When Thinking Becomes the Problem: Pure O Rumination and Mental Compulsions
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When overthinking becomes an OCD compulsion. I see this constantly in my practice: a genuine strength (being analytical, thoughtful, thorough) that helps people advance professionally or academically becomes the thing dragging them down. The tool that got them the promotion has ruined relationship after relationship. The intellectual curiosity that made them interesting has been hijacked, now tasking them with unlocking the secrets of existence with their mind, or else they'll have wasted their life. The moral scrutiny that made them a good person has become a weighted blanket of doubt crushing every interaction.
Here's what makes rumination so hard to spot: it doesn't feel like a problem. It feels like you. Most of my clients say "this is just how I am" or "doesn't everyone think this much?" You've been doing this so long you can't remember thinking any other way. And sometimes it works—the analysis helps at work, helps you understand things, helps you make good decisions. But when the same process gets turned on your internal experience, it doesn't solve anything. It just creates more to analyze.
This is rumination: when the thinking that helps you becomes the thing hurting you.
Maybe you're starting to see the pattern. Conversations replay for hours. You analyze feelings as if they were urgent problems demanding solutions. You're looking for certainty, for the insight that will finally settle the question. It feels productive, like you're "processing." But there's rarely a conclusion, rarely a next step. Just the same loop, endlessly refined.
When clients first recognize this pattern, there's often a real aha moment, followed quickly by discouragement. They see how long they've been doing it and think it will take the rest of their lives to undo. Ten miles in, ten miles out, right? But relief can come faster than you think. Once you can call it out, you can step away from it.
This post explores why rumination is a mental compulsion masquerading as problem-solving, how abstract thinking keeps you trapped, and what actually helps when your mind won't let go.
What Is Rumination? And How Is It Different From Reflection?
Rumination is repetitive, abstract thinking about distress without moving toward resolution. It looks like problem-solving. It feels productive. But it's a mental compulsion: an attempt to regulate emotion that makes things worse.
This pattern shows up across anxiety, depression, OCD, and many other mental health issues. For people struggling with any of these, rumination can become a full-time job. You're constantly analyzing: Why do I feel this way? What does this mean about me? What if I'm making the wrong choice? The questions loop endlessly, creating the illusion of progress without producing actual solutions.
So what separates rumination from healthy reflection?
Reflection has an endpoint. You think through a problem, reach a conclusion (even if it's "I need more information"), and move forward. Maybe you acted awkwardly at a party. Reflection: "I interrupted them. I'll apologize tomorrow." Done. There's a concrete action connected to concrete experience.
Rumination has no endpoint. You replay the same interaction from every angle. Why did I say that? What were they thinking? Did I ruin everything? What does this say about me? You analyze, but there's no resolution. No follow-up action. Just the same loop, slightly reworded.
Here's the trap: rumination mimics useful thinking. You're engaged, focused, analytical. But research shows what makes rumination distinct is exactly this: the lack of effectiveness and progress toward goals, combined with increased emotional distress. You feel like you're working on the problem. But you're not solving it. You're stuck in it. The solving is the problem.
Why Rumination Feels So Sticky: Abstract vs. Concrete Processing
So what makes rumination such a brutal mental trap? Psychologist Edward Watkins identified a critical distinction that explains why some thinking helps while other thinking hurts: abstract processing versus concrete processing.
While Watkins' research focused primarily on depression and anxiety, the framework applies powerfully to OCD as well—particularly Pure O presentations where the compulsions are entirely mental.
Abstract processing asks: Why do I feel this way? What does this mean about me? What if things go wrong? These questions pull you away from direct experience into interpretation, meaning-making, and hypothetical scenarios. Abstract thinking is evaluative and disconnected from specific actions or observable facts.
Concrete processing asks: What am I doing right now? What's the next step? How do I want to respond? These questions ground you in direct experience, sensory details, and actionable steps.
Here's the problem: rumination operates almost entirely in abstract mode. You're not thinking about what happened (concrete). You're thinking about what it means (abstract). And abstract processing, when it's repetitive and unresolved, maintains distress rather than resolving it.
Examples:
Concrete: "I said something awkward at the party."
Abstract rumination: "Why am I so socially incompetent? What does this say about my worth as a person? What in the hell is my problem?"
Concrete: "My partner seemed distant today."
Abstract rumination: "What if they don't love me anymore? Why do I always choose the wrong person? What if I'm not capable of a healthy relationship?"
Concrete: "I didn't get the promotion."
Abstract rumination: "Why do I always fail? What's wrong with me? Will I ever be successful?"
The abstract questions feel important. They feel like you're getting to the root of things. But they don't lead anywhere. They just generate more abstract questions.
Common Rumination Patterns in OCD and Anxiety
While rumination shows up across anxiety and depression, it's particularly insidious in OCD—where mental compulsions ARE rumination. The same abstract analysis that maintains depression becomes, in OCD, the compulsion itself. Here's what this can look like:
Relationship OCD (ROCD)
"Do I love them? How do I know? Let me analyze every feeling, every interaction, every moment of doubt." Hours pass. No clarity emerges. You're not reflecting on the relationship. You're abstractly analyzing your internal state, looking for certainty about feelings that naturally fluctuate.
