We often believe that thinking about a difficult situation will help us cope. Quite the opposite!
Given that mental rumination is ineffective at problem-solving, we should study ways to disrupt our recurrent thinking.
A quick survey of our neighbours shows that everyone thinks... After every buddy outing, Ariane spends a few days reliving her chats to see if she handled them well. Hugo is stronger than his opponent. Over the past two years, he has wondered what he could have done to keep them together.
Marilyne contemplates her workday decisions before sleeping. When Valérie feels uncomfortable, she imagines dangerous health situations.
It's fine to think profoundly. Life conditions lead us to act this way. To solve problems is the mind's purpose. Frédérick Dionne, a psychologist and associate professor at the Department of Psychology at UQTR, says he is actively seeking ways to increase his well-being.
We dwell on past events to understand them, like a thoughtful bovine. According to Geneviève Beaulieu-Pelletier, a clinical psychologist and associate professor at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), everyone can use this emotion-regulation approach, albeit some may use it more often.
Some personalities tend to dwell on problems, regrets, and remorse. Her theory is that watchful people have more anxieties, which leads to overthinking.
People with anxiety, sadness, OCD, or PTSD commonly have repetitive thoughts. “Every mental health disorder adds a unique shade to the process of rumination,” says Frédérick Dionne. For instance, social anxiety makes us overanalyze past social experiences to evaluate our behaviour.
People with OCD often relive obsession-related events from their day. When dealing with PTSD, we may wonder if we could have handled the circumstance better to avoid trauma.
Focusing on negative thoughts is unhelpful in any situation. This causes grief, frustration, wrath, embarrassment, and resentment, which can lower self-esteem and cause interior disquiet. Overthinking can cause focus issues, sleep disruptions, uneasiness, and bad mood.
Depressed people overthink, which might worsen their depression. It causes and results in depression, according to the UQTR professor.
We often find it enticing to mentally study a scenario to solve our problems. However, experts warn that mental ruminating does not solve problems. "We find ourselves trapped in a cycle of contemplation, where we attempt to find a solution to the problem solely through our thoughts, without taking any tangible steps," Dionne says.
"It's an ineffective attempt at regulating our emotions," says the UQAM associate professor, who works on mentalization, emotional regulation, and emotional defence techniques.