The 5 Differences Between Worry And Rumination (explained)
In our society, we all have a lot of worries and ruminations in our heads. Now, perhaps you have never sat down to consider what the difference is between them. Is rumination part of the worry? Are they completely different concepts? Can one worry without ruminating? It is important to know the answer to these questions since only then can we understand our complex world of cognition.
What is clear is that both worry and rumination cause feelings of discomfort and discomfort. In addition, they are nuclear in certain psychological problems such as anxiety and depression disorders. In fact, in these ailments, worry and rumination are understood as attempts at emotional regulation. In other words, functional emotional skills are those that facilitate effective thinking, and on the contrary, those people who have difficulties in these skills tend to have dysfunctional or ruminative responses.
In today’s article, we will analyze the differences between worry and rumination. At first glance, it can be said that a worry is when you project long-term situations in a catastrophic way and rumination consists of turning over and over the same idea. Stay to discover in more depth the diversity of these two concepts
It is normal to experience worry and there are as many different worries as there are people in the world. Therefore, we can say that it is a habitual and functional phenomenon that aims to bring us closer to finding and planning solutions to our problems. A worry is supposed to have its basis in something that can be resolved or resolved.
In short, they are chains of thoughts that generate discomfort and anxiety about “what if.” In other words, worry is closely linked to the uncertainty with which we live. Worry arises from the uncertainty of not knowing if something is going to happen or not, if we can bear it or not, etc It’s as if you were guessing the future and when in doubt, we put ourselves in the worst possible scenario.
What is rumination?
The Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) defines rumination as “Chewing for a second time, returning it to the mouth, the food that was already in the deposit that some animals have for this purpose.” Psychology has taken this term and transformed it to refer to turning over a thought, an idea, or a possible problem, unconsciously and almost obsessively, causing you some discomfort and making it really difficult to stop and get out of that situation. .
It is important to clarify that although it may seem that rumination is dysfunctional, there are also times when it is a deliberate and reflective process. This is when it can help us elaborate and understand experiences. This is a fundamental process in changing beliefs and cognitive schemes in the face of adverse events
Differences between worry and rumination
First of all, it is crucial to highlight that both act as defense mechanisms. The normal thing is that we spend time on everything that worries us and makes us feel bad, however, the problem comes when we cannot stop thinking about it and the thoughts become too intense, negative, repetitive, with catastrophic ideas, etc. . falling into a completely maladaptive state.
Besides, Rumination and worry are similar since they are both forms of repetitive, self-focused, general thinking, associated with a lack of cognitive flexibility to shift attention away from negative stimuli. So, what are the differences? Below, we list some of them:
1. The approach
On the one hand, worry appears when we feel threatened or challenged by something in our future Its objective is to look at what could happen. It arises as an emotional and cognitive response. On the other hand, rumination has another approach more related to turning over worries over and over again, thus reinforcing those negative and harmful emotions for us.
2. Time
As we mentioned above, the concern is purely focused on the future. Worry anticipates what may happen and thus creates significant anxiety. On the other hand, rumination is clearly located in the past or present.
Thus, When a person finds himself with ruminative thoughts, he thinks a thousand times about acts, circumstances and events carried out in the past or in the present processes them in a negative way, when reviewing events that have already happened, the person analyzes themselves critically and does not apply any coping strategy to solve it.
3. The content
The concepts also differ in content. That is, worry focuses on thoughts about fear of what may happen, different challenges that we will have to face, certain catastrophic ideas that may happen, threats that we may encounter, problems that we will have to solve, imagining events that may happen in the future. future and of course, the assessment of the resources we have to face the problems.
Instead, Rumination refers to regrets, past mistakes, feelings of guilt, shame and generally, a mental review of failures or realities that we should have done differently.
4. Functionality
Although they may seem negative concepts, in part, they have functionality. Worry prepares us for what is coming. Its objective is to help us reflect and thus decide what responses or strategies we should develop to successfully face realities. As for rumination, its purpose is to help us accept those events from the past or present that we cannot change. Although it may seem like it is a way to stagnate, in reality, it is quite the opposite Only in this way do we move forward and act more proactively.
5. The mental cost
Both excessive worries and ruminative thoughts take a toll on our mental health. On the one hand, excessive worry is closely related to generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and on the other hand, Rumination is correlated with depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, and even psychosomatic disorders
Conclusions
After reading the article, it can be stated that worry and rumination are cognitive processes related to their similarities and differences, which can have functionality when handled appropriately, and are even capable of providing us with more accurate solutions or reevaluations of the problems. issues. However, we must not forget that they can be highly dysfunctional and cause serious problems when they are unproductive, repetitive, uncontrollable and focus attention rigidly on the negative.
