12 Tips to Stop Repetitive Thoughts

The American Psychological Association (APA) defines rumination as “obsessional thinking involving excessive, repetitive thoughts or themes that interfere with other forms of mental activity.”

It can be a symptom of various mental health issues. The APA adds that it commonly occurs with obsessive-compulsive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder.

As well as being a symptom, the habit of rumination can affect a person’s health by:

• prolonging or intensifying depression
• impairing your ability to think and process emotions
• causing or aggravating anxiety, sleep problems, and impulsive behaviors
• exacerbating and maintaining stress responses, leading to chronic stress
• increasing the risk of inflammation and physical health problems, as a result of stress
• increasing the risk of substance use disorders

Rumination can turn worry into a habit or a way of life.

People ruminate for a variety of reasons.

In 2005, the APA listed some common reasons for rumination as:

• the belief that by ruminating, you’ll gain insight into your life or a problem
• having a history of emotional or physical trauma
• facing ongoing stressors that you can’t control

Ruminating can also affect people with personality characteristics, such as perfectionism, anxiety, and excessive concern about their relationships with others.

If you ruminate, you may be more likely to:

• focus on negative events from the past and blame yourself for them
• interpret current events more negatively
• feel more hopeless about the future

Rumination can be a hard cycle to break, but there are ways to stop these intrusive thoughts. When such thoughts begin, stopping them promptly may prevent them from becoming more intense.

Here are 12 tips to try when you begin to experience the same thought, or set of thoughts, swirling around your head:

1.

Distract yourself

When you notice you’re starting to ruminate, finding a distraction can break your thought cycle.

For example, you might:

• call a friend or family member
• do chores around your house
• watch a movie
• draw a picture
• read a book
• do some exercise

2. Plan and take action

Instead of repeating the same negative thought over and over again, break down your thoughts into smaller parts and make a plan to take action to address each one, however small.

Write it down on a piece of paper. Be as specific as possible and also realistic with your expectations.

Having made a plan, take one small step to address the issue. Then, when you’re ready, take the next step.

The aim of this activity is to disrupt your rumination. It may help you move forward in resolving the worry, and it can also make you feel more in control.

3. Work out what you can and can’t change

Rumination often stems from previous negative experiences. Some of these experiences we cannot change, but we can change how we look at them.

If you didn’t get that job, can you revamp your resume and have another go?

If you’ve made a mistake or had a bad experience, can you take steps to stop it happening again?

If you really can’t change something, maybe you don’t need to worry about it.

4. Change location

Try spending time in a place where you have been happy before.

Perhaps it’s a place nearby where you can take a walk, drink a coffee, or sit in a park for a while.

5. Revisit your thoughts and get some perspective

We often ruminate when we think we’ve made a mistake, spoken out of turn, or believe we are responsible for something bad that has happened.

If you can put a thought into perspective, you may find it is inaccurate.

If you’ve made a mistake at work, for instance, it might help to:

• Consider what effect will your perceived mistake have in reality.
• Recall when something like this happened before, and how it turned out.
• Take steps to own up and correct the error.
• Apologize, if appropriate.

Remember that everyone makes mistakes, and it’s better to sort it out early if it’s going to need sorting out at all.

6. Readjust your life’s goals

Perfectionism and unrealistic goal setting can lead to a fear or perception of failure, and this can lead to rumination.

Setting unrealistic goals may cause you to worry about why and how you haven’t reached a goal, or what you should have done to reach it.

Setting more realistic goals that you’re capable of achieving can reduce the risks of overthinking your own actions.

7. Work on enhancing your self-esteem

Many people who ruminate report difficulties with self-esteem. In fact, there may be a link between a lack of self-esteem and a tendency to ruminate, according to some scientists.

Ways of enhancing your self-esteem include reviewing and appreciating your strengths and building on them.

8.

Try meditation or deep breathing

Meditating aims to clear your mind, which means it may help you stop ruminating.

When you find yourself with a repeating loop of thoughts in your mind, seek out a quiet space. Sit down, breathe deeply, and focus on your breathing.

Which breathing techniques can help relieve stress?

9. Understand your triggers

Each time you find yourself ruminating, make a mental note of the situation you’re in.

