Perhaps the greatest battle you will ever wage is the one within your own mind. We are not typically taught this fundamental truth about life, however. The prevailing message about thoughts is that they are almost irrelevant. But learning to notice and control your thinking patterns is an essential step to achieving mental wellness.
Today I am sharing a guide on how to stop ruminating thoughts effectively. When left unmanaged, they can take a major toll on your mental health and self-esteem. Stay tuned to learn all about negative, repetitive thoughts so that you can break free.
In this post, we will go over what exactly ruminating thoughts are, what causes them, if they can be stopped, plus how to control and avoid them.
Rumination is a term used in the psychology space to describe a repetitive cycle of negative thoughts, themes, or scenarios. It occurs when there is a loop of unhelpful mental activity. Thought cycles where you are dwelling on fears, worries, or negative feelings can block you from problem solving and finding solutions — not to mention create needless stress and anxiety.
Another way to describe rumination is intrusive thoughts, meaning that they are unwanted or involuntary. These thoughts may be dramatic, disturbing, violent, aggressive, depressing, scary, or obsessive. They usually keep coming up even if you are aware of them.
Rumination has several possible causes. Here are the three most common ones.
Trauma can be defined as an event that causes severe emotional distress. It often overwhelms the individual’s capacity to cope or process what occurred. Common responses to a traumatic experience include fear, helplessness, dissociation, rage, shame, and depression. Because trauma is so impactful in a harmful way, our brain and bodies may start a habit of spiraling or overanalyzing. It’s a protective or defense mechanism to keep us safe going forward. But heartbreakingly, it usually makes things worse, both on the mental health front and in actual life.
For more detail around how to deal with trauma triggers, read this blog next.
People who tend to be anxious or perfectionistic, or are diagnosed with anxiety, are more likely to struggle with ruminating thoughts. The literal definition of anxiety is apprehensive uneasiness, nervousness, or preoccupation with anticipated (usually negative) possibilities. The fear and dread that often accompany anxiety are there with rumination as well. When your mind is constantly obsessing or focused on negativity, your body and overall wellbeing will be affected too.
If something of note happened last week, for example, you may start ruminating on it even if you’ve never done so before. Maybe a particular event was triggering, upsetting, or confusing, and you find yourself fixating or noodling on it in an unhealthy way. Overthinking can be caused by unresolved feelings and situations.
Additionally, some belief systems, religions, and spiritual communities have philosophies or tenets that guide their focus. This means they may have a ruminating thought of sorts associated with that because it is central to their model of reality. In these cases, they may not be aware of it and probably do not want to change anything — and that’s perfectly fine.
Yes! Most of us ruminate at times, or even often. You are human just like everyone else, and the brain’s processing, while brilliant and miraculous, may not always support our healing. It can take some time and practice, but you can learn to stop. Read on to the next section below for specific tips on controlling and avoiding rumination.
An important reminder is that rumination is just your mind trying to find answers or safety. It’s an ineffective and faulty method, but an attempt nonetheless. The underlying reason is survival and protection. Give yourself grace and compassion as you navigate finding healthier coping tools. Start with the following.
Shifting your focus away from the ruminating thoughts sounds simple and is, but it may not be easy at first. It’s still worth practicing. The first step is to learn to recognize when you’re stuck in a loop. Name it by saying aloud or in your head something like, “I’m ruminating about the party on Friday.” You can also visualize the thought form out in front of you, which helps separate you from it and decrease its power.
The next step is to re-focus on the present moment. You can do this through deep breathing, meditating, moving your body (more detail on that below in number 2), or shifting your thoughts to an entirely different topic. For example, instead of spinning on the negative thoughts, say something kind to yourself (like “You did the best you could”) or start working on a project that requires your full attention.
Somatic or body-based activity can really help alleviate rumination. Movement supports emotional release and the dislodging of excess trauma energy that may underlie negative thoughts. Take a walk, run, do yoga, lift weights, dance, shake, or whatever appeals to you!
Grounding techniques are another way to move therapeutically. Walking barefoot outside on the grass (sometimes called earthing) is ideal, but just sitting in a chair or on the floor and imagining a root going down into the center of earth or simply into your feet works too.
The core of rumination is usually a negative story you are telling. You can learn to reframe or retell this story through a more positive or neutral lens. Cognitive behavioral therapy CBT is an evidence based method that can help you do just that. It involves identifying and challenging irrational beliefs and cognitive distortions. A CBT-trained mental health professional can guide you to see healthier perspectives and separate judgements from facts.
You can also do your own CBT like exercise at home by simply writing down your ruminations. Then, reflect on how you could perceive them in a more realistic way. Just witnessing your thoughts often brings a healing shift or distance from the negativity.
When rumination or other mental health challenges such as obsessive compulsive disorder OCD, which have overlapping symptoms, become unmanageable, medication or therapy may make a difference. Drugs like Prozac can help with ruminating thoughts, as well as other SSRIs or mood stabilizers. Definitely consult a mental health professional or psychiatrist for an evaluation and discussion.
One way to tell if you’re ready to move to one of these options is if you have ruminating thoughts at night to the extent that you can’t sleep, function during the day, or feel stable more often than not. There is no shame in seeking outside help, in fact it takes great courage! You are worth it, and you can indeed heal and break free from debilitating negativity and ruminating thoughts. Big hug!
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