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 ask yourself what is the difference between them. Is rumination part of the concern? 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 come to understand our complex world of cognition.

What is clear is that both worry and rumination cause feelings of malaise and discomfort. In addition, they are nuclear in certain psychological problems such as anxiety disorders and depression. 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 therefore On the contrary, those people who have difficulties in these skills tend to have dysfunctional or type responses. ruminative.

In today's article, we will analyze the differences between worry and rumination. At first glance, it can be said that a concern is when you project long-term situations in a catastrophic way and rumination consists of turning the same idea over and over again.

Stay to discover more in depth the diversity of these two concepts.

• We recommend you read: "7 tips to end chronic worry"

What is worry?

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 common and functional phenomenon that aims to bring us closer to finding and planning solutions to our problems. A concern is supposed to be based on something that can be resolved or fixed.

In short, they are chains of thoughts that generate discomfort and anguish for him "what if...". In other words, worry is closely linked to the uncertainty with which we live. Worry appears due to the uncertainty of not knowing if something is going to happen or not, if we can bear it or not, etc.. It is 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 has transformed it to refer to thinking about 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 rumination may appear to be 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 schemas in the face of adverse events..

Differences between worry and rumination

First of all, it is crucial to note that both act as defense mechanisms. The normal thing is that we dedicate time to everything that worries us and makes us feel bad, however, the problem comes when we do not we can 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 in that both are forms of repetitive, self-focused, generalized thinking associated with a lack of cognitive flexibility to shift attention away from negative stimuli. So what are the differences? Here we list some of them:

1. Focus

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 related to turning our worries over and over again, thus reinforcing those negative and harmful emotions for us.

2. Time

As we discussed earlier, the concern is focused purely on the future. Worry anticipates what may happen and thus creates significant distress. On the other hand, rumination is clearly located in the past or in the 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 himself critically and does not apply any coping strategy to solve it.

3. The content

The concepts also differ in content. That is, the concern is focused on thoughts about fear of what may happen, different challenges that we will have to face. face, certain catastrophic ideas that can happen, threats that we may encounter, problems that we will have to solve, imagine events that can happen in the future and, of course, the assessment of the resources that we have available to face the issues.

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. The funcionality

Although they seem negative concepts, in part, they have a functionality. Worry prepares us for what is to come. 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 of the past or present that we cannot change. Although it seems that it is a way of stagnating, in reality, it is the opposite.. This is the only way 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 affirmed that worry and rumination are cognitive processes related to their similarities and differences, which can have functionality when handled properly, and are even capable of providing us with more accurate solutions or reassessments of the issues. However, we must not forget that they can be highly dysfunctional and cause serious problems. when they are unproductive, repetitive, uncontrollable, and rigidly focus attention on what negative.