{"id":2778,"date":"2026-01-20T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/equilibriumpsychotherapy.net\/overthinking\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T15:02:17","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T14:02:17","slug":"overthinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/equilibriumpsychotherapy.net\/hr\/overthinking\/","title":{"rendered":"Thinking in Circles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<style>\n\/* The accent is a light-background device. 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i{position:absolute;left:0;right:0;top:3px;text-align:center;font-style:normal;font-family:\"Playfair Display\",Georgia,serif;\n  font-size:23px;font-weight:800;line-height:1.3;color:#6b4269;transform:rotate(-9deg)}\n.ra-faq .qb .x{display:none;color:#1d5f66;transform:rotate(6deg)}\n.ra-faq details[open] .qb path{fill:#e9f3f3;stroke:#bcd7d8}\n.ra-faq details[open] .qb .q{display:none}\n.ra-faq details[open] .qb .x{display:block}\n.ra-faq summary:hover .qb{animation:raWig .55s ease}\n@keyframes raWig{0%,100%{transform:rotate(0)}30%{transform:rotate(-9deg)}65%{transform:rotate(6deg)}}\n@media(prefers-reduced-motion:reduce){.ra-faq summary:hover .qb{animation:none}}\n.ra-faq summary .pl{width:30px;height:30px;border-radius:50%;border:1.5px solid #bcd7d8;color:#1d5f66;display:flex;align-items:center;justify-content:center;transition:transform .2s ease,background .2s ease}\n.ra-faq summary .pl svg{width:12px;height:12px}\n.ra-faq details[open] summary .pl{transform:rotate(45deg);background:#e9f3f3}\n.ra-faq .an{background:#faf8f3;border-top:1.5px solid #e8e1d5;padding:18px 24px 20px 74px}\n.ra-faq .an p{font-size:18.5px;line-height:1.66;color:#2a2622;margin:0 0 12px}\n.ra-faq .an p:last-child{margin-bottom:0}\n@media(max-width:560px){.ra-faq summary{gap:12px;padding:16px}.ra-faq .qb{width:38px;height:35px}.ra-faq .qb i{font-size:19px;top:2px}.ra-faq .an{padding:16px}.ra-faq .an p{font-size:17.5px}}\n.ra-faq .all{display:flex;justify-content:flex-end;margin:0 0 2px}\n.ra-faq .all button{font:600 14.5px\/1.2 \"Work Sans\",sans-serif;border:0;background:none;color:#1d5f66;cursor:pointer;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;padding:6px 4px}\n\n\/* ---- when to talk to a doctor: tiles, one small icon each ---- *\/\n.ra-dr{background:#faf8f3;border:1.5px solid #e8e1d5;border-radius:22px;padding:26px 28px;margin:4px 0 32px}\n.ra-dr .k{font-size:12px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:.16em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#1d5f66;margin:0 0 16px}\n.ra-dr ul{list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0;display:grid;grid-template-columns:repeat(2,minmax(0,1fr));gap:10px}\n@media(max-width:640px){.ra-dr ul{grid-template-columns:minmax(0,1fr)}.ra-dr{padding:20px 16px}}\n.ra-dr li{display:grid;grid-template-columns:auto minmax(0,1fr);gap:12px;align-items:center;background:#fff;border:1.5px solid #e8e1d5;border-radius:14px;\n  padding:14px 16px;margin:0;font-size:17px;line-height:1.45;color:#2a2622}\n.ra-dr li .i{width:36px;height:36px;border-radius:10px;background:#e9f3f3;color:#1d5f66;display:flex;align-items:center;justify-content:center}\n.ra-dr li .i svg{width:20px;height:20px}\n\n\n\n\/* ---- figure 1: counted twice ---- *\/\n.ov-ct .sets{display:grid;grid-template-columns:1fr auto 1fr;align-items:stretch;gap:0;margin:4px 0 0}\n.ov-ct .col{border:1.5px solid #e8e1d5;border-radius:18px;padding:18px 20px;background:#faf8f3}\n.ov-ct .col.mid{background:#f6eef6;border-color:#e0c9de;border-radius:18px;margin:0 -10px;z-index:1;position:relative}\n.ov-ct .cn{font-size:12px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:.14em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#6b6259;margin:0 0 12px}\n.ov-ct .col.mid .cn{color:#4a2d49}\n.ov-ct .it{display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:1.5;color:#2a2622;background:#fff;border:1px solid #e8e1d5;\n  border-radius:12px;padding:9px 13px;margin:0 0 8px;transition:opacity .28s ease,transform .28s ease}\n.ov-ct .col.mid .it{border-color:#e0c9de}\n.ov-ct .it:last-child{margin-bottom:0}\n.ov-ct.out .col.mid .it{opacity:0;transform:translateY(-6px)}\n.ov-ct .empty{font-size:15px;line-height:1.5;color:#4a2d49;margin:0;opacity:0;transition:opacity .28s ease .12s}\n.ov-ct.out .empty{opacity:1}\n.ov-ct.out .col.mid .items{display:none}\n.ov-ct:not(.out) .empty{display:none}\n.ov-ct .res{margin:20px 0 0;padding:16px 18px;border-radius:14px;background:#f1f6f6;border:1.5px solid #d9e7e6}\n.ov-ct .res p{margin:0;font-size:16px;line-height:1.6;color:#2a2622}\n.ov-ct .res b{font-weight:600;color:#15474d}\n.ov-ct .ctl{margin:18px 0 0}\n@media(max-width:640px){\n  .ov-ct .sets{grid-template-columns:minmax(0,1fr);gap:10px}\n  .ov-ct .col.mid{margin:0}\n}\n\n\/* ---- figure 2: arriving, not staying ---- *\/\n.ov-tl .track{position:relative;margin:6px 0 0;padding:0 0 4px}\n.ov-tl .line{position:absolute;left:0;right:0;top:19px;height:2px;background:#ebe4d6}\n.ov-tl ol{position:relative;display:grid;grid-template-columns:repeat(4,minmax(0,1fr));list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0;gap:0}\n.ov-tl li{margin:0;text-align:center}\n.ov-tl button{display:flex;flex-direction:column;align-items:center;gap:9px;width:100%;background:none;border:0;\n  padding:8px 2px;cursor:pointer;font-family:inherit}\n.ov-tl .dot{width:14px;height:14px;border-radius:50%;background:#fff;border:2px solid #e0c9de;transition:background .2s ease,border-color .2s ease,transform .2s ease}\n.ov-tl button[aria-pressed=true] .dot{background:#6b4269;border-color:#6b4269;transform:scale(1.25)}\n.ov-tl .yr{font:600 15px\/1 \"Work Sans\",sans-serif;color:#6b6259;transition:color .2s ease}\n.ov-tl button[aria-pressed=true] .yr{color:#4a2d49}\n.ov-tl .panes{display:grid;grid-template-columns:repeat(2,minmax(0,1fr));gap:14px;margin:22px 0 0}\n.ov-tl .pane{border:1.5px solid #e8e1d5;border-radius:16px;padding:18px 20px;background:#faf8f3}\n.ov-tl .pk{font-size:12px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:.14em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#6b6259;margin:0 0 10px}\n.ov-tl .vd{display:inline-block;font-size:14px;font-weight:600;line-height:1.3;border-radius:999px;padding:5px 13px;margin:0 0 10px}\n.ov-tl .vd.y{background:#e9f3f3;color:#15474d}\n.ov-tl .vd.n{background:#f6eef6;color:#4a2d49}\n.ov-tl .vd.q{background:#f1efe8;color:#5f5e5a}\n.ov-tl .pt{font-size:15.5px;line-height:1.6;color:#2a2622;margin:0}\n.ov-tl .src{font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#6b6259;margin:18px 0 0}\n@media(max-width:600px){.ov-tl .panes{grid-template-columns:minmax(0,1fr)}.ov-tl .yr{font-size:13.5px}}\n\n\/* ---- figure 3: altitude and verdict ---- *\/\n.ov-gr .pick{margin:2px 0 20px}\n.ov-gr .chips{display:flex;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:8px}\n.ov-gr .chips button{font:500 15px\/1.3 \"Work Sans\",sans-serif;border:1.5px solid #e8e1d5;background:#fff;color:#2a2622;\n  border-radius:999px;padding:9px 16px;cursor:pointer;transition:border-color .18s ease,background .18s ease}\n.ov-gr .chips button:hover{border-color:#e0c9de}\n.ov-gr .chips button[aria-pressed=true]{background:#6b4269;border-color:#6b4269;color:#fff}\n.ov-gr .wrap{display:grid;grid-template-columns:auto minmax(0,1fr);gap:10px}\n.ov-gr .yax{display:grid;grid-template-rows:1fr 1fr;gap:10px}\n.ov-gr .yl{display:flex;align-items:center;justify-content:center;writing-mode:vertical-rl;transform:rotate(180deg);\n  font:700 12px\/1 \"Work Sans\",sans-serif;letter-spacing:.14em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#6b6259}\n.ov-gr .cells{display:grid;grid-template-columns:repeat(2,minmax(0,1fr));gap:10px}\n.ov-gr .cell{border:1.5px solid #e8e1d5;border-radius:16px;padding:16px 18px;background:#faf8f3;min-height:112px}\n.ov-gr .cell.best{border-color:#1d5f66;background:#f1f6f6}\n.ov-gr .ck{font-size:12px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:.14em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#6b6259;margin:0 0 9px}\n.ov-gr .cell.best .ck{color:#15474d}\n.ov-gr .cq{font-size:16.5px;line-height:1.55;color:#2a2622;margin:0}\n.ov-gr .xax{display:grid;grid-template-columns:repeat(2,minmax(0,1fr));gap:10px;margin:10px 0 0}\n.ov-gr .xl{text-align:center;font:700 12px\/1 \"Work Sans\",sans-serif;letter-spacing:.14em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#6b6259}\n.ov-gr .note{margin:20px 0 0;font-size:15.5px;line-height:1.6;color:#2a2622;\n  padding:16px 18px;border-radius:14px;background:#f1f6f6;border:1.5px solid #d9e7e6}\n.ov-gr .note b{font-weight:600;color:#15474d}\n@media(max-width:620px){\n  .ov-gr .wrap{grid-template-columns:minmax(0,1fr)}\n  .ov-gr .yax{display:none}\n  .ov-gr .cells{grid-template-columns:minmax(0,1fr)}\n  .ov-gr .xax{display:none}\n  .ov-gr .cell{min-height:0}\n}\n\n\/* ---- figure 4: one in six ---- *\/\n.ov-dt .ctl{margin:2px 0 20px}\n.ov-dt .rows{display:grid;gap:22px}\n.ov-dt .rw .rh{display:flex;align-items:baseline;justify-content:space-between;gap:14px;margin:0 0 10px}\n.ov-dt .rw .nm{font-size:16.5px;font-weight:600;line-height:1.3;color:#2a2622;margin:0}\n.ov-dt .rw .vl{font-size:16.5px;line-height:1.3;color:#4a2d49;margin:0;font-variant-numeric:tabular-nums}\n.ov-dt .rw .vl b{font-weight:700}\n.ov-dt .grid{display:grid;grid-template-columns:repeat(20,1fr);gap:4px}\n.ov-dt .grid i{display:block;aspect-ratio:1;border-radius:50%;background:#efece5;transition:background .3s ease}\n.ov-dt .grid i.on{background:#6b4269}\n.ov-dt .rw.ctrl .grid i.on{background:#b79ab4}\n.ov-dt .cav{margin:22px 0 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6;color:#6b6259}\n@media(max-width:520px){.ov-dt .grid{grid-template-columns:repeat(10,1fr)}}\n\n\/* Tap targets. The gate floor is 44px below 900px wide, and it applies to any\n   control, not only to things that look like buttons. The inherited .ra-seg\n   padding gives about 35px, so the minimum is set here rather than on the\n   shared component. *\/\n@media(max-width:900px){\n  .ov-ct .ra-seg button,\n  .ov-dt .ra-seg button,\n  .ov-gr .chips button{min-height:44px}\n}\n\/* Gutenberg padding is inline at one value, so on a phone the panels left 159px of measure *\/\n@media(max-width:620px){.eqp .wp-block-group.has-background{padding:26px 22px!important}}\n@media(max-width:420px){.eqp .wp-block-group.has-background{padding:22px 18px!important}}\n\/* the subtitle under the title: a small tracked label, not a second headline *\/\n.eqp .eq-subtitle{text-transform:uppercase}\n\n@media(max-width:520px){.ra-fig{padding:20px 14px;border-radius:16px;margin:0 -12px!important}}\n@media(prefers-reduced-motion:reduce){.ra-fig *,.ra-faq *{transition:none!important}}\n@media print{.ra-seg,.ra-lad .sw,.ra-ec .sl,.ra-faq .all{display:none!important}.ra-faq details{display:block}}\n@media(max-width:480px){.eqp ol.wp-block-list{padding-left:18px}.eqp ol.wp-block-list li{overflow-wrap:anywhere}}\n<\/style><style>\n\/* ---- glossary popups ---- *\/\n\n\/* THE PAGE MUST NOT SCROLL SIDEWAYS BECAUSE OF A CARD NOBODY CAN SEE. A hidden\n   absolutely positioned box still extends the scrollable width, and a card\n   centred on a word near the right edge hangs off it until the script nudges it\n   back. The script does that on load, but \"on load\" is a moving target: web\n   fonts reflow the line after it, and the sleep article was still scrolling\n   41px sideways at 720px on some loads and not others.\n\n   overflow-x:clip settles it without depending on timing at all. Not hidden:\n   clip does not make this a scroll container, so anything sticky inside keeps\n   sticking and overflow-y stays visible. The clip edge is the page box, and a\n   320px card centred on a word inside the measure column has a couple of\n   hundred pixels of slack before it can reach that edge, so on a desktop it\n   never clips anything; on a narrow screen the clip edge is the viewport, which\n   is where the script is putting the card anyway. *\/\n.eqp{overflow-x:clip}\n\n\/* A dotted underline under a term that is usually already italic: quiet enough\n   to ignore, and different enough from a link to never be mistaken for one. *\/\n.eqp .gl{position:relative;display:inline;border-bottom:1.5px dotted #e0c9de;\n  cursor:help;outline:none}\n.eqp .gl:focus-visible{outline:2px solid var(--eqp-accent);outline-offset:3px;\n  border-radius:3px}\n\n.eqp .gd{position:absolute;left:50%;bottom:calc(100% + 12px);z-index:40;\n  width:min(320px,78vw);box-sizing:border-box;\n  \/* THE NUDGE IS A MARGIN, NOT PART OF THE TRANSFORM. It used to ride inside\n     translateX as calc(-50% + var(--sx)), and the variable never took effect:\n     the script set --sx correctly, the sheet shipped correctly, and the\n     computed transform stayed at a flat -50% regardless. Measured on the live\n     page with the compositor running and a control element proving transform\n     itself worked, cards still sat 54 to 61px off the left edge of a 390px\n     screen. margin-left is a layout property, it resolves the variable, and it\n     put every card exactly where the script had calculated. *\/\n  transform:translateX(-50%) translateY(4px);margin-left:var(--sx,0px);\n  opacity:0;visibility:hidden;pointer-events:none;\n  background:#fff;border:1.5px solid var(--eqp-line2);border-radius:12px;\n  box-shadow:0 10px 30px rgba(20,30,40,.14);padding:14px 16px;\n  font-family:\"Work Sans\",sans-serif;font-size:14.5px;line-height:1.55;\n  font-style:normal;font-weight:400;color:var(--eqp-body);text-align:left;\n  transition:opacity .16s ease,transform .16s ease}\n.eqp .gd b{display:block;font-family:\"Work Sans\",sans-serif;font-size:11px;\n  font-weight:700;letter-spacing:.13em;text-transform:uppercase;\n  color:var(--eqp-muted);margin:0 0 6px}\n\/* The pointer, a rotated square sitting half outside the card. It carries the\n   nudge in reverse so it stays under the term when the card has moved. *\/\n.eqp .gd::after{content:\"\";position:absolute;left:calc(50% - 6px - var(--sx,0px));\n  bottom:-7px;width:12px;height:12px;background:#fff;\n  border-right:1.5px solid var(--eqp-line2);border-bottom:1.5px solid var(--eqp-line2);\n  transform:rotate(45deg)}\n.eqp .gl:hover .gd,.eqp .gl:focus .gd,.eqp .gl:focus-within .gd{\n  opacity:1;visibility:visible;pointer-events:auto;\n  transform:translateX(-50%) translateY(0)}\n@media(prefers-reduced-motion:reduce){\n  .eqp .gd{transition:none;transform:translateX(-50%)}\n}\n\/* A popup means nothing on paper, and nothing is lost: every glossed term keeps\n   the author's own sentence around it. *\/\n@media print{.eqp .gd{display:none}.eqp .gl{border-bottom:0}}\n<\/style><style>\n.eqp .gl{color:#6b4269}\n.eqp .gl:hover{background:#f6eef6}\n.eqp .eqb .gl{color:inherit}\n.eqp .gd{border-left:3px solid #956191}\n.eqp .gd b{color:#4a2d49;background:#f6eef6;margin:-14px -16px 12px;padding:10px 16px 9px;border-bottom:1px solid #e0c9de}\n.eqp .gd::after{border-right-color:#e0c9de;border-bottom-color:#e0c9de}\n<\/style><script>\n(function(){\n  \/* The sheet is the first block on the page, so at parse time not one .gl\n     exists yet and binding straight away binds to nothing. It did, silently:\n     the cards still opened, because opening is pure CSS, and only the nudge was\n     missing. Wait for the document instead. *\/\n  function bind(){\n    var gl=document.querySelectorAll('.eqp .gl');\n    if(!gl.length){return;}\n    \/* MEASURE THE TERM, NOT THE CARD. Reading the card's own rect looks like\n       the obvious thing to do and is wrong: the card is mid transition when the\n       pointer arrives, so its rect is wherever the animation has got to, and a\n       nudge computed from it was correct on a first hover and zero on a second.\n       The term does not move and offsetWidth ignores transforms.\n\n       getClientRects()[0] rather than getBoundingClientRect, because a term\n       that wraps across two lines is anchored by CSS to its first line box. *\/\n    function place(el){\n      var card=el.querySelector('.gd');\n      if(!card){return;}\n      var rects=el.getClientRects();\n      var a=rects.length?rects[0]:el.getBoundingClientRect();\n      var mid=a.left+a.width\/2, half=card.offsetWidth\/2, m=14, dx=0;\n      if(mid-half<m){dx=m-(mid-half);}\n      else if(mid+half>window.innerWidth-m){dx=(window.innerWidth-m)-(mid+half);}\n      card.style.setProperty('--sx',dx.toFixed(1)+'px');\n    }\n    for(var i=0;i<gl.length;i++){\n      (function(el){\n        el.addEventListener('mouseenter',function(){place(el);});\n        el.addEventListener('focus',function(){place(el);});\n        el.addEventListener('keydown',function(e){\n          if(e.key==='Escape'){el.blur();}\n        });\n      })(gl[i]);\n    }\n    function placeAll(){for(var j=0;j<gl.length;j++){place(gl[j]);}}\n    placeAll();\n    \/* Again once the web fonts have swapped, which moves every line on the\n       page, and again at load for anything else that reflowed. *\/\n    if(document.fonts){document.fonts.ready.then(placeAll);}\n    if(document.readyState!=='complete'){window.addEventListener('load',placeAll);}\n    var t=null;\n    window.addEventListener('resize',function(){\n      if(t){clearTimeout(t);}\n      t=setTimeout(placeAll,120);\n    });\n  }\n  if(document.readyState==='loading'){\n    document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded',bind);\n  }else{bind();}\n})();\n\/*>*\/<\/script><div id=\"eqp-rail\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><i><\/i><\/div><nav id=\"eqp-parts\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><a href=\"#part-1\" data-i=\"1\" tabindex=\"-1\"><span class=\"dot\"><\/span><span class=\"lbl\">What you call it, and what they measure<\/span><\/a><a href=\"#part-2\" data-i=\"2\" tabindex=\"-1\"><span class=\"dot\"><\/span><span class=\"lbl\">What it predicts, and what it does not<\/span><\/a><a href=\"#part-3\" data-i=\"3\" tabindex=\"-1\"><span class=\"dot\"><\/span><span class=\"lbl\">The shape, not the subject<\/span><\/a><a href=\"#part-4\" data-i=\"4\" tabindex=\"-1\"><span class=\"dot\"><\/span><span class=\"lbl\">Why it feels like work<\/span><\/a><a href=\"#part-5\" data-i=\"5\" tabindex=\"-1\"><span class=\"dot\"><\/span><span class=\"lbl\">What actually shifts it<\/span><\/a><a href=\"#part-6\" data-i=\"6\" tabindex=\"-1\"><span class=\"dot\"><\/span><span class=\"lbl\">Two findings that run against the usual advice<\/span><\/a><a href=\"#part-7\" data-i=\"7\" tabindex=\"-1\"><span class=\"dot\"><\/span><span class=\"lbl\">The hour before you sleep<\/span><\/a><\/nav><button id=\"eqp-top\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Back to the top of the article\"><svg viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"M6 10.5V2M2 5.5 6 1.5l4 4\" fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"1.7\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"\/><\/svg>Top<\/button><script>(function(){document.documentElement.setAttribute(\"data-eqp\",\"on\");function init(){var RM=false;if(window.matchMedia){RM=window.matchMedia(\"(prefers-reduced-motion: reduce)\").matches;}var bar=document.querySelector(\"#eqp-rail i\");var hasST=false;if(window.CSS){if(CSS.supports){hasST=CSS.supports(\"animation-timeline\",\"scroll()\");}}if(bar){if(!hasST){  var tick=function(){    var h=document.documentElement.scrollHeight-window.innerHeight;    var p=h>0?window.scrollY\/h:0;    if(p<0)p=0; if(p>1)p=1;    bar.style.transform=\"scaleX(\"+p+\")\";  };  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ask(){\nif(busy){return;}\nbusy=true;\nif(window.requestAnimationFrame){window.requestAnimationFrame(sync);}\nelse{window.setTimeout(sync,50);}\n}\nwindow.addEventListener(\"scroll\",ask,{passive:true});\nwindow.addEventListener(\"resize\",ask);\nwindow.addEventListener(\"orientationchange\",ask);\nwindow.addEventListener(\"load\",ask);\ndocument.addEventListener(\"focusin\",function(e){typing=field(e.target);ask();});\ndocument.addEventListener(\"focusout\",function(){typing=false;ask();});\nif(MQ){\nif(MQ.addEventListener){MQ.addEventListener(\"change\",ask);}\nelse if(MQ.addListener){MQ.addListener(ask);}\n}\nask();\n})();\/*>*\/<\/script>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull eqp has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-69fa9525 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;padding:0px 22px\">\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d12c95ff wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n<div style=\"color:#6b6259;font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.455), 18px);font-style:normal;font-weight:400;margin-top:54px;margin-bottom:0\" class=\"has-link-color wp-elements-1 wp-block-post-date has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\"><time datetime=\"2026-01-20T10:00:00+01:00\">20 sije\u010dnja, 2026<\/time><\/div>\n\n<div style=\"color:#6b6259;font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.455), 18px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0\" class=\"taxonomy-category has-link-color wp-elements-2 wp-block-post-terms has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\"><a href=\"https:\/\/equilibriumpsychotherapy.net\/hr\/category\/body-and-mind\/\" rel=\"tag\">Body and Mind<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-playfair-display-font-family\" id=\"top\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:24px;margin-bottom:10px;font-size:clamp(26.944px, 1.684rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 2.165), 46px);font-style:normal;font-weight:800;line-height:1.12\">Thinking in Circles<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family eq-subtitle wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#1d5f66;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:20px;font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.114), 15px);font-weight:600;letter-spacing:.14em;line-height:1.5\">Overthinking, rumination and the evidence<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#524a42;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:22px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.55\">What researchers mean by rumination and why it&#8217;s much narrower than &#8220;overthinking,&#8221; what it predicts and what it doesn&#8217;t, why the way you think about a problem matters more than the problem itself, why it feels like work, what has helped in trials, two findings that go against the usual advice, and what it does to the hour before you fall asleep<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"eq-credit\" style=\"--eq-credit-ac:#1d5f66\">Written by <a href=\"\/our-team-ivana\/\" rel=\"author\">Ivana<\/a>, psychologist and psychotherapist<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#6b6259;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.114), 15px);line-height:1.5\"><strong style=\"color:#1d5f66\">17 minute read<\/strong> &nbsp;&middot;&nbsp; 3,897 words<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<!-- eq-post-top -->\n<div class=\"pt-on\" hidden data-src=\"https:\/\/equilibriumpsychotherapy.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/overthinking-post-top.jpg\" data-w=\"470\" data-aspect=\"0.609\" data-side=\"right\" data-bleed=\"R\"><\/div>\n<script>\n\/* Post tops: turns the post's masthead group into the cream band and adds the\n   drawing beside the words. 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You&#8217;ve followed it to the end a dozen times, and every time you&#8217;ve landed back at the start. Some tiredness comes from thinking like this, and it&#8217;s nothing like the good tired after a hard problem: it uses up everything you had, gets you nowhere, and the next morning you begin again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">Much of what gets written about overthinking still leans on one paper from 1991. In the years that followed, the researcher who wrote it went on to correct several of its central claims in print. Those corrections are some of the most useful things in this article, and the popular versions rarely mention them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">So this article follows the corrections. What the research can back up is narrower than the everyday word suggests and less certain than those versions make it sound, but in one way it&#8217;s much kinder to you.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d2a766d4 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-background has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-4ccedd2e wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"border-color:#e8e1d5;border-width:1.5px;border-style:solid;border-radius:22px;background-color:#faf8f3;margin-top:56px;margin-bottom:20px;padding:30px 34px\">\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#6b6259;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:22px;font-size:12px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0.16em;line-height:1.4\">WHAT THIS ARTICLE COVERS &middot; SEVEN PARTS<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-rank-math-toc-block\">\n<div class=\"eq-toc\"><details><summary><svg class=\"chev\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"M4 2l4 4-4 4\" fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"1.7\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"\/><\/svg><p hidden><\/p><span class=\"num\">PART 1<\/span><a class=\"ttl\" href=\"#part-1\">What you call it, and what they measure<\/a><span class=\"cnt\"><span class=\"sec\">4 sections<\/span><span class=\"sep\"> &middot; <\/span>3 min<\/span><\/summary><ul><li><a href=\"#the-word-is-much-bigger-than-the-thing\">The word is much bigger than the thing<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#the-scale-was-partly-measuring-the-thing-it-predicts\">The scale was partly measuring the thing it predicts<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#brooding-and-the-kind-that-was-supposed-to-be-healthy\">Brooding, and the kind that was supposed to be healthy<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#is-it-even-separate-from-worry\">Is it even separate from worry?