I can’t stop thinking: how to stop ruminating thoughts?

Can’t you stop thinking about something that makes you feel bad? These types of thoughts are known as “ruminating” because they are repeated over and over again. Although in some cases they do not cause a major problem, in others they can cause significant discomfort. Besides, Ruminative thoughts are often associated with certain mental disorders.

If you are experiencing this situation, you should know that there are different strategies to handle them. This way, you can reduce the frequency with which they appear or even make them disappear completely. On the other hand, trying to ignore them can cause these ideas to appear more strongly and cause more emotional pain.

Why can’t I stop thinking?

Ruminative thoughts are ideas that appear intrusively in our mind and stick. It’s as if the brain goes into a cognitive loop. Sometimes these are positive ideas, like when we are happy to receive good news and think about it. However, in many other cases, these are thoughts that cause distress because they are associated with adverse situations.

Stress, anxiety and depression are states that we can relate to ruminative ideas. Negative feedback occurs here, since thoughts reinforce emotional discomfort and this in turn promotes rumination. This is the mechanism that is usually seen when you cannot stop thinking about something that causes you distress.

Strategies to deal with ruminative thoughts

Based on the above, It is easy to see that rumination can cause real suffering.. Intrusive and repetitive ideas can complicate clinical conditions and prevent a person from being functional. Therefore, they are a problem that needs to be addressed as soon as possible or it could generate other emotional complications.

Let’s look at some strategies you can use to regulate ruminative thoughts.

1. Don’t try to suppress them

We have all been tempted to try to kill a ruminative idea by confronting it directly with self-instructions such as, “Come on, don’t think about it anymore.” either “stop thinking”. Nevertheless, This is an ineffective strategy because we are not actually doing anything to work on our thoughts.. We are just trying to exert mental force against them.

In this sense, Freud also said that the cognitive elements of threatening ideas that we try to remove in this way always end up returning. In many cases, disguised as a psychosomatic symptom for which we cannot find any explanation. On the other hand, if you try to process these ideas in a healthier way, over time they will reduce and disappear.

2. Focus on the present

When you can’t stop thinking, you disconnect from the present, as you are reliving the past or anticipating the future. Thus, a useful tool to avoid rumination is by placing your attention on the present moment.

You can do this while doing different activities, such as washing the dishes. The only thing you need is to place all your attention on the task you are executing. Listen to the sound of the water, feel the soap suds, concentrate completely on that activity. You will see how you stop listening to those ideas for a while and their importance is reduced.

3. Do physical exercise

Bernstein and McNally (2018) developed work on physical exercise and the regulation of emotional distress. The authors showed that Exercising can reduce rumination and other symptoms of stress. If we practice it regularly, we can increase our resilience to deal with stressful situations.

For this, you don’t need to join a gym or run a marathon. The ideal would be to find some physical activity that you find interesting and that helps you keep moving. The effects of exercise on mental health can be noticed even from the first session and if you are consistent, they can last.

4. Use the thought stopping technique

If you can’t stop thinking, the thought stopping technique can help you a lot. It is also known as thought stopping and is used specifically to work on rumination. It is applied as follows:

Identify the ruminative thoughts that cause you discomfort. Select a stimulus that allows you to get out of the thought loop. For example, you could clap your hands, snap your fingers, or slam the table. As you do this, you can verbalize an instruction such as “now,” “enough,” or “stop.” Find another activity you can do to divert your attention. It can be listening to music, drawing, reading, etc. Try to replace negative thoughts with more positive ones. Phrases like “we all make mistakes,” “problems have solutions,” help you develop a more realistic and gentle vision.

The goal of this technique is to stop thought loops and return your attention to the present moment. Likewise, by including more positive ideas, you modify your thinking patterns and increase well-being. It is important to note that it is necessary to practice it constantly to see results.

5. Practice mindfulness

Mindfulness or full attention is a therapeutic exercise that follows the same principles of meditation. An investigation addressed the relationship between mindfulness, rumination and reflection in everyday life.

The results confirmed that when someone developed a state of full attention, rumination did not increase negative emotions. Mindfulness has been shown to be useful in improving emotional adaptation and well-being (Blanke et al., 2020).

6. Look for relaxing music

As we mentioned at the beginning, if you can’t stop thinking, you are probably stressed or distressed. For this reason, it is necessary to create relaxing conditions that help reduce discomfort and rumination. Thus, Music, especially instrumental music with nature sounds, can be useful to calm you down.

7. Get professional help if the situation does not improve

The above strategies can be used to reduce the frequency with which thoughts appear and eliminate them. However, each person has different types of problems that could be linked to ruminative ideas. In some cases, these recommendations may not be enough to relieve discomfort. If so, it is best to seek professional guidance.

Finally, Don’t forget that if you can’t stop thinking, it’s probably a sign that something is wrong. Rumination could be a symptom of anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other serious conditions. Through professional help you can identify more precisely what your situation is and what you can do about it.

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