It goes by many different names: rumination, repetitive negative thinking, negative thought syndrome, spiraling thoughts. But whatever you call it, it can have damaging consequences for your mental health.
The experience — let’s call it rumination — can include dwelling on past mistakes or worrying about future events or decisions you’ll have to make. While reviewing and learning from the past and preparing for the future are healthy (even necessary) mental processes, rumination is something different.
With rumination, the thoughts are not constructive or helpful. Instead, they focus on the negative and often distort the facts, making the situation seem more dismal than it really is. Rather than help you process emotions and develop better responses to life, rumination can create or worsen emotional problems.
