Nolen-Hoeksema studied the relationship between depression and both brooding…

Nolen-Hoeksema studied the relationship between depression and both brooding and reflection, asking people to report on their thinking style and symptoms of depression. People in this study were interviewed twice, about a year apart. The reflection aspect of rumination was correlated with having depression at the time of the interview. But reflection at the first time point was associ-ated with less depression at the second time point. Brooding, on the other hand, was associated with more depression both concur rently and at the later time point.

— from The Relationship With Yourself (Traits/Reflection) · *Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss by Mary-Frances *

In the book

The third storm is the rearview mirror. We spend inordinate amounts of our lives staring backward, until the past becomes a kind of prison we have locked ourselves inside. Here the crucial distinction is between reflection and brooding. They look similar but do opposite things: genuine reflection on a hard experience leaves you less depressed over time, while brooding — turning the grievance over and over — only deepens the darkness. When you find yourself trapped in the loop, the escape is to step outside your own skin: stop viewing the painful memory through your own eyes and watch it from a distance, like a fly on the wall observing what happened to a third party, which changes how the whole thing feels. […] Choose optimism over pessimism, humility over pride, grit over giving up, and generosity over entitlement. Reflect daily, but reflect — don't brood. Spend a few minutes each night on a handful of honest questions; just be sure you are evaluating to improve, not circling to torment yourself. Take a yearly inventory. Do an annual review of what went right and wrong, and keep a running list of your blessings and the things you have already endured and overcome. — The Relationship With Yourself (Traits/Reflection)

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