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/details><details><summary><svg class=\"chev\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"M4 2l4 4-4 4\" fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"1.7\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"\/><\/svg><p hidden><\/p><span class=\"num\">PART 2<\/span><a class=\"ttl\" href=\"#part-2\">What it predicts, and what it does not<\/a><span class=\"cnt\"><span class=\"sec\">3 sections<\/span><span class=\"sep\"> &middot; <\/span>2 min<\/span><\/summary><ul><li><a href=\"#it-predicts-getting-low-more-reliably-than-staying-low\">It predicts getting low more reliably than staying low<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#the-strongest-evidence-came-from-an-accident\">The strongest evidence came from an accident<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#what-it-travels-with\">What it travels with<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/details><details><summary><svg class=\"chev\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"M4 2l4 4-4 4\" fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"1.7\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"\/><\/svg><p hidden><\/p><span class=\"num\">PART 3<\/span><a class=\"ttl\" href=\"#part-3\">The shape, not the subject<\/a><span class=\"cnt\"><span class=\"sec\">2 sections<\/span><span class=\"sep\"> &middot; <\/span>2 min<\/span><\/summary><ul><li><a href=\"#the-same-problem-held-two-ways\">The same problem, held two ways<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#the-limits-of-that-finding\">The limits of that finding<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/details><details><summary><svg class=\"chev\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"M4 2l4 4-4 4\" fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"1.7\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"\/><\/svg><p hidden><\/p><span class=\"num\">PART 4<\/span><a class=\"ttl\" href=\"#part-4\">Why it feels like work<\/a><span class=\"cnt\"><span class=\"sec\">4 sections<\/span><span class=\"sep\"> &middot; <\/span>2 min<\/span><\/summary><ul><li><a href=\"#three-explanations-and-they-are-not-equally-supported\">Three explanations, and they are not equally supported<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#the-avoidance-account\">The avoidance account<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#the-beliefs-account\">The beliefs account<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#the-habit-account\">The habit account<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/details><details><summary><svg class=\"chev\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"M4 2l4 4-4 4\" fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"1.7\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"\/><\/svg><p hidden><\/p><span class=\"num\">PART 5<\/span><a class=\"ttl\" href=\"#part-5\">What actually shifts it<\/a><span class=\"cnt\"><span class=\"sec\">3 sections<\/span><span class=\"sep\"> &middot; <\/span>2 min<\/span><\/summary><ul><li><a href=\"#the-prevention-numbers-are-the-best-in-the-field\">The prevention numbers are the best in the field<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#two-trials-that-came-apart-in-opposite-directions\">Two trials that came apart in opposite directions<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#what-the-big-review-does-not-say-on-the-front\">What the big review does not say on the front<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/details><details><summary><svg class=\"chev\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"M4 2l4 4-4 4\" fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"1.7\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"\/><\/svg><p hidden><\/p><span class=\"num\">PART 6<\/span><a class=\"ttl\" href=\"#part-6\">Two findings that run against the usual advice<\/a><span class=\"cnt\"><span class=\"sec\">3 sections<\/span><span class=\"sep\"> &middot; <\/span>2 min<\/span><\/summary><ul><li><a href=\"#distraction-is-better-than-its-reputation\">Distraction is better than its reputation<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#the-healthy-kind-may-not-be-the-healthy-kind\">The healthy kind may not be the healthy kind<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#a-note-on-stopping-thoughts\">A note on stopping thoughts<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/details><details><summary><svg class=\"chev\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"M4 2l4 4-4 4\" fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"1.7\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"\/><\/svg><p hidden><\/p><span class=\"num\">PART 7<\/span><a class=\"ttl\" href=\"#part-7\">The hour before you sleep<\/a><span class=\"cnt\"><span class=\"sec\">3 sections<\/span><span class=\"sep\"> &middot; <\/span>4 min<\/span><\/summary><ul><li><a href=\"#it-predicts-a-slower-start-to-sleep-not-a-shorter-night\">It predicts a slower start to sleep, not a shorter night<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#and-the-size-of-it\">And the size of it<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#what-follows-from-all-of-this\">What follows from all of this<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/details><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d2a766d4 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<div style=\"margin-top:92px;margin-bottom:34px\"><div class=\"ov-part\"><div class=\"no\">01<\/div><div class=\"tx\"><p class=\"lb\">Part one of seven<\/p><h2 id=\"part-1\">What you call it, and what they measure<\/h2><p class=\"sb\">The word covers far more ground than the thing being studied<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d12c95ff wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" id=\"the-word-is-much-bigger-than-the-thing\" style=\"color:#1d5f66;margin-top:72px;margin-bottom:18px;font-size:clamp(16.293px, 1.018rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.989), 25px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:1.28\">The word is much bigger than the thing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">When you say you <em class=\"eqi\">overthink<\/em>, you probably mean one of several things. Replaying a conversation from four hours ago. Not being able to choose. Running the worst version of tomorrow. Turning a small decision over until it&#8217;s smooth and featureless and still undecided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">Researchers study something much narrower, which they call <em class=\"eqi\">rumination<\/em>. The original definition, set out in 1991, describes <strong class=\"eqb\">repeatedly focusing on your own low mood and on its possible causes and consequences<\/strong>. That&#8217;s it. Not decisions, not the future, not other people, not work. Your own low mood, and why you have it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">That matters for two reasons. First, if what you mostly do is replay social situations or get stuck on decisions, most of the studies below aren&#8217;t really about you, or only about the part of you that also dwells on feeling low. Second, the bad outcome is built into the definition. If rumination means dwelling on your own distress, then finding that people who do a lot of it tend to be distressed is less surprising than it sounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" id=\"the-scale-was-partly-measuring-the-thing-it-predicts\" style=\"color:#1d5f66;margin-top:72px;margin-bottom:18px;font-size:clamp(16.293px, 1.018rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.989), 25px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:1.28\">The scale was partly measuring the thing it predicts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">There&#8217;s a catch in how this has been measured, and it changes how to read everything that follows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">The standard questionnaire asks people how often they do things like think about how sad they feel, or think about how tired and achy they are. Those are really questions about depression wearing a different hat. So <strong class=\"eqb\">part of the famous link between rumination and depression is a questionnaire measuring depression twice<\/strong> and finding, reasonably enough, that the two halves agree (who would have thought).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">When researchers later took those overlapping questions out, something useful appeared: the habit split into two different kinds.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d2a766d4 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<div style=\"margin-top:40px;margin-bottom:48px\"><figure class=\"ra-fig ov-ct\" id=\"ov-ct\"><div class=\"hd\"><p class=\"ti\">What the questionnaire is made of<\/p><p class=\"q\">Some questions appear on both questionnaires, so part of the famous link is one thing counted twice<\/p><\/div><div class=\"sets\"><div class=\"col\"><p class=\"cn\">the rumination questionnaire<\/p><span class=\"it\">its own items<\/span><\/div><div class=\"col mid\"><p class=\"cn\">on both<\/p><div class=\"items\"><span class=\"it\">think about how sad you feel<\/span><span class=\"it\">think about how tired and achy you are<\/span><\/div><p class=\"empty\">deleted<\/p><\/div><div class=\"col\"><p class=\"cn\">the depression scale<\/p><span class=\"it\">its own items<\/span><\/div><\/div><div class=\"ctl\"><div class=\"ra-seg\" role=\"group\" aria-label=\"Shared items\"><button type=\"button\" data-o=\"0\" aria-pressed=\"true\">as published<\/button><button type=\"button\" data-o=\"1\" aria-pressed=\"false\">with the shared items removed<\/button><\/div><\/div><div class=\"res\"><p id=\"ov-ct-res\">With the shared items left in, a questionnaire about low mood is being compared with a questionnaire that contains low mood, and <b>the two halves agree<\/b>.<\/p><\/div><figcaption>When researchers later tried to split rumination into a harmful kind and a useful kind, <b>the split only appeared after they deleted the duplicated items and ran the analysis again<\/b>. A 2008 review reports this, quoting the 2003 paper that did it. None of this makes the link fake, only smaller than it first looks.<\/figcaption><\/figure><script>(function(){var f=document.getElementById(\"ov-ct\");if(!f)return;var out=document.getElementById(\"ov-ct-res\");var A=\"With the shared items left in, a questionnaire about low mood is being compared with a questionnaire that contains low mood, and <b>the two halves agree<\/b>.\";var B=\"With them out, the questionnaire splits into brooding and reflection. <b>That split did not appear until the duplicated items were deleted<\/b>.\";var bs=f.querySelectorAll(\".ra-seg button\");for(var i=0;i<bs.length;i++){bs[i].addEventListener(\"click\",function(){var on=this.getAttribute(\"data-o\")===\"1\";for(var j=0;j<bs.length;j++){bs[j].setAttribute(\"aria-pressed\",bs[j]===this?\"true\":\"false\");}if(on){f.classList.add(\"out\");}else{f.classList.remove(\"out\");}out.innerHTML=on?B:A;});}})();\/*>*\/<\/script><\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d12c95ff wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" id=\"brooding-and-the-kind-that-was-supposed-to-be-healthy\" style=\"color:#1d5f66;margin-top:72px;margin-bottom:18px;font-size:clamp(16.293px, 1.018rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.989), 25px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:1.28\">Brooding, and the kind that was supposed to be healthy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\"><em class=\"eqi\">Brooding<\/em> is the moody, self-critical kind. Why can I never handle this? What is wrong with me? <em class=\"eqi\">Reflection<\/em> was the other kind, a more purposeful turn inward to work out what&#8217;s going on, and it was supposed to be the healthy one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">Brooding behaves as you&#8217;d expect. It goes with depression, and in the original study it predicted more depression a year later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">Reflection hasn&#8217;t fully lived up to its reputation. In several studies, people who reflect a lot are also more depressed when both are measured at the same time, although in the original study reflection went with less depression a year later. But when the questions were rewritten to take out the self-critical, judging tone, the new version stopped being linked with depression at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">That may be one of the most useful findings in this article. <strong class=\"eqb\">The difference between the harmful kind and the harmless kind may not be whether you are analyzing. It may be whether you are judging yourself while you do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" id=\"is-it-even-separate-from-worry\" style=\"color:#1d5f66;margin-top:72px;margin-bottom:18px;font-size:clamp(16.293px, 1.018rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.989), 25px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:1.28\">Is it even separate from worry?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">Worry looks forward and rumination looks back. That distinction is real, it&#8217;s useful, and the article on this site about <a href=\"\/worry-time\/\" style=\"color:#6b4269;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1.5px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">setting aside a time to worry<\/a> goes into it properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">Still, the line between them is blurrier than the two words suggest. When people described one of their own worries and one of their own ruminations, the two felt different, one about the future and one about the past, but the thinking itself looked much the same. And when researchers looked for what the two have in common, they found a shared habit underneath both that predicted depression and anxiety months later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">So there are <strong class=\"eqb\">two words for what looks like one underlying habit pointed in two directions<\/strong>, with a few features of its own on each side. That&#8217;s roughly what most people would have guessed.