According to the American Psychological Association, some common reasons for rumination include: 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 can't be controlled.
It often involves negative thoughts or bad memories. Such thoughts can interfere with your daily life and mental well-being if you can't stop ruminating about them repeatedly. Rumination is linked to some mental health disorders like depression, anxiety, and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
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.
Treatment for Rumination OCD
All types of OCD can be treated with Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), specifically with treatment approaches called Exposure with Response Prevention (ERP), and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy.
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 likely involves a broad range of cognitive and affective subprocesses that are associated with activation in diverse brain regions, including attention, self-referential processing, and recall of autobiographical memories.
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.
While rumination syndrome itself is not life-threatening, the problems that develop around the rumination are quite debilitating. Some of these problems include: Heightened GI sensitivity resulting in severe abdominal pain, nausea, bloating and/or pressure that makes having food or fluid in the stomach intolerable.
Repeating entire conversations in your head is a type of rumination. It's how your mind attempts to self-soothe. The more you replay the details of a conversation, the more you may feel you can interpret what happened. You may also find that this helps you plan for a future outcome.
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.
The main symptom of rumination disorder is the frequent and effortless regurgitation of food, which usually happens 15–30 minutes after eating. People may also experience: a feeling of pressure or the need to belch beforehand. nausea.
Rumination is a behavior and not a mental health condition. It's a common symptom in anxiety and mood disorders, though. But it doesn't have to be permanent. You can learn to manage it.
Rumination is a major component of depression. Rumination, especially brooding, may make a person prone to depression and make therapy less effective.
Rumination is an involuntary engagement strategy and is not a coping style because it is not voluntary.
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.
Rumination disorder most often starts after age 3 months, following a period of normal digestion. It occurs in infants and is rare in children and teenagers. The cause is often unknown.
Overall, the oldest age group reported less ruminative thoughts, which was expressed in medium to large effect sizes in comparison to younger age groups.
Self-compassion can be a beautiful — and effective — antidote to rumination.
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.
Depression in bipolar disorder has long been thought to be a state characterized by mental inactivity. However, recent research demonstrates that patients with bipolar disorder engage in rumination, a form of self-focused repetitive cognitive activity, in depressed as well as in manic states.
How Common Is Rumination Disorder? Since most children outgrow rumination disorder, and older children and adults with this disorder tend to be secretive about it out of embarrassment, it is difficult to know exactly how many people are affected. However, it is generally considered to be uncommon.
Rumination is specifically correlated with the DMN core regions and the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex subsystem.