Break patterns of thought

My mind is constantly filled with thoughts about what can go wrong," a 39-year-old male client says. "It's exhausting, my mind is always at work, nothing gets resolved—everything from smallest of problems to the bigger ones worry me with the same intensity. I feel stuck and helpless all the time."

- Sonali Gupta

This is rumination and it feels like a song playing over and over in our heads. Rumination has two components: one, endless thoughts, most often negative and limiting; and two, the frequency of the thought in terms of repetition. With rumination, we find ourselves thinking about the same thing over and over, replaying it in our heads, and in the process, causing ourselves distress, anxiety and emotional fatigue.

One feels as if one is stuck and suffering because the thoughts seem to have consumed us. The American Psychological Association (APA) describes rumination as "obsessional thinking involving excessive, repetitive thoughts or themes that interfere with other forms of mental activity. It is a common feature of obsessive-compulsive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder."

While the definition states that it is a feature of certain mental health conditions, rumination can exist even in the absence of mental health illness. For anyone who struggles with anxiety, rumination is a common feature.