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d2a766d4 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<div style=\"margin-top:92px;margin-bottom:34px\"><div class=\"ov-part\"><div class=\"no\">02<\/div><div class=\"tx\"><p class=\"lb\">Part two of seven<\/p><h2 id=\"part-2\">What it predicts, and what it does not<\/h2><p class=\"sb\">The correction that matters most, made by the theory&#8217;s own author<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d12c95ff wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" id=\"it-predicts-getting-low-more-reliably-than-staying-low\" style=\"color:#1d5f66;margin-top:72px;margin-bottom:18px;font-size:clamp(16.293px, 1.018rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.989), 25px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:1.28\">It predicts getting low more reliably than staying low<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">Here&#8217;s the correction, and if you take one thing from this article, it should probably be this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">The original 1991 theory said that rumination makes depression last longer. If you&#8217;re low and can&#8217;t stop going over things, that&#8217;s a frightening idea, because it suggests the thinking itself is what keeps you stuck. Maybe you&#8217;ve even worried about your worrying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">When researchers tested it by following people over time, that isn&#8217;t quite what they found. Among people who were not depressed at the start, those who tended to ruminate were more likely to become depressed. But once people were depressed, rumination did not reliably predict how long it lasted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">By 2008 the researcher who had proposed the theory wrote the correction into a review of her own work: <strong class=\"eqb\">rumination appears more consistently to predict the onset of depression rather than its duration<\/strong> (correcting your own famous paper, in print, takes some nerve. Respect).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">That points somewhere kind. There is one exception: in people who also tend to see bad events as permanent and as saying something bad about them, rumination did go with symptoms lasting longer. But <strong class=\"eqb\">if you&#8217;re low right now and you also think in circles, the research does not say that the circling on its own is what is keeping you there<\/strong>. Please hold on to that!<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d2a766d4 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<div style=\"margin-top:40px;margin-bottom:48px\"><figure class=\"ra-fig ov-tl\" id=\"ov-tl\"><div class=\"hd\"><p class=\"ti\">The correction that matters most<\/p><p class=\"q\">Two different questions, and one has held up far better than the other<\/p><\/div><div class=\"track\"><span class=\"line\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><ol><li><button type=\"button\" data-i=\"0\" aria-pressed=\"false\"><span class=\"dot\"><\/span><span class=\"yr\">1991<\/span><\/button><\/li><li><button type=\"button\" data-i=\"1\" aria-pressed=\"false\"><span class=\"dot\"><\/span><span class=\"yr\">1997<\/span><\/button><\/li><li><button type=\"button\" data-i=\"2\" aria-pressed=\"false\"><span class=\"dot\"><\/span><span class=\"yr\">2000<\/span><\/button><\/li><li><button type=\"button\" data-i=\"3\" aria-pressed=\"true\"><span class=\"dot\"><\/span><span class=\"yr\">2008<\/span><\/button><\/li><\/ol><\/div><div class=\"panes\"><div class=\"pane\"><p class=\"pk\">predicts getting depressed<\/p><span class=\"vd y\" id=\"ov-tl-ov\">Yes<\/span><p class=\"pt\" id=\"ov-tl-ot\">The originator of the theory, with two colleagues, writes the correction into a review of her own work.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"pane\"><p class=\"pk\">predicts staying depressed<\/p><span class=\"vd q\" id=\"ov-tl-dv\">Less consistent<\/span><p class=\"pt\" id=\"ov-tl-dt\">Rumination appears more consistently to predict the onset of depression than its duration. The same review adds that in people who also read bad events as permanent and personal, it does predict how long symptoms last.<\/p><\/div><\/div><p class=\"src\" id=\"ov-tl-src\">The theory\u2019s own author, reviewing her work, 2008.<\/p><figcaption>The 1991 paper claimed rumination makes depression <b>last longer<\/b>. The first two studies to test it by following people over time found instead that it predicts <b>getting depressed in the first place<\/b>, and by 2008 the theory\u2019s own author agreed that this is the more consistent finding.<\/figcaption><\/figure><script>(function(){var D=[{\"y\":\"1991\",\"on\":[\"q\",\"Not tested here\"],\"du\":[\"n\",\"Claimed\"],\"onT\":\"The paper is a statement of theory that reviews earlier work. It does not follow anybody forward from health.\",\"duT\":\"The title says \\\"their effects on the duration of depressive episodes\\\". This is the claim the later studies set out to test.\",\"src\":\"The founding paper, 1991.\"},{\"y\":\"1997\",\"on\":[\"y\",\"Yes\"],\"du\":[\"n\",\"No\"],\"onT\":\"People who were not depressed at the start were followed for eighteen months. Those who said they responded to low mood by ruminating were more likely to have an episode.\",\"duT\":\"In the same study, neither the trait measure nor the state measure predicted how long that first episode lasted.\",\"src\":\"An eighteen-month prospective study, 1997.\"},{\"y\":\"2000\",\"on\":[\"y\",\"Yes\"],\"du\":[\"n\",\"No, once baseline was accounted for\"],\"onT\":\"A second US study found the same shape: rumination predicted new onsets.\",\"duT\":\"It appeared to predict chronicity as well, until the researchers accounted for how depressed people already were at the start. Then that part disappeared.\",\"src\":\"A second prospective study, 2000.\"},{\"y\":\"2008\",\"on\":[\"y\",\"Yes\"],\"du\":[\"q\",\"Less consistent\"],\"onT\":\"The originator of the theory, with two colleagues, writes the correction into a review of her own work.\",\"duT\":\"Rumination appears more consistently to predict the onset of depression than its duration. The same review adds that in people who also read bad events as permanent and personal, it does predict how long symptoms last.\",\"src\":\"The theory\u2019s own author, reviewing her work, 2008.\"}];var f=document.getElementById(\"ov-tl\");if(!f)return;var ov=document.getElementById(\"ov-tl-ov\"),ot=document.getElementById(\"ov-tl-ot\");var dv=document.getElementById(\"ov-tl-dv\"),dt=document.getElementById(\"ov-tl-dt\");var sr=document.getElementById(\"ov-tl-src\");var bs=f.querySelectorAll(\".track button\");for(var i=0;i<bs.length;i++){bs[i].addEventListener(\"click\",function(){var d=D[+this.getAttribute(\"data-i\")];for(var j=0;j<bs.length;j++){bs[j].setAttribute(\"aria-pressed\",bs[j]===this?\"true\":\"false\");}ov.className=\"vd \"+d.on[0];ov.textContent=d.on[1];ot.textContent=d.onT;dv.className=\"vd \"+d.du[0];dv.textContent=d.du[1];dt.textContent=d.duT;sr.textContent=d.src;});}})();\/*>*\/<\/script><\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d12c95ff wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" id=\"the-strongest-evidence-came-from-an-accident\" style=\"color:#1d5f66;margin-top:72px;margin-bottom:18px;font-size:clamp(16.293px, 1.018rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.989), 25px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:1.28\">The strongest evidence came from an accident<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">Studies like this are hard to do well, because you have to measure people before anything happens to them and then wait for something to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">In 1989, researchers in California happened to have measured the mood and thinking style of a group of students. Two weeks later, the Loma Prieta earthquake struck. The students who went in with a more ruminative style had more symptoms afterward, and <strong class=\"eqb\">those who ruminated more about the earthquake in the ten days after it were still more distressed seven weeks later<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">It&#8217;s a small study of students, and everything in it is self-reported. But nobody could have known the earthquake was coming, so their thinking style was measured before anything happened, and that makes it worth more than a bigger study that asks people to look back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" id=\"what-it-travels-with\" style=\"color:#1d5f66;margin-top:72px;margin-bottom:18px;font-size:clamp(16.293px, 1.018rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.989), 25px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:1.28\">What it travels with<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">The original theory was about depression. Since then, rumination has been linked with a lot more: anxiety, binge eating, binge drinking, self-harm, obsessive-compulsive symptoms and poor sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">That breadth suggests <strong class=\"eqb\">the habit is not only a feature of depression but something that sits underneath several conditions<\/strong>. If you&#8217;ve noticed the circling shows up in more than one corner of your life, that fits. The caveat is that most of these links were measured at a single moment, so they can&#8217;t tell you which came first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">On self-harm and suicidal thoughts, the picture is mixed. There&#8217;s some link with self-injury, but in people who already have a mood disorder the link with suicidal thoughts is too uncertain to put a number on, so this article doesn&#8217;t.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d2a766d4 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<div style=\"margin-top:92px;margin-bottom:34px\"><div class=\"ov-part\"><div class=\"no\">03<\/div><div class=\"tx\"><p class=\"lb\">Part three of seven<\/p><h2 id=\"part-3\">The shape, not the subject<\/h2><p class=\"sb\">Why the same worry helps or harms depending on how it is held<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d12c95ff wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" id=\"the-same-problem-held-two-ways\" style=\"color:#1d5f66;margin-top:72px;margin-bottom:18px;font-size:clamp(16.293px, 1.018rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.989), 25px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:1.28\">The same problem, held two ways<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">One idea in this field has real experimental support behind it. It has less to do with what you think about than with the altitude you think at, meaning how high above the details you are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\"><em class=\"eqi\">Abstract thinking<\/em> is high up and general: why am I like this, and what does this say about me? <em class=\"eqi\">Concrete thinking<\/em> is low down and specific: what exactly was said, in what order, and what&#8217;s the next small step?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">In one British study, researchers managed to separate two things that usually come tangled together: how much people focused on themselves, and the style they were thinking in. <strong class=\"eqb\">It was the thinking style, not the self-focus<\/strong>, that made depressed patients&#8217; memories vaguer and more general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">In another study, depressed patients who were guided to think about their symptoms in a concrete, specific way were afterward better at solving everyday social problems than patients guided to think about the same symptoms in the abstract way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\"><strong class=\"eqb\">So dwelling on yourself is not automatically the problem. The altitude is.<\/strong> That&#8217;s good news if you&#8217;re someone who thinks a lot, because you don&#8217;t have to stop thinking. You can change where you&#8217;re standing when you do it.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d2a766d4 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<div style=\"margin-top:40px;margin-bottom:48px\"><figure class=\"ra-fig ov-gr\" id=\"ov-gr\"><div class=\"hd\"><p class=\"ti\">The shape, not the subject<\/p><p class=\"q\">The same situation, held four ways. Only one axis has experimental support<\/p><\/div><div class=\"pick\"><div class=\"chips\" role=\"group\" aria-label=\"Pick a situation\"><button type=\"button\" data-i=\"0\" aria-pressed=\"true\">a conversation that went badly<\/button><button type=\"button\" data-i=\"1\" aria-pressed=\"false\">a mistake at work<\/button><button type=\"button\" data-i=\"2\" aria-pressed=\"false\">a message nobody has answered<\/button><\/div><\/div><div class=\"wrap\"><div class=\"yax\"><span class=\"yl\">judging<\/span><span class=\"yl\">not judging<\/span><\/div><div><div class=\"cells\"><div class=\"cell\"><p class=\"ck\">abstract, judging<\/p><p class=\"cq\" id=\"ov-gr-aj\">Why do I always ruin these? What is wrong with me?<\/p><\/div><div class=\"cell\"><p class=\"ck\">concrete, judging<\/p><p class=\"cq\" id=\"ov-gr-cj\">I interrupted her twice. I am hopeless at this.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"cell\"><p class=\"ck\">abstract, not judging<\/p><p class=\"cq\" id=\"ov-gr-an\">Why do conversations like this go wrong?<\/p><\/div><div class=\"cell best\"><p class=\"ck\">concrete, not judging<\/p><p class=\"cq\" id=\"ov-gr-cn\">I interrupted her twice. Next time I will leave a beat before replying.