A New Approach to Managing Rumination in Depression

It can be hard to stop rumination, obsessively thinking about something. But there’s a new approach to managing rumination in depression – and it’s free.

I love the podcast Hidden Brain. Every week, some researcher or author comes on and explains their research so that folks like me can understand it. They don’t quote statistics or go into endless descriptions of their work. But the host, Shankar Vedantam, deftly leads the conversation, so you walk away with an idea that’s pretty damn usable.

Today’s show featured a guy named Norman Farb, a psychologist and neuroscientist out of Canada. And here’s what he was basically saying about his somewhat surprising findings.

Let’s approach it by first talking about the front of your brain and the back of your brain. The front part is the most newly developed part. And it’s involved in thinking and reasoning, problem-solving, etc. Basically…. thought, whether it’s about the past, the present, or the future.

The back of the brain is much more involved with the functioning of the body. It pays attention to whatever information your senses are giving to you; are you cold or hot, are you hungry or full, when you walk on plush carpet, how do your feet feel? Pretty handy stuff.

So… depression has forever been thought of, simply put, as overthinking. Rumination. Obsessively going over in your head some bitterness you have. Some bad luck or even real unfairness you suffered. It also of course can be about grief and loss. How many times have I heard, “If I could just turn off my brain…”. Depression, again very simplistically put, is primarily a focus on the past; anxiety a focus on the future.

What Dr. Farb’s research has suggested is this: That if you can find a way to rev up the sensory information going into the back part of your brain, your depression or your sadness might lift a bit. Or more that a bit.

 

This may seem like old news.

How many of you recognize that –  when you go for a walk and really notice the air and the wind, the feel of your feet on the grass or pavement, how your body feels as it coordinates each step you take – you feel better? There’s focus on something in the present (and I’d argue that that’s also a centering factor.) Other people soak in a hot tub. Others meditate or focus on their breathing. Some people adore the energy of a bustling city, others the quiet of a valley at sunset.

So maybe we “know” this. But do you put that knowledge into practice?

Probably not. Or not much.

If you tend toward ruminative depression, overanalyzing everything, when you feel stuck in thought, do you tend to fuel that thinking – by going over and over something you’re upset about? Long after you’ve actually calmed down physically over an argument or some kind of unpleasant event, you’re repeating the story of it (a term Farb also used…). Every time you tell the story in your head to yourself, you basically shut down that back brain of yours. And it senses far less. You stay in thinking mode.

And that’s not helpful.

What he’s suggesting – and that I think is a very useful and even practical suggestion – you can get out of your head by getting more into your body. You can “feed” the back of your brain with sensation.

What does that mean?

Managing rumination with attention to sensation…

It simply means that you turn your attention to what you’re seeing, what you’re hearing, what you’re smelling, what your skin’s message to you is in that moment. You immerse yourself in sensation. More specifically, those sensations would be ones that you find pleasurable or calming.

Here’s an example. Let’s say you decide to go for a walk. Instead of using the time to problem solve or listen to a podcast or talk to a friend, zone in on what your body is telling you. What your body is perceiving. It changes the entire experience. We often tune out almost completely… as I’m sitting here, typing, I’m paying attention suddenly to my body, my one foot on the floor, the other leg crossed and getting a little tired, my fingernails clicking on the buttons (meaning I need to trim them).

Sensation is free. And if it means that you can shift from overthinking to sensing – and the very choice to do that can offer freedom from rumination, what a lovely gift that would be.

You can hear more about perfectly hidden depression and many other topics by listening to my podcast, SelfWork with Dr. Margaret Rutherford. Subscribe to my website and receive one weekly newsletter including my weekly blog post and podcast! If you’d like to join my FaceBook closed group, then click here and answer the membership questions! Welcome!

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