting go

Negative Effects of Rumination

Rumination can catch you in a circular, self-perpetuating loop of frustration and stress.

• It’s important to find ways of catching rumination before you get caught up in it and working on handling conflicts in a healthy way.

Stress

Several bestselling books on mindfulness have been touted as excellent stress-relief resources such as “There You Are” by Jon Kabat-Zinn and Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now” and “A New Earth, and Wherever You Go.”

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