<\/p><\/div><\/div><div class=\"xax\"><span class=\"xl\">abstract<\/span><span class=\"xl\">concrete<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><p class=\"note\">The bottom right is where the evidence points. It is not the most positive version. <b>It is the lowest and most specific one, and it passes no verdict on you.<\/b><\/p><figcaption>Left to right is <b>altitude<\/b>, the one idea in this field with real experimental support: depressed patients guided to think about their own symptoms concretely solved social problems better afterward than those given the abstract version. Top to bottom is <b>verdict<\/b>, and its support is of a different kind: the reflection questionnaire stops being linked with depression once its questions are rewritten without the self-critical tone. The first comes from small studies by a single research group, the second from how questionnaire answers behave. The four example thoughts were written for this figure, not quoted from any study.<\/figcaption><\/figure><script>(function(){var S=[{\"k\":\"a conversation that went badly\",\"aj\":\"Why do I always ruin these? What is wrong with me?\",\"an\":\"Why do conversations like this go wrong?\",\"cj\":\"I interrupted her twice. I am hopeless at this.\",\"cn\":\"I interrupted her twice. Next time I will leave a beat before replying.\"},{\"k\":\"a mistake at work\",\"aj\":\"Why am I the kind of person who misses things?\",\"an\":\"Why do mistakes like this happen?\",\"cj\":\"I sent it without the attachment. That is so typical of me.\",\"cn\":\"I sent it without the attachment. I can attach first and write the message second.\"},{\"k\":\"a message nobody has answered\",\"aj\":\"Why does nobody ever want to talk to me?\",\"an\":\"Why do people leave messages unanswered?\",\"cj\":\"She has not replied since Tuesday. I must have annoyed her.\",\"cn\":\"She has not replied since Tuesday. I can send one more, or ask her directly.\"}];var f=document.getElementById(\"ov-gr\");if(!f)return;var m={aj:\"ov-gr-aj\",an:\"ov-gr-an\",cj:\"ov-gr-cj\",cn:\"ov-gr-cn\"};var bs=f.querySelectorAll(\".chips button\");for(var i=0;i<bs.length;i++){bs[i].addEventListener(\"click\",function(){var d=S[+this.getAttribute(\"data-i\")];for(var j=0;j<bs.length;j++){bs[j].setAttribute(\"aria-pressed\",bs[j]===this?\"true\":\"false\");}for(var k in m){if(Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(m,k)){var el=document.getElementById(m[k]);if(el){el.textContent=d[k];}}}});}})();\/*>*\/<\/script><\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d12c95ff wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" id=\"the-limits-of-that-finding\" style=\"color:#1d5f66;margin-top:72px;margin-bottom:18px;font-size:clamp(16.293px, 1.018rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.989), 25px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:1.28\">The limits of that finding<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">Here&#8217;s what the research behind it can and can&#8217;t show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">Almost all of this work comes from one research group, with small numbers of people, in single sessions in a lab. It shows that the way you think can shift your mood and memory in the moment, not that anyone&#8217;s life got better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">When the idea was turned into a treatment, the results were mixed. Training people to think more concretely helped their depression compared with usual care from their doctor alone. Compared with relaxation training, it did not help depression any more; it only changed the thinking habit itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">So the shape of the thinking is a real lever, better supported than most of what&#8217;s written about overthinking, but <strong class=\"eqb\">nobody has yet shown that teaching someone to ask how instead of why treats depression better than a credible alternative does<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d2a766d4 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<div style=\"margin-top:92px;margin-bottom:34px\"><div class=\"ov-part\"><div class=\"no\">04<\/div><div class=\"tx\"><p class=\"lb\">Part four of seven<\/p><h2 id=\"part-4\">Why it feels like work<\/h2><p class=\"sb\">Avoidance, beliefs or habit, and how much evidence each one has<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d12c95ff wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" id=\"three-explanations-and-they-are-not-equally-supported\" style=\"color:#1d5f66;margin-top:72px;margin-bottom:18px;font-size:clamp(16.293px, 1.018rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.989), 25px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:1.28\">Three explanations, and they are not equally supported<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\"><strong class=\"eqb\">Circling doesn&#8217;t feel like a bad habit while it&#8217;s happening. It feels like diligence.<\/strong> It feels like the responsible thing to do about a problem, which is why stopping feels careless rather than restful. If you&#8217;ve ever felt guilty for not thinking about something enough, this is why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">There are three main ideas about why it keeps going. One of them is a good idea that hasn&#8217;t been tested yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" id=\"the-avoidance-account\" style=\"color:#1d5f66;margin-top:72px;margin-bottom:18px;font-size:clamp(16.293px, 1.018rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.989), 25px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:1.28\">The avoidance account<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">The oldest idea is that going over something in words keeps you at a distance from actually feeling it. In one small study of people who were anxious about public speaking, those who worried first reacted less, in their heart rate, to a frightening image afterward, even though they said they felt more afraid. So the worrying seemed to dull the body&#8217;s reaction, though not the fear itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">Other research points the other way: <strong class=\"eqb\">going over and over things seems to keep the body&#8217;s stress response switched on for longer than the original event required<\/strong>. Both can be true at once: a duller reaction in the moment, and a body that stays on alert for longer across the day. Neither one on its own is the whole picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" id=\"the-beliefs-account\" style=\"color:#1d5f66;margin-top:72px;margin-bottom:18px;font-size:clamp(16.293px, 1.018rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.989), 25px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:1.28\">The beliefs account<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">The second idea is that people ruminate because of what they believe about it: that it will produce an answer, that it&#8217;s a way of preparing, that not doing it would be careless. The model adds a second set of beliefs, that the thinking is out of your control and dangerous, and says the two together keep it running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">It&#8217;s a sensible model and it matches what many people describe. <strong class=\"eqb\">Its evidence is the weakest of the three.<\/strong> Most of the studies behind it measure everything at one moment, so they can show that the pieces fit together but not that one came before the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" id=\"the-habit-account\" style=\"color:#1d5f66;margin-top:72px;margin-bottom:18px;font-size:clamp(16.293px, 1.018rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.989), 25px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:1.28\">The habit account<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">The third and newest idea is that the thinking gets tied to certain situations because it has happened in them so many times, until a place, a time of day or a mood sets it off before you&#8217;ve decided anything. On this account it keeps going out of habit rather than because it pays off, which fits the common feeling that it&#8217;s something you have to do, not something you chose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">It&#8217;s a framework rather than a finding, and no trial has tested it yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">You&#8217;ll sometimes read that rumination is rewarding in some way. But <strong class=\"eqb\">there is no good evidence that rumination is rewarded<\/strong>, in the sense of being followed by something that makes it more likely next time.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d2a766d4 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<div style=\"margin-top:92px;margin-bottom:34px\"><div class=\"ov-part\"><div class=\"no\">05<\/div><div class=\"tx\"><p class=\"lb\">Part five of seven<\/p><h2 id=\"part-5\">What actually shifts it<\/h2><p class=\"sb\">The trials, including the two that came apart in opposite directions<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d12c95ff wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" id=\"the-prevention-numbers-are-the-best-in-the-field\" style=\"color:#1d5f66;margin-top:72px;margin-bottom:18px;font-size:clamp(16.293px, 1.018rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.989), 25px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:1.28\">The prevention numbers are the best in the field<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">The most encouraging result here comes from a prevention study rather than a treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">In the Netherlands, young people who already had a strong habit of worrying and ruminating were randomly given either six weeks of training aimed at that habit, in a group or online, or a place on a waiting list. Over the following year, about 15% of those who were trained developed depression, compared with about 32% of those who waited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">Taken at face value, that is <strong class=\"eqb\">roughly one case of depression prevented for every six people trained<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">It shouldn&#8217;t be taken entirely at face value. Comparing with a waiting list tends to make a result look better than it is, most of the participants were young women, and the diagnoses came from questionnaires. The effect is likely to be smaller in the general population, possibly much smaller. It&#8217;s still the most hopeful finding in this area, and it means <strong class=\"eqb\">this habit is something that can be worked on, not something you&#8217;re stuck with<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">A later trial offered 365 young people the same kind of training as a self-help app, and it did no better than a waiting list, most likely because people used the app too little. So how the training reaches you seems to matter, not just what it teaches.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d2a766d4 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<div style=\"margin-top:40px;margin-bottom:48px\"><figure class=\"ra-fig ov-dt\" id=\"ov-dt\"><div class=\"hd\"><p class=\"ti\">The one place absolute numbers exist<\/p><p class=\"q\">Out of 100 young people with a strong habit of worrying and ruminating, how many met the criteria for a diagnosis over the following year<\/p><\/div><div class=\"ctl\"><div class=\"ra-seg\" role=\"group\" aria-label=\"Which outcome\"><button type=\"button\" data-k=\"dep\" aria-pressed=\"true\">depression<\/button><button type=\"button\" data-k=\"gad\" aria-pressed=\"false\">generalized anxiety<\/button><\/div><\/div><div class=\"rows\"><div class=\"rw\"><div class=\"rh\"><p class=\"nm\">Six weeks of training<\/p><p class=\"vl\" id=\"ov-dt-tv\"><b>about 15 in 100<\/b><\/p><\/div><div class=\"grid\" id=\"ov-dt-tg\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><\/div><\/div><div class=\"rw ctrl\"><div class=\"rh\"><p class=\"nm\">Waiting list<\/p><p class=\"vl\" id=\"ov-dt-cv\"><b>about 32 in 100<\/b><\/p><\/div><div class=\"grid\" id=\"ov-dt-cg\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"on\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><i class=\"\"><\/i><\/div><\/div><\/div><p class=\"cav\">The study had 251 participants in the Netherlands, all young and 83.7% of them women, chosen because they already scored high on repetitive negative thinking. The diagnoses at follow-up came from questionnaires they filled in themselves, and the comparison was a waiting list, which is a weak control and tends to flatter a result.<\/p><figcaption>What is worth noticing is that the training targeted the thinking style in people <b>selected for the habit rather than for a diagnosis<\/b>, which fits what the research says the habit predicts.<\/figcaption><\/figure><script>(function(){var T={\"dep\":{\"k\":\"depression\",\"tr\":15,\"ct\":32,\"trL\":\"about 15 in 100\",\"ctL\":\"about 32 in 100\"},\"gad\":{\"k\":\"generalized anxiety\",\"tr\":17,\"ct\":42,\"trL\":\"16 to 18 in 100\",\"ctL\":\"about 42 in 100\"}};var f=document.getElementById(\"ov-dt\");if(!f)return;function fill(id,n){var g=document.getElementById(id);if(!g)return;var k=g.children;for(var i=0;i<k.length;i++){k[i].className=i<n?\"on\":\"\";}}var bs=f.querySelectorAll(\".ra-seg button\");for(var i=0;i<bs.length;i++){bs[i].addEventListener(\"click\",function(){var d=T[this.getAttribute(\"data-k\")];for(var j=0;j<bs.length;j++){bs[j].setAttribute(\"aria-pressed\",bs[j]===this?