This includes:

• where you are
• what time of day it is
• who’s with you (if anyone)
• what you’ve been doing
• any triggers that have kicked off the unwanted thoughts

Being aware of these triggers may help reduce any tendency to ruminate.

10. Talk to a friend

Ruminating thoughts can make you feel isolated. A trusted friend may be able to offer an outside perspective that can help break the cycle.

You might ask also ask them to help you make a list of actions or events that turned out well in the past. This can help you gain perspective.

Be sure to speak with a friend who can give you that perspective rather than ruminate with you.

11. Try therapy

If your ruminating thoughts are taking over your life, you may want to consider therapy. A therapist can help you identify why you’re ruminating and how to address the problems at their core.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can help you develop new ways to approach situations. One-to-one counseling can provide an opportunity to dig deeper and address any underlying causes.

What are the benefits of therapy?

12. Set your own expectations

If we set ourselves targets that are too high, we may never meet them. This can cause us to question our self-worth, and it may lead to negative ruminations, like “I’ll never be good enough.”

It may be time to evaluate what you realistically can do and adjust your own expectations.

Constantly work on building your self-esteem by:

• taking care of yourself
• doing things you enjoy and excel at
• praising yourself for your successes
• forgiving yourself for your mistakes

Are you aiming too high? How to recognize unrealistic expectations.

What is rumination?

Rumination is a bit like overthinking, where you keep going over and over the same thoughts. These are often negative thoughts about the past, present, or future. They can involve self-blame, hopelessness, and negative self esteem.

Is rumination a mental illness?

Rumination is not a disorder, but it commonly occurs with various mental health conditions, such as depression, anxiety, and OCD.

What causes a person to ruminate?

Factors that can contribute to rumination include having a history of trauma, feeling you are in a situation you can’t control, or having a personality trait such as perfectionism, where you fear not being good enough. A person may also ruminate as they search for a solution to a problem.

Can you stop ruminating?

Distraction, setting lower expectations for yourself, or making an action plan may help you stop ruminating in the short term. If these strategies don’t help, counseling or CBT may be beneficial.

Ruminating involves a cycle where you keep thinking the same thoughts or worrying the same worries without getting anywhere. It can be exhausting and it can affect your sleep and your mental and physical health.

Tips for breaking the cycle include speaking with others, seeking distraction, noticing your triggers, and reviewing your perspective.

If these tips don’t help, consider contacting a mental health professional for assistance.

12 Tips to Stop Repetitive Thoughts

The American Psychological Association (APA) defines rumination as “obsessional thinking involving excessive, repetitive thoughts or themes that interfere with other forms of mental activity.”

It can be a symptom of various mental health issues. The APA adds that it commonly occurs with obsessive-compulsive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder.

As well as being a symptom, the habit of rumination can affect a person’s health by:

• prolonging or intensifying depression
• impairing your ability to think and process emotions
• causing or aggravating anxiety, sleep problems, and impulsive behaviors
• exacerbating and maintaining stress responses, leading to chronic stress
• increasing the risk of inflammation and physical health problems, as a result of stress
• increasing the risk of substance use disorders

Rumination can turn worry into a habit or a way of life.

People ruminate for a variety of reasons.

In 2005, the APA listed some common reasons for rumination as:

• the belief that by ruminating, you’ll gain insight into your life or a problem
• having a history of emotional or physical trauma
• facing ongoing stressors that you can’t control

Ruminating can also affect people with personality characteristics, such as perfectionism, anxiety, and excessive concern about their relationships with others.

If you ruminate, you may be more likely to:

• focus on negative events from the past and blame yourself for them
• interpret current events more negatively
• feel more hopeless about the future

Rumination can be a hard cycle to break, but there are ways to stop these intrusive thoughts. When such thoughts begin, stopping them promptly may prevent them from becoming more intense.

Here are 12 tips to try when you begin to experience the same thought, or set of thoughts, swirling around your head:

1.

Distract yourself

When you notice you’re starting to ruminate, finding a distraction can break your thought cycle.

For example, you might:

• call a friend or family member
• do chores around your house
• watch a movie
• draw a picture
• read a book
• do some exercise

2. Plan and take action

Instead of repeating the same negative thought over and over again, break down your thoughts into smaller parts and make a plan to take action to address each one, however small.

Write it down on a piece of paper. Be as specific as possible and also realistic with your expectations.

