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Unproductive rumination is a predictor of becoming depressed and staying depressed.

Productive rumination leads to action today; unproductive rumination leads to self-criticism.

You don’t need an answer to move forward. You need to live your life today.

We can define rumination as a repeated negative focus on past or current events, where you dwell on something while trying to make sense of it. You may think, “Why did this happen?” or “I can’t believe this happened.” This continual focus on your thoughts is one of the best predictors of becoming depressed and staying depressed, according to Yale psychologist Susan Nolen-Hoeksema.

The consequence of rumination is that you are focusing on negatives, which will make you feel worse. Also, you may never get an answer that is completely satisfactory if you detach yourself from everyday life and don’t focus on positive goals within your control. People ruminate about past decisions, relationships, and disturbing events. They even ruminate about why they ruminate. The good news is that there are new approaches in cognitive behavioral therapy developed by our colleagues in England—Edward Watkins at the University of Exeter and Adrian Wells at the University of Manchester. Watkins developed Rumination-Focused CBT, and Wells independently developed Metacognitive Therapy. Research shows that both therapeutic models can help reverse rumination.

Eight Steps to Reversing Rumination

Let me share with you some steps that you can take and that a therapist can help you with to avoid being hijacked by these intrusive thoughts. It requires some........

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