Depression · Skills
Rumination Interrupt Protocol
Attention shift, not argument
Rumination — replaying, analyzing, self-attacking — feels like problem-solving and is not. It maintains depression better than almost any single factor.
How to tell the difference
Problem-solving ends in a next step. Rumination ends in more rumination.
My interrupt protocol
- Notice: 'I'm ruminating.'
- Ask: is there a concrete next step? If yes, write it. If no, disengage.
- Shift attention outward — 5 senses, a task, movement, another person
- Do not argue with the thoughts
Time
Rumination content
What I did to shift
Worked?
Attention, not argument
Rumination isn't defeated by better thinking. It's defeated by shifting where attention lives.