When these thoughts become repetitive or focused only on the negative aspects, it could mean you're experiencing rumination. Experts do not consider rumination a mental health condition, but it can accompany conditions like anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and depression.
Rumination and OCD
Rumination is a core feature of OCD that causes a person to spend an inordinate amount time worrying about, analyzing, and trying to understand or clarify a particular thought or theme.
Rumination is one of the co-occurring symptoms found both in anxiety disorders and depression. It is often a primary symptom in Obsessive-compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. When people are depressed, the themes of rumination are typically about being inadequate or worthless.
Finding a pleasurable activity or distraction often helps break the cycle of rumination. Using some of your own unique interests or self care can help find something that works for you. Mindfulness is a mediation practice that focuses on paying attention to your thoughts.
Biofeedback is part of behavioral therapy for rumination syndrome. During biofeedback, imaging can help you or your child learn diaphragmatic breathing skills to counteract regurgitation. For infants, treatment usually focuses on working with parents or caregivers to change the infant's environment and behavior.
At its core, rumination is a coping mechanism. It's a way of responding to stress by repeatedly focusing on the source of distress. One theory states that people tend to engage in repetitive thinking about the nature of their difficulties.
Many different mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, phobias, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), may involve ruminating thoughts. However, in some cases, rumination may just occur in the wake of a specific traumatic event, such as a failed relationship.
Importantly, however, rumination is not only related to depression, but is involved in the development and/or maintenance of a broad range of disorders, including post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety disorders, insomnia, eating disorders, somatic symptom disorder, and substance use disorders2, 3.
The condition has long been known to occur in infants and people with developmental disabilities. It's now clear that the condition isn't related to age, as it can occur in children, teens and adults. Rumination syndrome is more likely to occur in people with anxiety, depression or other psychiatric disorders.
Obsessing and ruminating are often part of living with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). No matter how hard you try to ignore them, those negative thoughts just keep coming back, replaying themselves in an infinite loop. You know it's not healthy, but you can't seem to stop yourself.
Rumination is a mental compulsion. For people struggling with OCD, rumination can look like engaging with an intrusive thought in an effort to figure it out. It can involve searching for an answer – specifically, needing to feel certain about it.
Rumination involves repetitive thinking or dwelling on negative feelings and distress and their causes and consequences. The repetitive, negative aspect of rumination can contribute to the development of depression or anxiety and can worsen existing conditions.
Both Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and when necessary medications, like Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI), have been shown to be effective in reducing or eliminating rumination.
Do you find yourself replaying situations and past conversations in your head? You might be experiencing “rumination”. We all have moments from our past that we replay in our minds. It might be an argument we lost, a task we failed or a mistake we made that caused someone else to hurt.
Rumination is highly associated with negative emotions and psychotic symptoms and has been supported as a buffer between DM and psychiatric symptoms in clinical populations and SSDs.
Some of the long-term complications may include: Increased risk of dehydration, malnutrition and weight loss. Poor school attendance and involvement in activities. Emotional issues such as anxiety, stress and depression.
Rumination syndrome is a rare problem. However, it may be underdiagnosed because it is mistaken for another problem. Although still rare, rumination is being diagnosed more often in both children and adults.
Although rumination is generally unhealthy and associated with depression, thinking and talking about one's feelings can be beneficial under the right conditions.
Rumination is a transdiagnostic process evident in individuals with PTSD. Our review identified six sub-groups of studies, cross-sectional and longitudinal. Across studies, rumination was correlated with and predicted PTSD symptoms.
Rumination is a complex process involving regurgitation, remastication, insalivation, and deglutition.
Examples of ruminants include sheeps, goats, giraffes, bovines and gazelles.
This process has been termed “behavioural avoidance” (or, in the context of grief, “depressive avoidance,” Boelen et al., 2006). Nolen‐Hoeksema et al. (2008) proposed that rumination helps individuals to avoid an aversive environment because it occupies attention and time.
Try to use the 2 minute rule: after you have caught yourself ruminating for at least two minutes, ask yourself: 1) What progress has rumination helped me make (if any) towards solving a problem?