Rumination

Last reviewed Saturday, October 24, 2026

Rumination is going over the same negative thoughts again and again, usually about your feelings, your faults or what went wrong, and why, without reaching a solution. It’s a symptom, not a condition. Psychologists see it as a habit that keeps low mood going, and it’s closely linked with depression and anxiety.

Also called: brooding; dwelling; overthinking; repetitive negative thinking, the term researchers use for rumination and worry together. The word comes from the Latin for chewing the cud, as cows do. It isn’t the same as rumination-regurgitation disorder, a feeding disorder in which food is repeatedly brought back up.

This entry defines rumination. Our full guide, Overthinking: Why It Happens and How to Stop, covers the techniques that help.

What it sounds like

“Why did I say that? Why am I like this?”
“Why does this always happen to me?”
replaying an argument, a failure or a loss for hours, and feeling worse each time
lying awake going back over the day

It can feel like problem-solving, but it rarely ends in a decision or a plan.

Causes

Low mood. Rumination is a common response to feeling down, and it makes the low mood last longer. It colours your thinking and gets in the way of solving problems and acting on them.
Habit. Over time, dwelling on goals you haven’t met can become an automatic response to stress or a bad day.
Abstract “why” thinking. Asking what something says about you, rather than what happened and what to do next, tends to keep you stuck.
Real pressures. Money, marriage, children, work, illness and loss give the mind plenty to chew on.

Why it matters

In studies that follow people over time, those who ruminate when they feel low are more likely to develop depression later. Rumination is also linked with anxiety, poor sleep and binge drinking. UK guidance (NICE) lists it among the things that make depression more likely to come back.

Rumination vs reflection and worry

In everyday English, “rumination” can just mean careful thought. Psychologists separate the two. Reflection is self-focus out of interest. Rumination goes over the same hurts without getting anywhere. They turned out to be different habits, which explains a puzzle researchers noticed: people who think about themselves a lot can know themselves well and still feel worse. Rumination questionnaires also separate brooding, passively dwelling on what’s wrong, from a more problem-solving kind of pondering. See introspection.

Worry is rumination’s twin. Rumination looks back and asks “why?”; worry looks ahead and asks “what if?”.

Coping

You can’t stop thoughts by force: pushing a thought away tends to bring it back. What helps is changing how you respond. Noticing that you’re ruminating and swapping “why?” for “what’s one thing I can do next?” can break the loop, and in experiments, getting absorbed in something else lifted low mood in the short term. Our overthinking guide walks through these techniques and more.

When rumination comes with depression or anxiety, therapy has good evidence. CBT built to target repetitive thinking, including rumination-focused CBT, reduced it in trials. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) helps too, and UK guidance suggests it for people whose depression is likely to come back.

In Nigeria

Few people say “I’m ruminating”. They say “I’m thinking too much”, one of the most common ways to describe strain here and across Africa. In a review of 138 studies of the phrase worldwide, 60 came from Africa, and it mostly meant going over worries about money, marriage, children, illness or loss. Women in an Ibadan study used “thinking too much” and “deep thought” for dwelling on hurt from family conflict, along with headaches, feeling hot and poor sleep. Going over real problems, such as rent or school fees, isn’t a disorder in itself.

When to get help

Talk to a therapist if rumination takes up hours of your day, has disturbed your sleep for weeks, or comes with low mood most days. You can book a licensed therapist on Mytherapist.ng for CBT and skills-based therapy, or start with our depression screening test.

Rumination is also linked with self-harm and thoughts of suicide. If your thoughts turn to harming yourself, call 112 (or 767 in Lagos), or Safe Place Nigeria on 0800 800 2000. The full list is on our helplines page.

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