Having made a plan, take one small step to address the issue. Then, when you’re ready, take the next step.

The aim of this activity is to disrupt your rumination. It may help you move forward in resolving the worry, and it can also make you feel more in control.

3. Work out what you can and can’t change

Rumination often stems from previous negative experiences. Some of these experiences we cannot change, but we can change how we look at them.

If you didn’t get that job, can you revamp your resume and have another go?

If you’ve made a mistake or had a bad experience, can you take steps to stop it happening again?

If you really can’t change something, maybe you don’t need to worry about it.

4. Change location

Try spending time in a place where you have been happy before.

Perhaps it’s a place nearby where you can take a walk, drink a coffee, or sit in a park for a while.

5. Revisit your thoughts and get some perspective

We often ruminate when we think we’ve made a mistake, spoken out of turn, or believe we are responsible for something bad that has happened.

If you can put a thought into perspective, you may find it is inaccurate.

If you’ve made a mistake at work, for instance, it might help to:

• Consider what effect will your perceived mistake have in reality.
• Recall when something like this happened before, and how it turned out.
• Take steps to own up and correct the error.
• Apologize, if appropriate.

Remember that everyone makes mistakes, and it’s better to sort it out early if it’s going to need sorting out at all.

6. Readjust your life’s goals

Perfectionism and unrealistic goal setting can lead to a fear or perception of failure, and this can lead to rumination.

Setting unrealistic goals may cause you to worry about why and how you haven’t reached a goal, or what you should have done to reach it.

Setting more realistic goals that you’re capable of achieving can reduce the risks of overthinking your own actions.

7. Work on enhancing your self-esteem

Many people who ruminate report difficulties with self-esteem. In fact, there may be a link between a lack of self-esteem and a tendency to ruminate, according to some scientists.

Ways of enhancing your self-esteem include reviewing and appreciating your strengths and building on them.

8.

Try meditation or deep breathing

Meditating aims to clear your mind, which means it may help you stop ruminating.

When you find yourself with a repeating loop of thoughts in your mind, seek out a quiet space. Sit down, breathe deeply, and focus on your breathing.

Which breathing techniques can help relieve stress?

9. Understand your triggers

Each time you find yourself ruminating, make a mental note of the situation you’re in.

This includes:

• where you are
• what time of day it is
• who’s with you (if anyone)
• what you’ve been doing
• any triggers that have kicked off the unwanted thoughts

Being aware of these triggers may help reduce any tendency to ruminate.

10. Talk to a friend

Ruminating thoughts can make you feel isolated. A trusted friend may be able to offer an outside perspective that can help break the cycle.

You might ask also ask them to help you make a list of actions or events that turned out well in the past. This can help you gain perspective.

Be sure to speak with a friend who can give you that perspective rather than ruminate with you.

11. Try therapy

If your ruminating thoughts are taking over your life, you may want to consider therapy. A therapist can help you identify why you’re ruminating and how to address the problems at their core.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can help you develop new ways to approach situations. One-to-one counseling can provide an opportunity to dig deeper and address any underlying causes.

What are the benefits of therapy?

12. Set your own expectations

If we set ourselves targets that are too high, we may never meet them. This can cause us to question our self-worth, and it may lead to negative ruminations, like “I’ll never be good enough.”

It may be time to evaluate what you realistically can do and adjust your own expectations.

Constantly work on building your self-esteem by:

• taking care of yourself
• doing things you enjoy and excel at
• praising yourself for your successes
• forgiving yourself for your mistakes

Are you aiming too high? How to recognize unrealistic expectations.

What is rumination?

Rumination is a bit like overthinking, where you keep going over and over the same thoughts. These are often negative thoughts about the past, present, or future. They can involve self-blame, hopelessness, and negative self esteem.

Is rumination a mental illness?

Rumination is not a disorder, but it commonly occurs with various mental health conditions, such as depression, anxiety, and OCD.

What causes a person to ruminate?

Factors that can contribute to rumination include having a history of trauma, feeling you are in a situation you can’t control, or having a personality trait such as perfectionism, where you fear not being good enough. A person may also ruminate as they search for a solution to a problem.

Can you stop ruminating?

Distraction, setting lower expectations for yourself, or making an action plan may help you stop ruminating in the short term. If these strategies don’t help, counseling or CBT may be beneficial.

