"Worries and rumination are just thoughts and your thoughts can't do anything to harm you," says Mattu. Knowing that our thoughts cannot harm us should help the cascade of ruminating and then worrying about ruminating. It can also make it hard for us to sleep at night, complete daily tasks, and actively participate in our relationships."Īli Mattu, PhD, clinical psychologist and host of The Psych Show, says that people should remember that "while your thoughts might be scary, they aren't dangerous." Sure, ruminating can prevent us from living a full life and cause our bodies stress, but the thoughts themselves are benign. Next, it can erode our confidence and faith in our abilities. "First, it can make concentration at work or school difficult, if not impossible. "There are many ways this can harm us," she says. But Kati Morton, LMFT, a licensed therapist and YouTuber, explains that this can become a problem when these negative reflections begin to take up the majority of your brain space or begin to impede your ability to complete daily tasks. Leaving this state of rumination can be mentally equated with leaving a comfort zone, which can lead to panic due to unfamiliarity. "Their speculation was that people are just more familiar and comfortable with those states, and that familiarity feels good and trumps something that is outside of their norms," he explains. That's because this sad mood is familiar. Brewer cites a study, which showed that people who are depressed are more likely to prefer sad music, pictures, and memories-essentially things that keep them in a sad mood. What's the reward? Basically, it's familiarity. "If the trigger is that a person has a thought or a certain feeling in their body, the behavior would be the rumination-or replaying-I call it 'review and regret.'" "It actually makes sense mechanistically if you think about the basics of habit loops: trigger, bait, reward," Dr. We asked experts to help us explain why it happens and how to stop ruminating for good.Īccording to Jud Brewer, MD, PhD, associate professor and director of research and innovation at the Mindfulness Center at Brown University, it's important to recognize when your mind starts to spiral into rumination, or as he likes to call it, "review and regret." Think of rumination as a bad habit. When constant rumination causes you anxiety or influences all of your decisions too heavily, it can become extremely debilitating. Therapists call this sort of rehashing of past events rumination. But it could also be an intense fight with a loved one, a conversation that led to a breakup, or making a career choice that you regret down the line. Have you ever thought back on an experience again and again, for years after it happened and potentially years to come? It could be as small a moment as tripping in front of people or saying the wrong thing in a work meeting.
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