Research is showing that meditation can improve
psychological health. Partly because it reduces our tendency to dwell on negative thoughts. When are negative thoughts really an issue and how can meditation reduce them?
Rumination
Dwelling on negative thoughts and emotions is called rumination. Here the mind goes from one negatively associated thought to another or fixates on one particular event. Rumination is fundamentally different from reflecting on a negative event that has happened in one's life. We need this to some extent to learn and move on. Instead thinking about negative events becomes rumination when we repeatedly go over unpleasant thoughts for extended periods of time. One of the biggest down sides of rumination is that often we start to elaborate on the negative thoughts adding information or feelings that are not grounded in reality.
Rumination and Psychopathology
Rumination
it is associated with a reduction in self-esteem and the development of anxiety
disorders. It is also a risk factor for the development of depression and is
associated with depressive relapse. Overall, rumination has been linked to
distorted interpretation of life events, increased pessimism about the future,
and poor interpersonal problem solving.
So
what mental processes are linked to rumination?
Rumination has been associated with difficulties with attention. Specifically, people
who are more likely to ruminate also have difficulty sustaining attention and
show cognitive inflexibility (an incapability to move attention from one task
to another).
This is interesting because rumination seems to involve an increase in attention on negative thoughts, so it could be considered a form of hyper-attention. It appears that for people that are prone to rumination these negative thoughts hold more salience than others, whereby they are more likely to grab and maintain attention. Through meditation these negative thoughts can lose their valence or ‘power over’ individuals.
This is interesting because rumination seems to involve an increase in attention on negative thoughts, so it could be considered a form of hyper-attention. It appears that for people that are prone to rumination these negative thoughts hold more salience than others, whereby they are more likely to grab and maintain attention. Through meditation these negative thoughts can lose their valence or ‘power over’ individuals.
Focused
attention styles of meditation involve focusing on one object, most often the
breath. For an individual that ruminates it is likely that while they are learning to maintain this skill negative thoughts will interrupt their focus. Effectively learning to switch
attention back to the breath can distract an individual from these negative thoughts.
By meditating on the breath we learn to switch our attention from negative thoughts and feelings to thoughts that are more adaptive or healthy.
One
of my early yoga teachers would say “we can find solace in our breath”. By meditating
on the breath we learn to switch our attention from negative thoughts and
feelings to those that are
more adaptive or healthy. However, if done repetitively this could become a form of distraction and
may only offer a temporary relief. Over long periods of time it can be
considered a form of avoidance, which can be as detrimental as rumination. The next shift towards
psychological health is using open monitoring styles of meditation.
By practicing open monitoring an individual gives themselves space to notice their attachment to negative thoughts.
Open
monitoring leads to a broadening of attention where an individual aims to become
receptive to all experiences that are occurring in the here and now. Most
importantly a person learns to not become attached to any one thought or
experience, because in doing so a person will lose focus on the present moment. So, through open monitoring an individual allows themselves space to notice their over attachment to negative thoughts, or any other sort of thought.
Importantly,
cultivating a broader range of unattached awareness through open monitoring allows
an individual to take a “step back” from their cycles or rumination. Here they
can see this thoughts in a non-judgmental manner and accept them as just
thoughts that come and go. As a result the thoughts lose their impact and are simply seen as fleeting mental events and not taken so personally. When thoughts are
seen as being transient people are less likely to become fixed on their
occurrence.
Overall,
it seems that for the short term focused attention style of meditation can
offer relief from bouts of rumination. While this occurs attention processes
are strengthened as a person learns to effectively switch attention away from
maladaptive thoughts.
On
the other hand, open monitoring allows an individual to become detached from
thought processes. Often this processes is referred to as decentring.
Personally, I’m not a fan of this term, because aren’t we become more centred
when we’re not caught up in our thoughts? I guess, it's more accurately decentring away from thought processes. Nonetheless, when
engaged in non-attachment that coincides with open monitoring an individual
learns to detach from the negative thoughts and see these mental processes for what they are; transient thoughts and not the core
essence of an individual.
By
practicing meditation as a way to decrease rumination one can improve their overall psychological health. For the best outcome the authors propose that it's best to practice two
forms of meditation; focused attention and open monitoring. When used together these two
styles of meditation strengthen mental processes associated with
selectively switching attention and as well as decentring away from negative thought
processes.
Wolkin,
J. R. (2015). Cultivating multiple aspects of attention through mindfulness
meditation accounts for psychological well-being through decreased rumination. Psychol Res Behav Manag, 8(171-180).