Ruminating involves a cycle where you keep thinking the same thoughts or worrying the same worries without getting anywhere. It can be exhausting and it can affect your sleep and your mental and physical health.

Tips for breaking the cycle include speaking with others, seeking distraction, noticing your triggers, and reviewing your perspective.

If these tips don’t help, consider contacting a mental health professional for assistance.

What is overthinking or How our own thoughts can kill us

Introspection, reflection, planning – all these processes are necessary for a better understanding of oneself, one’s present and future. But sometimes the situation gets out of control, and thoughts literally begin to control you. There is such a thing as overthinking. We talk about how to stop endlessly analyzing and finally start living.

How to understand that you are thinking too much

The concept of “overthinking”, or “excessive thinking”, means a state in which a person continuously analyzes the past, makes long-term plans for the future. The stream of thoughts becomes so strong that the focus of attention on what is happening at the moment is lost. Often there are problems with concentration, sleep, memory.

There are two kinds of overthinking: thinking about the past and worrying about the future. Such a state does not allow to eliminate problems, since most often a person does not set himself the goal of resolving them, but concentrates on them and only aggravates the situation. For example, during a headache, he thinks not about which pill is better to take, but about how bad he feels. Also, “overthinking” should not be confused with reflection – this process is limited in time and is controlled. That is, during the analysis of the past, you can stop and switch your attention at any moment.

A few signs that your thoughts are controlling you:

• You repeatedly experience awkward moments in your head and analyze how you did right or wrong.

• You often have problems sleeping because the flow of thoughts prevents you from falling asleep.

• You ask yourself a lot of “what if…” questions.

• You spend a lot of time thinking about the hidden meaning of what people say.

• You mentally paraphrase conversations with people and think of all the things you would like to say.

• You constantly remember your mistakes.

• When someone says or acts in a way that you don’t like, you keep replaying the situation in your head.

• Sometimes you are not aware of what is going on around you because you are obsessed with thoughts.

• You worry about things you can’t control.

• You cannot think of anything pleasant.

Train your attention

Start to notice the moments when you are focused on your own thoughts and do not notice what is happening around you. Transfer your attention to something from the outside: watch passers-by, cars, examine some object in detail. Over time, capturing such moments will become easier.

Write down obsessive thoughts

So, you will “put” them on paper and conditionally get rid of them. In addition, after a while you will be able to read them and look at the situation from the side. Set a timer for 10-15 minutes. During this time, write down as much information as possible about the problem that bothers you, without filtering it in the process. In a few hours or the next day, take time to read and think about what you have written. Perhaps you will see patterns, weed out unnecessary ideas.

Change negative attitudes to positive ones

Obsessive thoughts often have a negative connotation. Fix them (preferably in writing) and come up with a positive attitude corresponding to them. For example, you are worried that you will not be able to complete a task. Then list all your skills, character traits, external circumstances that will allow you to complete the task.

Focus on the solution

According to the philosophy of Stoicism, all events can be conditionally divided into two parts: controlled and uncontrolled. The first group requires your decisions and actions. If you are worried about the fact that something unpleasant is happening and it cannot be changed, focus on your state in this situation. For example, what will help you reduce your anxiety about it and feel better?

Limit the process of analysis in time

Give yourself 20-30 minutes a day to think about problems. And don’t try to solve everything at once. Start with what worries you the most. Write this time into your daily schedule. During these minutes, you allow yourself to worry, think through a variety of scenarios for the development of events, but as soon as time runs out, the flow of thoughts should stop. Gradually, you will get used to this schedule.

Lyubov Karas

Tags

#psychology

#erudition

What is rumination and how to stop analyzing everything

September 3, 2020

Life

Obsessive thoughts can lead to serious negative consequences.

You can not only read this article, but also listen to it. If it’s more convenient for you, turn on the podcast.

What is rumination

We all sometimes endlessly think about something: a long-past presentation of a working project, yesterday’s quarrel with the second half, a toast that we agreed to make at a friends wedding. Yes, and a quarterly report on the nose. We go over in our heads what we had to say, or we try to plan everything down to the smallest detail.

In most cases, this is relatively safe and no more stressful than having an annoying song stuck in your head. But there are people who just can’t stop thinking about things. And this creates even greater experiences.

