Rumination: How to Disrupt Obsessive Thoughts

Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson

Being Well

Education, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness, Mental Health

4.8 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 18 April 2022

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s normal and healthy for us to try to process our experiences emotionally, but sometimes during that process we find ourselves getting stuck on the same painful memory, anxiety, or disturbing thought. This frustrating experience, known as rumination, is a common psychological challenge that is both discouraging and unhelpful. On this episode of Being Well, Dr. Rick and Forrest Hanson spell out what rumination is, where it comes from, and how it functions in the brain. They then explore what practices and strategies we can use to identify rumination when it comes up, and move through an obsessive thought compassionately and effectively. Watch the Episode: Prefer watching video? You can watch this episode on YouTube. Key Topics: 0:00: Introduction 2:25: How do we define rumination? 7:45: What do we get out of rumination? 13:30: Distinguishing rumination from grieving 16:30: Where rumination comes from in people 18:40: The default mode network 22:30: Ways to disengage the default mode network 25:50: Strange attractors, Krishna, and the Gopis 30:35: Thought acceptance and noting 33:15: Recurring themes of your rumination 37:10: Novelty 38:45: Self-constructing invites rumination, self-acceptance undermines it 47:05: A quick walkthrough for dealing with a negative thought 53:00: Recap Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Have a question for us? Email: contact@beingwellpodcast.com to submit questions or potential topics you'd like us to explore in future episodes. Sponsors: Make Woven Earth a part of your nightly routine, and use code BEINGWELL20 for 20% off your purchase of Single Products. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Try Splendid Spoon today and take meal-planning off your plate. Just go to SplendidSpoon.com/BEINGWELL for $50 off your first box. Connect with the show: Subscribe on iTunes Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Forrest on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Visit Forrest's website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Being Well, I'm Forest Hanson.
0:10.2	If you're new to the podcast, thanks for joining us today.
0:13.0	And if you've listened before, welcome back.
0:15.5	It's normal and healthy for us to try to process our experiences emotionally.
0:20.3	But sometimes during that processing process, something strange happens.
0:24.4	And we just get stuck.
0:27.8	If you find yourself returning to the same painful memory, current anxiety, or disturbing
0:32.2	thought over and over and over again, you might be experiencing something known as rumination.
0:40.2	Rumination is the habit of obsessive thinking, and it occurs when you just can't move on
0:44.6	from something.
0:46.3	Most people have experienced this at some point, and just speaking personally for a moment
0:50.2	here, it's one of the most frustrating and frustratingly common psychological experiences.
0:55.7	We are just haunted by this thought that we can't get free of.
1:00.8	And part of what makes it so frustrating is that all of this thinking is often not really
1:05.0	getting us anywhere.
1:06.9	So today we're going to be exploring rumination and obsessive thinking.
1:11.3	We'll cover where it comes from and how we can break away from those thought black holes
1:15.1	that tend to suck us in.
1:17.4	So to help me do that, I'm joined today as usual by Dr. Rick Hanson, who is a clinical
1:21.3	psychologist, he's a best-selling author, and he's also my dad.
1:25.2	So dad, how are you doing today?
1:26.8	I'm doing great, and I'm thrilled about this topic.
	...

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