Do you ruminate? Do you think about an issue over and over again, trying to get answers to burning questions? Does it feel like you “have to” do it as opposed to doing it because you want to? Lately, I’ve been thinking and learning more about compulsive rumination, which can be a main feature in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). I like definitions, so let’s start with a fun visual: picture cows in the field chewing and chewing, or “ruminating” their food, which they eventually spit out. A similar situation happens with mental rumination; it’s the act of thinking and thinking about an issue, which can feel like problem-solving, but is not actually solving problems or serving you well. That is, the costs of the behavior outweigh the benefits. It’s exhausting, it takes you out of the present, and it can have a big impact on relationships or other areas of functioning.
Recently, I was listening to Dr. Michael Greenberg on “The OCD Stories” podcast. He explains rumination this way: you can’t control that a thought occurs to you, but you can control not engaging in analytical thinking after that thought occurs–and rumination is analytical thinking. He argues that rumination is a behavior. If you are doing a behavior, therefore, you can make the choice not to do the behavior (i.e., rumination/analytical thinking). He gives this analogy: if I told you to stop solving a math problem, you could stop doing it; you have control over analytical thinking. This is a hopeful message, because it can be empowering to realize that this is not something that automatically happens in your head. There is obviously a time and place in life when you want or need to engage in analytical thinking (e.g., figuring out if you should rent or buy a house in a particular market or analyzing a work problem from many different angles), but when you feel compelled to do it and there is fear of not doing it, these might be signs of a problem related to an OCD cycle.
Let’s take a more familiar example of OCD to illustrate. In OCD, there is the obsession (i.e., an intrusive thought) and there is the compulsion (i.e., a behavior one does to try to get rid of the intrusive thought or to lower one’s anxiety). In the case of OCD, if you are worried that touching doorknobs will lead to contracting a severe disease (the obsession), then the behavior that follows might be to avoid doorknobs or to repeatedly wash one’s hands (the compulsion). The parallel is, you take the worry about doorknobs leading to diseases, and then instead of the physical ritual of washing one’s hands, the compulsion is analytical thinking – you start trying to figure out the answer to that question (e.g., trying to decide whether the door knob was clean or safe). To note, a person could also do multiple rituals here, such as washing hands and engaging in compulsive rumination.
Now, the question of how to stop engaging in compulsive rumination is a skill that takes time and practice. I think the first step is to recognize that compulsive rumination is a very common ritual that feeds the OCD cycle, so having this insight is key. Then, see if you can call out this behavior when you are doing it. If you are interested in Dr. Greenberg’s ideas, you can find articles on drmichaeljgreenberg.com.
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