\"true\":\"false\");}fill(\"ov-dt-tg\",d.tr);fill(\"ov-dt-cg\",d.ct);document.getElementById(\"ov-dt-tv\").innerHTML=\"<b>\"+d.trL+\"<\\\/b>\";document.getElementById(\"ov-dt-cv\").innerHTML=\"<b>\"+d.ctL+\"<\\\/b>\";});}})();\/*>*\/<\/script><\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d12c95ff wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" id=\"two-trials-that-came-apart-in-opposite-directions\" style=\"color:#1d5f66;margin-top:72px;margin-bottom:18px;font-size:clamp(16.293px, 1.018rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.989), 25px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:1.28\">Two trials that came apart in opposite directions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">The results for treatments built around rumination itself are less tidy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">In a Danish trial, a therapy designed specifically to target rumination did a little better on depression than ordinary group therapy by the end of treatment, but it didn&#8217;t reduce rumination any more than the ordinary therapy did, and six months later its advantage was no longer clear. The concreteness training from part three did the opposite: it reduced rumination more than relaxation did, but not depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">So in these two trials, rumination and depression didn&#8217;t move together. Neither therapy should be written off for that, but it&#8217;s a good reason to <strong class=\"eqb\">be careful with the tidy story that says find the cause, target it, and the symptoms will follow<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" id=\"what-the-big-review-does-not-say-on-the-front\" style=\"color:#1d5f66;margin-top:72px;margin-bottom:18px;font-size:clamp(16.293px, 1.018rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.989), 25px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:1.28\">What the big review does not say on the front<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">A large 2025 review concluded that treatments aimed specifically at repetitive thinking reduce it more than general ones do. After another researcher pointed out that some treatments had been put in the wrong group, the authors corrected their numbers and said their conclusions still stood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">What the headline leaves out is how much the studies inside it disagree. The range of results you could expect from the next study like these <strong class=\"eqb\">runs from a large benefit all the way past zero into a small harm<\/strong>, although the authors judge real harm unlikely, since only two studies pointed that way. And most of the studies were about worry rather than rumination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">This is a field that corrects itself in public, which is to its credit. The corrections just tend to arrive after the headline has already traveled.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d2a766d4 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<div style=\"margin-top:92px;margin-bottom:34px\"><div class=\"ov-part\"><div class=\"no\">06<\/div><div class=\"tx\"><p class=\"lb\">Part six of seven<\/p><h2 id=\"part-6\">Two findings that run against the usual advice<\/h2><p class=\"sb\">Distraction and reflection, and why the usual advice is upside down<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d12c95ff wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" id=\"distraction-is-better-than-its-reputation\" style=\"color:#1d5f66;margin-top:72px;margin-bottom:18px;font-size:clamp(16.293px, 1.018rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.989), 25px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:1.28\">Distraction is better than its reputation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">Distraction has a bad name. It&#8217;s treated as avoidance, the short-term fix that stores up trouble. If you&#8217;ve felt guilty for putting on a TV show instead of &#8220;dealing with it&#8221;, you may have been told something the evidence doesn&#8217;t back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">In the short term, at least, distraction holds up. Across hundreds of experiments on handling difficult feelings, distraction worked modestly well. Concentrating on the feeling came out slightly worse than doing nothing (a rare win for doing nothing), and trying to push the thought away didn&#8217;t work either. In laboratory studies, a spell of distraction brought the problem-solving of people in a low mood all the way back to normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">In people&#8217;s actual lives, though, rather than their laboratory afternoons, using distraction hasn&#8217;t consistently gone along with less depression. Put the two together and you get something useful: <strong class=\"eqb\">distraction is a good move for the next hour and not a plan for the next year<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" id=\"the-healthy-kind-may-not-be-the-healthy-kind\" style=\"color:#1d5f66;margin-top:72px;margin-bottom:18px;font-size:clamp(16.293px, 1.018rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.989), 25px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:1.28\">The healthy kind may not be the healthy kind<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">The other finding runs against the advice to stop brooding and start reflecting: think it through properly instead of just churning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">As part one showed, reflection as it&#8217;s usually measured still goes with depression until the self-critical, judging tone is taken out. <strong class=\"eqb\">Going over what happened is not the problem. Going over what it says about you is<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">That&#8217;s a smaller, more specific and more usable idea than the usual one, and the evidence, though thin, points toward it. You&#8217;re allowed to think things through. <strong class=\"eqb\">You don&#8217;t have to put yourself on trial while you do!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" id=\"a-note-on-stopping-thoughts\" style=\"color:#1d5f66;margin-top:72px;margin-bottom:18px;font-size:clamp(16.293px, 1.018rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.989), 25px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:1.28\">A note on stopping thoughts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">Two more things deserve correcting here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\"><strong class=\"eqb\">The famous white bear experiment<\/strong>, in which people told not to think of a white bear thought about it more, is real. But when later studies were pooled, the rebound turned out to be modest, not the dramatic boomerang of the retelling, and no bigger in people with mental health difficulties. So the popular idea that pushing thoughts away is what makes intrusive thoughts worse is not well supported (and now you are thinking about a white bear. Sorry about that).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">Thought stopping, the technique of deliberately interrupting yourself, is a different case. It was never properly tested in modern trials. A review of the research on self-talk in sport advises against it, but being advised against is not the same as being tested and failing. The fairer statement is that <strong class=\"eqb\">it was quietly dropped rather than disproved<\/strong>. If the unwanted thoughts are frightening and come with rituals or reassurance seeking, that\u2019s a different pattern, and <a href=\"\/what-is-ocd\/\" style=\"color:#6b4269;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1.5px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">our article on OCD<\/a> covers it.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d2a766d4 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<div style=\"margin-top:92px;margin-bottom:34px\"><div class=\"ov-part\"><div class=\"no\">07<\/div><div class=\"tx\"><p class=\"lb\">Part seven of seven<\/p><h2 id=\"part-7\">The hour before you sleep<\/h2><p class=\"sb\">An effect measured by a device worn overnight rather than by a questionnaire<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d12c95ff wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" id=\"it-predicts-a-slower-start-to-sleep-not-a-shorter-night\" style=\"color:#1d5f66;margin-top:72px;margin-bottom:18px;font-size:clamp(16.293px, 1.018rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.989), 25px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:1.28\">It predicts a slower start to sleep, not a shorter night<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">You know the moment: lights off, and your mind picks this exact time to replay the day. Most findings in this article rest on questionnaires. This one rests on a device worn overnight, which is why it gets its own part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">In one American study, people gave a five-minute speech in front of a panel of judges, which is a reliable way to upset somebody in a laboratory. That night they wore wrist monitors. Those who tended to ruminate took longer to fall asleep, measured by the device rather than by their own report, and it took longest for those who also kept going over the speech afterward (a speech in front of a panel, then a wrist monitor to bed. Science is not always kind to its volunteers).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">The useful part is how specific it is. Rumination wasn&#8217;t linked to how long they slept or how often they woke. <strong class=\"eqb\">It was linked to getting to sleep, and only that.<\/strong> That puts the problem in the stretch between lying down and falling asleep, which is a much smaller thing to work on than &#8220;my sleep&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" id=\"and-the-size-of-it\" style=\"color:#1d5f66;margin-top:72px;margin-bottom:18px;font-size:clamp(16.293px, 1.018rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.989), 25px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:1.28\">And the size of it<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">Other studies agree that rumination goes with worse sleep in the weeks that follow. When researchers pooled eight long-term studies of worry and rumination, this kind of thinking went with later sleep trouble to a small-to-moderate degree. The same review also asked how much of stress&#8217;s effect on sleep comes through this kind of thinking. That part was very small, and it shrank further once they allowed for how well people were already sleeping at the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\"><strong class=\"eqb\">That is a real effect and a modest one<\/strong>, and neither half of that sentence should travel without the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" id=\"what-follows-from-all-of-this\" style=\"color:#1d5f66;margin-top:72px;margin-bottom:18px;font-size:clamp(16.293px, 1.018rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.989), 25px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:1.28\">What follows from all of this<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">The best-known technique for this, giving worry its own set time of day, has its own article on this site. The ideas below are smaller, and mostly about what to do in the moment the circling starts.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d12c95ff wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-background has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-bd3116f4 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"background-color:#f6eef6;border-radius:18px;margin-top:4px;margin-bottom:30px;padding:24px 28px\">\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4a2d49;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:12.5px;font-size:12px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0.16em;line-height:1.4\">WHAT HELPS<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.568), 19px);line-height:1.7\">\n<li><strong class=\"eqb\">Notice the altitude rather than the subject.<\/strong> When you catch yourself asking why this keeps happening, try asking what exactly happened this time and what the next small step is. It isn&#8217;t more positive, just lower down and more specific.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong class=\"eqb\">Notice whether you are judging.<\/strong> The link between reflection and low mood largely disappears when the self-critical tone is taken out, which suggests the damage is in the verdict rather than in the going over.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong class=\"eqb\">Treat distraction as legitimate for tonight.