Turns out they can actually tell researchers a lot about your mental health.
Researchers at the University of Arizona sought to understand the mental health implications ofnegative rumination.
What Is Rumination?
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The September study was published in the journalScientific Reports.
They followed some thoughts over time.
People who ruminated had negative thoughts that persisted for longer than positive ones.
Those thoughts also became narrower in scope.
For example, negative rumination may signify that an individual is expressing a maladaptive form of coping.
This can lead to the onset of depressive symptoms.
Andrews-Hanna says that as people get older, well-being tends to improve.
This could shed light on how rumination impacts mental health across age groups.
American Psychological Association.Trait Rumination.
Published 2021 Sep 30. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-98138-x
Fredrickson BL.The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions.Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci.
2004;359(1449):1367-1378. doi:10.1098/rstb.2004.1512
