Mental brood: definition, causes and consequences

Mental mobble, also known as “rumination“, It is a cognitive process characterized by the persistent repetition of negative thoughts, often associated with past situations or future worries.

This phenomenon is common in the general population, but when it becomes persistent and invasive, it can be associated with psychological conditions such as anxiety, depression or obsessive-compulsive disorders.

Mental brooding represents an important challenge for modern mental health, influencing the quality of life and increasing the risk of numerous psychological disorders and physicists; The brooding approach requires a combination of cognitive, behavioral and awareness strategies to help people recognize and better manage their negative thoughts.

Definitions and types of brood

There rumination and the mobble They are two distinct cognitive processes, although they may seem similar as they both involve a form of repetitive thought. The main difference lies in the content and purpose of thoughts.

1. Rumination:
   • It is characterized by recurring thoughts focused on the past, often concerning negative events or problems already happened.
   • People tend to focus on how they feel and the reasons for their feelings, without however finding concrete solutions.
   • It is common in depression, where it can lead to a sad state of mind and a lack of motivation.
   • Example: “Why did it happen to me?“,” “Should I have to do something different?“.
2. Mobble:
   • It focuses on future events, often on concerns for hypothetical situations or things that could go wrong.
   • It presents itself as a chain of anxious thoughts oriented towards solving problems, although usually ends up amplifying anxiety.
   • It is typical in anxiety disorders, such as generalized anxiety disorder.
   • Example: “And if I fail? “,”What will happen if I can’t manage everything“.”

In summary, rumination focuses on the past and associated emotions, while the brood looks to the future And it feeds potential concerns.

Causes and risk factors

The brooding can be influenced by a variety of factors, both internal and external. Among the main ones:

• Life experiences: traumatic or stressful events, especially in childhood, increase the risk of developing ruminative thought habits.
• Family and social environment: The presence of anxious or hypercritical reference figures can help develop a style of thought focused on the negative.

Some recent studies highlight how theExcessive use of social media And exposure to negative content can contribute to increasing the brood, especially between teenagers and young adults.

Psychological and physiological consequences

The brooding is often considered a maintenance factor or aggravation of various mental disorders:

1. Depression: The brooding increases the risk of developing depressive symptoms, since it leads the subject to concentrate on negative events, reinforcing feelings of guilt and inadequacy.
2. Anxiety: Constant concerns relating to the future can intensify the symptoms of anxiety, reducing the ability to face new or uncertain situations.
3. Sleep disturbances: Ruminative thoughts can interfere with sleep, since the mind is continuously active, preventing a regenerating rest.
4. Physical problems: Recent studies suggest that prolonged brooding is associated with high levels of cortisol and other physiological responses of stress, which in the long term can lead to cardiovascular pathologies, diabetes and weakening of the immune system.

Explanatory models

There are various theoretical models that explain the brooding and its mechanisms, among the main ones:

Metacognitive model (Wells)

According to Adrian Wells and the metacognitive model, the brooding is guided by metacognitive beliefsthat is, thoughts about one’s thoughts.

These beliefs include both positive aspects (“brooding will help me solve the problems”) and negative (“I cannot control the brood”). According to Wells, it is precisely the combination of these beliefs that maintains the brood active and problematizing.

Model of the theory of advancement (BORKOVEC)

Thomas Borkovec has proposed that the brood serves as a cognitive avoidance strategy. The person tries to “prepare” for negative events, hoping to reduce anxiety, but the brood, instead of helping, maintains the cycle of anxiety and concern.

This model is often applied to explain the processes in generalized anxiety disorder (Gad).

Cognitive processing model of Nolen-Hoeksema

This model, proposed by Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, highlights the role of rumination as a mechanism to face negative mood.

According to the author, people who ruminate tend to focus repeatedly on the causes and consequences of their negative emotions without ever getting to constructive solutions. This prolongs and aggravates the depressed mood.

Model of the emotional self -regulation process

According to this model, the brood was born as an attempt to self -regulate emotions, in which the subject tries to control his emotions by analyzing their causes.

However, this process of self -regulation is often counterproductive, because the brood tends to intensify negative emotions rather than reduce them.

Stress response model (Lyubomirsky & Nolen-Hoeksema)

This model interprets the brood as a dysfunctional response to stress and daily problems.

People who rush often are less capable of making effective decisions and solving problems, remaining blocked in cycles of negative thought.

Attentive focus regulation model (Matthews & Wells)

This model argues that the brooding is the result of a difficulty in regulating attention.

The ruminant person tends to focus obsessively on negative internal stimuli, such as distressing thoughts, and struggles to divert attention from them.

These models provide a theoretical perspective useful for understanding brooding and support different therapeutic approaches, including cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and metacognitive therapy (MCT), which aim to interrupt dysfunctional cycles of thought.