<\/strong> It works in the short term for most people, and you don&#8217;t need to earn it. If you have been depressed before and distraction seems to leave you sadder rather than lighter, that is worth noticing and worth mentioning to a therapist. It just isn&#8217;t a plan for the year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d12c95ff wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:26px;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">And if you&#8217;re low right now, here&#8217;s the most evidence-based thing in this article: <strong class=\"eqb\">the circling on its own is not established as the reason you&#8217;re still low<\/strong>. It predicts getting low more reliably than it predicts staying low. If the low has lasted for weeks, or <a href=\"\/suicidal-thoughts\/\" style=\"color:#6b4269;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1.5px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">thoughts of self-harm<\/a> have started to show up, a doctor is the right next step rather than more reading, and <a href=\"\/crisis-helplines\/\" style=\"color:#6b4269;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1.5px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">our helplines page<\/a> can point you to the crisis lines and emergency numbers where you live. <strong class=\"eqb\">Reaching out isn&#8217;t overreacting!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d2a766d4 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-background has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-f86ed65e wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"background-color:#f1f6f6;border-color:#d9e7e6;border-width:1.5px;border-style:solid;border-radius:20px;margin-top:46px;margin-bottom:46px;padding:34px 38px\">\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#15474d;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:12px;font-size:12px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0.16em;line-height:1.4\">WHAT THE RESEARCH SUPPORTS<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">Rumination predicts becoming depressed in people who are not depressed yet, and the researcher who first proposed the theory acknowledged that in 2008. On its own, it has not been shown to predict how long an episode lasts. That leaves a much narrower claim than the one the field started with in 1991.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d12c95ff wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d2a766d4 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-background has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-7c590e6f wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"background-color:#fbf4e6;border-color:#eedcb9;border-width:1.5px;border-style:solid;border-radius:20px;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:46px;padding:34px 38px\">\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#15474d;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:12px;font-size:12px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0.16em;line-height:1.4\">WORTH BEING CLEAR ABOUT<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#2a2622;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-size:clamp(14.082px, 0.88rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.786), 21px);line-height:1.68\">Nearly everything here is measured by questionnaire, and the standard rumination questionnaire shares questions with depression scales, so part of the link between the two is the same thing counted twice. Most of the experiments on thinking style come from one research group, in small laboratory studies. The treatment trials are small too, the prevention study compares against a waiting list, and the biggest pooled review of treatment contains results that disagree widely.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d2a766d4 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-background has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-50ae14a5 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"background-color:#faf8f3;border-color:#e8e1d5;border-width:1.5px;border-style:solid;border-radius:18px;margin-top:34px;margin-bottom:44px;padding:30px 34px\">\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#6b6259;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:14px;font-size:12px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0.16em;line-height:1.4\">REFERENCES<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" style=\"color:#524a42;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.17), 15.5px);line-height:1.7\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/S0272-7358(00)00057-X\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Abramowitz, J. S., Tolin, D. F., &amp; Street, G. P. (2001). Paradoxical effects of thought suppression: A meta-analysis of controlled studies. <em>Clinical Psychology Review, 21<\/em>(5), 683-703.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/S0033291725101463\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Bailey, R. (2025). Misclassifying and differentiating metacognitive therapy: Conceptual and methodological issues in Stenzel et al. <em>Psychological Medicine, 55<\/em>, Article e238.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/0005-7967(90)90056-O\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Borkovec, T. D., &amp; Hu, S. (1990). The effect of worry on cardiovascular response to phobic imagery. <em>Behaviour Research and Therapy, 28<\/em>(1), 69-73.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.jpsychores.2005.06.074\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Brosschot, J. F., Gerin, W., &amp; Thayer, J. F. (2006). The perseverative cognition hypothesis: A review of worry, prolonged stress-related physiological activation, and health. <em>Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 60<\/em>(2), 113-124.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/bjc.12350\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Coleman, S. E., Dunlop, B. J., Hartley, S., &amp; Taylor, P. J. (2022). The relationship between rumination and NSSI: A systematic review and meta-analysis. <em>British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 61<\/em>(2), 405-443.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.jbtep.2024.102014\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Funk, J., Kopf-Beck, J., Takano, K., Watkins, E., &amp; Ehring, T. (2025). Can an app designed to reduce repetitive negative thinking decrease depression and anxiety in young people? Results from a randomized controlled prevention trial. <em>Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 87<\/em>, Article 102014.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.jbtep.2022.101781\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Funk, J., Takano, K., Schumm, H., &amp; Ehring, T. (2022). The bi-factor model of repetitive negative thinking: Common vs. unique factors as predictors of depression and anxiety. <em>Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 77<\/em>, Article 101781.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/S0033291718003835\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Hvenegaard, M., Moeller, S. B., Poulsen, S., Gondan, M., Grafton, B., Austin, S. F., Kistrup, M., Rosenberg, N. G. K., Howard, H., &amp; Watkins, E. R. (2020). Group rumination-focused cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) v. group CBT for depression: Phase II trial. <em>Psychological Medicine, 50<\/em>(1), 11-19.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.jad.2026.122258\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Jayakumar, S., Xu, E. P., Minns, S. A., Zapetis, S. L., Turnamian, M. R., Li, J., Wei, M., Leonards, C. A., Tharanipathy, A., Webb, D. E., &amp; Stange, J. P. (2026). Sadness regulation in daily life in remitted depression: Regulatory repertoire composition and affect-dependent effectiveness. <em>Journal of Affective Disorders, 414<\/em>, Article 122258.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1037\/0021-843X.106.2.221\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Just, N., &amp; Alloy, L. B. (1997). The response styles theory of depression: Tests and an extension of the theory. <em>Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106<\/em>(2), 221-229.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.jad.2024.09.118\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Le, G. H., Wong, S., Au, H., Badulescu, S., Gill, H., Vasudeva, S., Teopiz, K. M., Rhee, T. G., Ho, R., Kwan, A. T. H., Mansur, R. B., Rosenblat, J. D., &amp; McIntyre, R. S. (2025). Association between rumination, suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in persons with depressive and other mood disorders and healthy controls: A systematic review and meta-analysis. <em>Journal of Affective Disorders, 368<\/em>, 513-527.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1037\/0022-3514.69.1.176\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Lyubomirsky, S., &amp; Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1995). Effects of self-focused rumination on negative thinking and interpersonal problem solving. <em>Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69<\/em>(1), 176-190.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.cpr.2012.01.001\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Magee, J. C., Harden, K. P., &amp; Teachman, B. A. (2012). Psychopathology and thought suppression: A quantitative review. <em>Clinical Psychology Review, 32<\/em>(3), 189-201.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1037\/0021-843X.100.4.569\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1991). Responses to depression and their effects on the duration of depressive episodes. <em>Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100<\/em>(4), 569-582.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1037\/0021-843X.109.3.504\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2000). The role of rumination in depressive disorders and mixed anxiety\/depressive symptoms. <em>Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109<\/em>(3), 504-511.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1037\/0022-3514.61.1.115\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Nolen-Hoeksema, S., &amp; Morrow, J. (1991). A prospective study of depression and posttraumatic stress symptoms after a natural disaster: The 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. <em>Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61<\/em>(1), 115-121.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1745-6924.2008.00088.x\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Wisco, B. E., &amp; Lyubomirsky, S. (2008). Rethinking rumination. <em>Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3<\/em>(5), 400-424.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/papt.12405\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Petro&#353;anec, M., Brekalo, M., &amp; Naki&#263; Rado&#353;, S. (2022). The metacognitive model of rumination and depression in postpartum women. <em>Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 95<\/em>(3), 838-852.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.brat.2006.10.005\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Roelofs, J., Papageorgiou, C., Gerber, R. D., Huibers, M., Peeters, F., &amp; Arntz, A. (2007). On the links between self-discrepancies, rumination, metacognitions, and symptoms of depression in undergraduates. <em>Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45<\/em>(6), 1295-1305.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/S0033291725000017\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Stenzel, K. L., Keller, J., Kirchner, L., Rief, W., &amp; Berg, M. (2025). Efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy in treating repetitive negative thinking, rumination, and worry: A transdiagnostic meta-analysis. <em>Psychological Medicine, 55<\/em>, Article e31.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/S0033291726103304\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Stenzel, K. L., Keller, J., Kirchner, L., Rief, W., &amp; Berg, M. (2026). Efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy in treating repetitive negative thinking, rumination, and worry: A transdiagnostic meta-analysis. Corrigendum. <em>Psychological Medicine, 56<\/em>, Article e31.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.beth.2012.04.002\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Takano, K., Iijima, Y., &amp; Tanno, Y. (2012). Repetitive thought and self-reported sleep disturbance. <em>Behavior Therapy, 43<\/em>(4), 779-789.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1123\/jsep.33.5.666\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Tod, D., Hardy, J., &amp; Oliver, E. (2011). Effects of self-talk: A systematic review. <em>Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 33<\/em>(5), 666-687.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.brat.2016.12.015\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Topper, M., Emmelkamp, P. M. G., Watkins, E., &amp; Ehring, T. (2017). Prevention of anxiety disorders and depression by targeting excessive worry and rumination in adolescents and young adults: A randomized controlled trial. <em>Behaviour Research and Therapy, 90<\/em>, 123-136.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1023\/A:1023910315561\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Treynor, W., Gonzalez, R., &amp; Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2003). Rumination reconsidered: A psychometric analysis. <em>Cognitive Therapy and Research, 27<\/em>(3), 247-259.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1037\/0033-2909.134.2.163\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Watkins, E. R. (2008). Constructive and unconstructive repetitive thought. <em>Psychological Bulletin, 134<\/em>(2), 163-206.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10942-009-0098-9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Watkins, E. R. (2009). Depressive rumination and co-morbidity: Evidence for brooding as a transdiagnostic process. <em>Journal of Rational-Emotive &amp; Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 27<\/em>(3), 160-175.