Rumination: Treatment

Rumination refers to the tendency to think repetitively about the causes and consequences of [Page 2908]negative emotional experiences. Chronic rumination has been documented in people with generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, eating disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, and depression. Because of its widespread association with psychopathology, it is imperative to identify effective treatment options. Accordingly, over the past two decades, psychotherapeutic approaches that specifically target rumination have been developed. Research has demonstrated that targeted, cognitive behavioral therapeutic interventions can significantly reduce the degree to which clients rely on it as a coping strategy. A unifying thread across efficacious treatment methods for rumination is habit re-formation, in which more adaptive coping strategies than rumination are developed and implemented when rumination-triggering cues are elicited.