Glossary // Glossary term Empirical

Rumination

Repetitive, passive focus on one's distress and its possible causes and consequences. Rumination predicts longer and more intense episodes of negative mood and is associated with the onset of depression, and in venting experiments it was followed by more anger and aggression. Not all repetitive thought is harmful: abstract, evaluative forms tend to be unconstructive, whereas concrete, process-focused forms can support problem solving.

Where the site uses it

Relief is not resolution: reinforcement, avoidance and memory
Why a restorative experience can leave the underlying difficulty unchanged: negative reinforcement, experiential avoidance, acute mood effects of exercise, rumination and the peak-end rule.
Turn abstract brooding into concrete next steps
Rumination is among the strongest correlates of psychological symptoms. Concrete, process-focused thinking about what happened and what to do next is the constructive form of repetitive thought.

Studies behind it

The works the definition rests on, with the level of evidence each was appraised at.

Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Wisco, B. E., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2008). Rethinking rumination. doi:10.1111/j.1745-6924.2008.00088.x

Level D Review

Supports the claims that rumination predicts the onset of depression and is associated with several psychopathologies, and that positive distraction relieves depressed mood experimentally. Narrative synthesis of mixed designs.
Watkins, E. R. (2008). Constructive and unconstructive repetitive thought. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.134.2.163

Level D Review

Supports the claim that the consequences of repetitive thought depend on valence, context and level of construal, with abstract processing tending to be unconstructive. Narrative review; the advice built on it has not been trialled as such.
Aldao, A., Nolen-Hoeksema, S., & Schweizer, S. (2010). Emotion-regulation strategies across psychopathology: A meta-analytic review. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2009.11.004

Level D Meta-analysis

Supports the claim that rumination shows the largest association with symptoms, with avoidance and suppression also associated. It pools correlational studies, so it is graded D and cannot establish causation.
Bushman, B. J. (2002). Does venting anger feed or extinguish the flame? Catharsis, rumination, distraction, anger, and aggressive responding. doi:10.1177/0146167202289002

Level B Experiment

Supports the claim that hitting a punching bag while ruminating produced more anger and aggression than doing nothing. A single laboratory experiment with a noise-blast aggression measure.