Interventions and techniques to reduce the brood

Treating the brooding is a challenge, but there are several interventions that can help people manage it more effectively:

• Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT): one of the most used models to treat the problem. The CBT aims to identify and modify negative automatic thoughts, teaching the person to replace them with more balanced and realistic interpretations.
• Mindfulness and acceptance: techniques such as Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy(MBCT) And mindfulness practices can help to shift attention from the past to the present (here and now), promoting awareness of the current moment. There are several mindfulness exercises that can be useful for reducing ruminative thoughts, such as focusing on breathing or observing their thoughts without expressing judgment.
• Acceptance and Committment Therapy (Act): This therapy focuses on the acceptance of unwanted emotions and thoughts without trying to change them, but rather opening up to them without being influenced negatively.
• Exposure to rumination: A therapeutic technique in which the person is encouraged to intentionally ruminate at a specific moment. This helps to reduce the urgency to ruminate in unscheduled moments and to decrease the intensity of repetitive thoughts.
• Distractive activities and organization of time: Participating in rewarding activities or organizing your time better can stop the rumination cycle, leading the mind to focus on something else.
• Problem solving training: Often, rumination is linked to unresolved problems. Learning to solve problems in a structured way can help the person feel more controlled, thus reducing repetitive thoughts.
• Pharmacotherapy: In some cases, especially if rumination is linked to depression or anxiety, a doctor may suggest specific drugs to improve mood and decrease negative thoughts.

In recent decades, however, the CBT standard for the treatment of ruminative processes has successfully accompanied metacognitive therapy (MCT), a therapeutic approach developed for the treatment of various psychological disorders, such as anxiety and depression.

This focuses on the modification of thought processes rather than on the contents of the thoughts themselves. Unlike cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), which aims to change distorted or dysfunctional thoughts, metacognitive therapy focuses on the mechanisms that maintain rumination and concerns, two processes considered to the base of many mental disorders.

Foundations of metacognitive therapy

1. Metacognition: Metacognition refers to the ability to think about one’s thoughts: in other words, it is the set of beliefs and strategies that people have about their thought processes. In metacognitive therapy, metacognitive beliefs explore, which are ideas that people have about how useful or dangerous to worry or ruminate on certain issues.
2. Cognitive-staining syndrome (CAS): The concept of CAS (Cognitive Attentional Syndrome) is central to metacognitive therapy. It refers to a model of thought and behavior that includes rumination, concern and attention focused on perceived threats, which contributes to the maintenance of psychological disorders.
3. Positive and negative metacognitive beliefs: Therapy identifies metacognitive beliefs in two main categories:
   • Positive beliefs: Beliefs regarding the usefulness of concern or rumination (e.g. “worry helps me to be more prepared”).
   • Negative beliefs: Beliefs that see concern as uncontrollable or dangerous (e.g. “I will never be able to stop worrying”).
4. Intervention techniques: The techniques of metacognitive therapy focus on the rupture of the CAS and on the modification of metacognitive beliefs. Some of the most common interventions include:
   • Change of metacognitive beliefs: Work on beliefs that maintain the cycle of concern.
   • Behavioral experiments: Verification of the patient’s convictions regarding the need to ruminate or worry.
   • Training for reinforcement of attention: Shift attention from the continuous monitoring of threats to a more neutral or positive focus.
5. Effectiveness and applications: Metacognitive therapy has shown promising results in the treatment of various disorders, including generalized anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In summary, metacognitive therapy proposes an alternative model to the traditional CBT, aiming to change the “as“Of our reactions to thoughts and not the”What“.

Bibliography

1. Papageorgiou, C., & Wells, A. (Eds.). (2004). Depressive Rumination: Nature, Theory and Treatment. Wiley.
2. Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2000). The Role of Rumination in Depressive Disorders and Mixed Anxiety/Depressive Sympoms. Journal of Abnormal Psychology109 (3), 504-511.
3. Segal, ZV, Williams, JMG, & Teasdale, JD (2013). Mindfulness-based cognitive Therapy for depression. Guilford Press.
4. Wells, A. (2009). Metacognitive Therapy for Anxiety and Depression. Guilford Press.
5. Borkovec, TD, & Roemer, L. (1995). Perseverative Thinking: The Role of World in Anxiety Disorders. Behavior Therapy26 (3), 469-479.
6. Ehring, T., & Watkins, Er (2008). Negative repetitions Thinking As a Transdiagnostic Process. Clinical Psychology Review28 (3), 254-267.
7. Watkins, Er (2008). Constructive and unconstructive Repetitive Thought. Psychological Bulletin134 (2), 163-206.
8. Querstret, D., & Cropley, M. (2013). Assessing Work-Related Rumination: Development and Validation of the Work-Related Rumination Questionnaire (WRRQ). Journal of Occupational Health Psychology18 (2), 198-210.