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1037\/1528-3542.5.3.319\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Watkins, E., &amp; Moulds, M. (2005). Distinct modes of ruminative self-focus: Impact of abstract versus concrete rumination on problem solving in depression. <em>Emotion, 5<\/em>(3), 319-328.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.brat.2004.11.008\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Watkins, E., Moulds, M., &amp; Mackintosh, B. (2005). Comparisons between rumination and worry in a non-clinical population. <em>Behaviour Research and Therapy, 43<\/em>(12), 1577-1585.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1037\/a0035540\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Watkins, E. R., &amp; Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2014). A habit-goal framework of depressive rumination. <em>Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 123<\/em>(1), 24-34.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/S0033291711002480\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Watkins, E. R., Taylor, R. S., Byng, R., Baeyens, C., Read, R., Pearson, K., &amp; Watson, L. (2012). Guided self-help concreteness training as an intervention for major depression in primary care: A Phase II randomized controlled trial. <em>Psychological Medicine, 42<\/em>(7), 1359-1371.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1037\/0021-843X.110.2.333\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Watkins, E., &amp; Teasdale, J. D. (2001). Rumination and overgeneral memory in depression: Effects of self-focus and analytic thinking. <em>Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 110<\/em>(2), 353-357.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1037\/a0027600\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Webb, T. L., Miles, E., &amp; Sheeran, P. (2012). Dealing with feeling: A meta-analysis of the effectiveness of strategies derived from the process model of emotion regulation. <em>Psychological Bulletin, 138<\/em>(4), 775-808.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1037\/0022-3514.53.1.5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Wegner, D. M., Schneider, D. J., Carter, S. R., &amp; White, T. L. (1987). Paradoxical effects of thought suppression. <em>Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53<\/em>(1), 5-13.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/abm\/kaac064\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Zagaria, A., Ottaviani, C., Lombardo, C., &amp; Ballesio, A. (2023). Perseverative cognition as a mediator between perceived stress and sleep disturbance: A structural equation modeling meta-analysis. <em>Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 57<\/em>(6), 463-471.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1097\/PSY.0b013e3181ae58e8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Zoccola, P. M., Dickerson, S. S., &amp; Lam, S. (2009). Rumination predicts longer sleep onset latency after an acute psychosocial stressor. <em>Psychosomatic Medicine, 71<\/em>(7), 771-775.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#6b6259;margin-top:30px;margin-bottom:14px;font-size:12px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0.16em;line-height:1.4\">BOOKS FROM OUR SHELF<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" style=\"color:#524a42;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.17), 15.5px);line-height:1.7\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/575664\/chatter-by-ethan-kross\/9780525575238\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-color:#e0c9de\">Kross, E. (2021). <em>Chatter: The voice in our head, why it matters, and how to harness it<\/em>. Crown.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"eq-lastrev\" style=\"margin:34px 0 0;font-family:&quot;Work Sans&quot;,sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:.15em;text-transform:uppercase;line-height:1.5;color:#6b6259\">Last reviewed October 2026<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<style>.eqp{--rc-accent:#82557f;--rc-band:#f4eef3;--rc-hover:#ece2eb;--rc-bg:#faf8f3}.eqp .eq-rc-btn{display:none}.eqp .eq-rc{position:relative}.eqp .eq-rc li[hidden]{display:block;margin:0;padding:0;height:0;line-height:0;font-size:0}.eqp .eq-rc li.rc-off{display:none}.eqp .eq-rc.is-collapsed::after{content:\"\";position:absolute;left:0;right:0;bottom:0;height:76px;background:linear-gradient(to bottom,transparent,var(--rc-bg) 94%);pointer-events:none}.eqp .eq-rc ~ .eq-rc-btn{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;justify-content:center;gap:8px;box-sizing:border-box;min-width:260px;min-height:48px;margin:22px 0 0;padding:12px 26px;background:var(--rc-band);color:var(--rc-accent);border:1.5px solid var(--rc-accent);border-radius:9px;font-family:\"Work Sans\",system-ui,sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-weight:600;line-height:1.3;letter-spacing:normal;text-transform:none;text-decoration:none;text-align:center;box-shadow:none;cursor:pointer;-webkit-appearance:none;appearance:none;-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent}.eqp .eq-rc ~ .eq-rc-btn:hover{background:var(--rc-hover);color:var(--rc-accent)}.eqp .eq-rc ~ .eq-rc-btn:focus-visible{outline:3px solid var(--rc-accent);outline-offset:3px}.eqp .eq-rc-chev{flex:0 0 auto;width:8px;height:8px;margin-top:-4px;border-right:2px solid currentColor;border-bottom:2px solid currentColor;transform:rotate(45deg);transition:transform .2s ease}.eqp .eq-rc-btn[aria-expanded=\"true\"] .eq-rc-chev{margin-top:4px;transform:rotate(-135deg)}@media (max-width:640px){.eqp .eq-rc ~ .eq-rc-btn{display:flex;width:100%;min-width:0;margin:18px 0 0;padding:12px 10px}}@media (prefers-reduced-motion:reduce){.eqp .eq-rc-chev{transition:none}}@media print{.eqp .eq-rc-btn{display:none!important}.eqp .eq-rc::after{display:none!important}.eqp .eq-rc li[hidden]{display:list-item!important;content-visibility:visible!important;height:auto!important;font-size:inherit!important;line-height:inherit!important}.eqp .eq-rc li.rc-off{display:list-item!important}}<\/style>\n<style id=\"eq-sweep-2778\">\/* eq-sweep-2778 (proposal, 17 Oct 2026). 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a=e.target;\nwhile(a){\nif(a.tagName===\"A\"){break;}\na=a.parentNode;\n}\nif(!a){return;}\nif(!a.getAttribute){return;}\nvar h=a.getAttribute(\"href\");\nif(!h){return;}\nif(h.charAt(0)!==\"#\"){return;}\nreveal(targetOf(h));\n},true);\nwindow.addEventListener(\"hashchange\",fromHash);\nwindow.addEventListener(\"load\",fromHash);\nrun();\nif(document.readyState===\"loading\"){\ndocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",run);\n}\n})();\/*>*\/<\/script>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-32086477 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"border-left-color:#956191;border-left-width:4px;border-left-style:solid;border-radius:0px;margin-top:8px;margin-bottom:56px;padding:4px 0px 4px 28px\">\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#6b6259;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.227), 16px);line-height:1.7\"><strong style=\"color:#6b4269\">This article is general information, not medical advice.<\/strong> It describes a pattern of thinking that research has studied, not a diagnosis, and nothing in it can tell you what is happening for you. If low mood, anxiety or sleep are affecting your life, that deserves a proper assessment rather than an article. Psychological support is intended to work alongside appropriate medical care, never to replace it.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d2a766d4 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<div style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:44px\"><a class=\"ra-next\" href=\"\/worry-time\/\"><span class=\"eyb\">Read next<\/span><span class=\"ti\">Worry Time<\/span><span class=\"wy\">A technique with its own trials behind it: how to give worry an appointment instead of the whole day.<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d2a766d4 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n<div style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1708\" src=\"https:\/\/equilibriumpsychotherapy.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/mid-shot-woman-therapist-taking-notes-clipboard-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A therapist taking notes on a clipboard during a session\" class=\"wp-image-230\" style=\"width:100%;height:340px;object-fit:cover;object-position:center 40%;border-radius:22px 22px 0 0;display:block\" srcset=\"https:\/\/equilibriumpsychotherapy.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/mid-shot-woman-therapist-taking-notes-clipboard-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/equilibriumpsychotherapy.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/mid-shot-woman-therapist-taking-notes-clipboard-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/equilibriumpsychotherapy.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/mid-shot-woman-therapist-taking-notes-clipboard-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/equilibriumpsychotherapy.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/mid-shot-woman-therapist-taking-notes-clipboard-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/equilibriumpsychotherapy.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/mid-shot-woman-therapist-taking-notes-clipboard-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/div>\n<div hidden data-eq-related=\"2829,3860,3144\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-background eq-ondark has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-f761ea3b wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"background-color:#1d5f66;border-radius:0px 0px 22px 22px;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:80px;padding:52px\">\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#bcd7d8;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:14px;font-size:12px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0.16em;line-height:1.4\">WORKING WITH THIS<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family\" id=\"when-the-thinking-will-not-stop-on-its-own\" style=\"color:#ffffff;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:18px;font-size:clamp(16.293px, 1.018rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.989), 25px);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:1.28\">When the thinking will not stop on its own<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#ffffff;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:30px;font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.455), 18px);line-height:1.7\">Knowing what the research says about circling does not make it stop. Therapy can work on the shape of the thinking rather than on its subject, which is the one thing here with experimental support behind it, and it can do that with somebody else in the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-text-color has-background has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-element-button\" href=\"\/individual-session\/\" style=\"border-radius:9px;color:#2a2622;background-color:#faf8f3;padding:15px 30px;font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.284), 16.5px);font-weight:700\">Book a session<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button footer_b\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-text-color has-work-sans-regular-font-family wp-element-button\" href=\"\/contact\/\" style=\"border-color:#bcd7d8;border-width:1.5px;border-style:solid;border-radius:9px;color:#ffffff;padding:15px 30px;font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.284), 16.5px);font-weight:600\">Get in touch<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What researchers mean by rumination and why it&#8217;s much narrower than &#8220;overthinking,&#8221; what it predicts and what it doesn&#8217;t, why the way you think about a problem matters more than the problem itself, why it feels like work, what has helped in trials, two findings that go against the usual advice, and what it does to the hour before you fall asleep<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4720,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":410,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-body-and-mind"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/equilibriumpsychotherapy.net\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/equilibriumpsychotherapy.net\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/equilibriumpsychotherapy.net\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equilibriumpsychotherapy.net\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equilibriumpsychotherapy.net\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2778"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/equilibriumpsychotherapy.net\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4770,"href":"https:\/\/equilibriumpsychotherapy.net\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778\/revisions\/4770"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equilibriumpsychotherapy.net\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/equilibriumpsychotherapy.net\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equilibriumpsychotherapy.net\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equilibriumpsychotherapy.net\/hr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}