Rumination (psychology)

Rumination is the focused attention on the symptoms of one's distress, and on its possible causes and consequences, as opposed to its solutions. Both rumination and worry are associated with anxiety and other negative emotional states; however, its measures have not been unified. In the Response Styles Theory proposed by Nolen-Hoeksema (1998), rumination is defined as the "compulsively focused attention on the symptoms of one's distress, and on its possible causes and consequences, as opposed to its solutions". Because the Response Styles Theory has been empirically supported, this model of rumination is the most widely used conceptualization. Other theories, however, have proposed different definitions for rumination. For example, in the Goal Progress Theory, rumination is conceptualized not as a reaction to a mood state, but as a "response to failure to progress satisfactorily towards a goal".

This article introduces several models of rumination and aims to distinguish rumination from other constructs that may appear similar or overlap with rumination conceptually.

Response styles theory (RST) initially defined rumination as passively and repetitively focusing on one's symptoms of depression and the possible causes and consequences of these symptoms. As evidence for this definition, rumination has been implicated in the development, maintenance, and aggravation of both depressive symptoms as well as episodes of major depression. Recently, RST has expanded the definition of rumination beyond depression to include passive and repetitive focus on symptoms of distress in general. This change was made because rumination has been implicated in a host of disorders, not just depression.

RST also contends that positive distraction is the healthy alternative to rumination, where focus is directed to positive stimuli instead of to distress. However, the literature suggests that positive distraction may not be as potent a tool as once thought.

The self-regulatory executive function (S-REF) model of affective dysfunction (the contents of which lie beyond the scope of this article) contends that rumination can be explained most precisely within a multilevel model of self-regulation. Specifically, the S-REF model defines rumination as "repetitive thoughts generated by attempts to cope with self-discrepancy that are directed primarily toward processing the content of self-referent information and not toward immediate goal-directed action." Put more simply, when a person ruminates, he or she aims to answer questions such as:

However, in answering these questions, ruminators tend to focus on their emotions (i.e., "self-referent information") as opposed to problem solving (i.e., "goal-directed action").

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