Such an irresistible habit of rethinking everything is called rumination, or mental chewing gum. Repetitive experiences, when a person endlessly scrolls the same situation in his head, resemble the process of chewing grass by cows.

They chew, swallow, then regurgitate and chew again. For them, this is a normal process. Well, we, people, constantly “chew” our disturbing thoughts. And there is nothing good in this.

Rumination does not bring any benefit, but only steals time and energy. It is so debilitating that it makes a person more vulnerable to anxiety and depression, while also being a symptom of these conditions.

Regardless of whether we can change what happened or predict something, our brain sometimes gets fixated on trying to control the uncontrollable. And as a result, a depressed person reflects on the losses and mistakes of the past, and an anxious hostage of rumination drowns in questions “what if?”, while always drawing a negative outcome in his imagination.

As a general rule, most complex issues are resolved through careful thought and weighing. But rumination is simply the repetition of thoughts (usually negative ones) without trying to look at the problem from a different point of view.

Rumination makes it impossible to get a different idea or understanding of the problem. She just spins you like a hamster stuck in a wheel of emotional torment.

Guy Winch

psychologist, psychology author, TED speaker

The Harm of Obsessive Thoughts

Lead to pessimism

Usually you don’t think about good things for a long time, but fixate on bad things. You don’t remember how you managed to resolve the situation at the last moment or make a good joke, but you sort through the negative in your head for a long time and stubbornly.

And thoughts are intrusive. They constantly pop up in the mind, it is very difficult to get rid of them. Especially when thinking about something is really upsetting and disturbing.

Provoke the development of serious diseases

Guy Winch in his book Emotional First Aid: Healing Rejection, Guilt, Failure, and Other Everyday Hurts states that returning to anxious thinking is like constantly picking at emotional wounds, not allowing them to heal. Every time we have that same thought, it causes anxiety, and stress hormones are released in the body in huge quantities.

We can languish in our sad thoughts for several hours and days and thus put ourselves in a state of physical and emotional stress. As a result, the habit of constant thinking significantly increases the risk of developing clinical depression, impaired decision-making ability, eating disorders, substance abuse, and even cardiovascular disease.

Negatively Affects the Brain

Margaret Wehrenberg, psychologist and author of books on anxiety and depression, claims that constant repetitive thinking leads to changes in the neural circuitry in the brain.

“Rumination actually changes its structure, just as a footpath turns first into a carriageway, and then into a wide motorway with a large number of exits. And every time it becomes easier and easier to immerse yourself in thoughts.

Do not allow distraction

At some point, rumination becomes a habitual way of thinking. And as a result, it is difficult to switch to something else. The one who thinks, “If I just think about it long enough, I’ll figure it all out,” is making a mistake. After all, the more familiar the thought, the more difficult it is to get rid of it.

How to Stop Thinking

Practice Mindfulness

As with many mental health issues, mindfulness always helps. The first step is to determine which of your thoughts are intrusive and mentally label them as dangerous.

According to Winch, when a thought repeats itself frequently – or begins to do so – you need to catch on to it and turn it into a task that will help solve the problem.

For example, “I can’t believe this happened” to “What can I do to make sure this doesn’t happen again?”. “I don’t have any close friends!” – in “What steps to take to strengthen relationships with friends and find new ones?”.

Stop bad thoughts at the beginning

Prepare a supply of positive affirmations. For example, “I’m trying my best” or “I will be supported if needed.”

According to Wehrenberg, in order to keep a repetitive thought from returning to its usual path, you need to “wipe the trail”, that is, plan what to think about instead.

Sounds simple, but it’s one of those things that’s easy to understand and hard to do.

Get distracted to get out of the vicious circle

Winch advises redirecting your attention to something that requires focus. Take a break for 2-3 minutes: put together a puzzle, complete a memory task. Any activity that requires concentration will be enough to get rid of the irresistible craving for obsessive thoughts.

If you are distracted every time such a thought occurs, the frequency and intensity with which it pops up in your mind will decrease.

Keep a diary where you will splash out your experiences

It may seem strange to suggest paying even more attention to obsessive thoughts. But writing them down is helpful. Especially for those who often cannot fall asleep due to thinking.

In this case, put a notepad and pen by the bed and write down whatever is bothering you. Then tell yourself that since these thoughts are now on paper, you will definitely not forget them.