Moral Rumination / Scrupulosity
"Did I do the right thing? Was I selfish? What if I hurt them? Let me review everything I said." The replay brings no resolution, only more questions. You're not thinking about what you did (concrete). You're thinking about what it means about your character (abstract).
Existential Rumination
"What's the point of anything? Why am I here? What if I’m a brain in a vat?" These are legitimate philosophical questions. But when you're asking them compulsively for hours daily, they've crossed from philosophy into anxiety. You're not exploring existence. You're ruminating about it.
Past Event Rumination
"Why did that relationship end? What did I do wrong? Let me reconstruct every detail." You're not learning from the past. You're litigating the past, what it meant, why it happened, what it says about you.
Meta-Rumination
Ruminating about ruminating. "Why can't I stop thinking about this? What's wrong with me? Why am I like this?" The loop feeds itself. You're now abstractly analyzing your abstract processing.
The content varies. The mechanism is the same: repetitive, unproductive, abstract analysis that feels necessary but leads nowhere.
Why Insight-Oriented Therapy Can Make Rumination Worse
Therapy can fall into the same trap: two people, both thoughtful and well-intentioned, turning the same idea over and over in search of an insight that never comes.
Insight-oriented therapy asks: "Why do you feel this way? What does this remind you of from your past? What's the deeper meaning?" For many people, this is helpful. For someone who ruminates, it's gasoline on a fire.
You leave the session feeling lighter. You've "processed." You've gained "insight." Good, right? Then the trap door opens again the next day. Because you've practiced the exact skill keeping you stuck: abstract analysis of internal states.
The therapy validates that understanding equals resolution. But for ruminators, more understanding just means more material to analyze. You've been given permission to keep asking "why" as if the right answer will finally free you.
This is why working with a therapist who can recognize and interrupt chronic rumination is essential. The goal isn't deeper understanding. It's behavioral change, specifically shifting from abstract to concrete processing.
What Actually Helps: Shifting to Concrete Processing
Treatment for rumination isn't about "stopping thinking" (impossible) or "thinking positive thoughts" (ineffective). It's about changing how you think.
Recognize the Mode
First, notice when you've shifted into abstract rumination. The questions give it away:
"Why...?" (Why do I feel this way? Why did that happen?)
"What does this mean...?" (What does this say about me?)
"What if...?" (What if it happens again? What if I'm wrong?)
These aren't bad questions inherently. But when they loop without resolution, they're rumination.
Shift to Concrete
When you catch yourself ruminating, redirect to concrete processing:
Instead of: "Why do I feel anxious about this relationship?"
Try: "What am I doing right now? What's one thing I can do today that aligns with my values in this relationship?"
Instead of: "What does my anxiety mean about who I am?"
Try: "What am I noticing in my body? What's happening at this moment?"
Instead of: "Why can't I stop thinking about this?"
Try: "Exactly what happened that brought me to this point, and what is the next small step I can take?"
This isn't positive thinking. It's a shift from evaluative abstraction to descriptive, experiential awareness.
Apply Response Prevention
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) works for mental compulsions too. The "exposure" is allowing the discomfort to be present. The "response prevention" is not engaging in the mental ritual of rumination.
Practice: Notice the urge to analyze. Name it as rumination, not productive thought. Come back to something concrete: a task, a sensation, a value. The discomfort of not having an answer is temporary. The rumination loop is endless.
Over time, you're building tolerance for uncertainty and discomfort without needing to think your way through it.
Engage with Life, Not Thoughts About Life
The ultimate goal is to shift from analyzing life to living it. Rumination is thinking about doing. Concrete engagement is doing.
Abstract: Analyzing whether you're a good friend
Concrete: Texting your friend to check in
Abstract: Wondering if you're making the right career choice
Concrete: Working on the project in front of you
Abstract: Questioning your worth
Concrete: Taking action aligned with your values
Breaking the cycle isn't about out-thinking it (that's the trap!). It's about changing your relationship to the process itself. Notice the pull. Name it as rumination, not productive thought. Then come back to something in the real world: a value, a task, something in the here-and-now.
The next small thing matters more than solving the thought. Not the monumental insight that will solve your emotional pain. Just the next thing.
When to Seek Professional Help
Consider reaching out to an OCD specialist if:
Rumination occupies more than an hour daily
You can't make decisions without endlessly analyzing them
Previous therapy focused on "understanding why" and made things worse
You recognize you're ruminating but can't stop
Mental reviewing, replaying, or analyzing interferes with daily life
You've tried to interrupt rumination on your own without success
Conclusion
Rumination isn't who you are. It's a pattern your brain learned under pressure. And you can teach it another way. The path out is shorter than you fear.
The shift from abstract to concrete processing isn't about eliminating doubt or achieving perfect clarity. It's about recognizing when you've crossed from helpful thinking into harmful looping, and choosing to engage with what's in front of you instead.
If this were easy, I wouldn't have written this and you wouldn't be reading it. But it's possible. And once you can see the pattern, you can interrupt it.
About the Author: Kevin Jaworski is a licensed therapist (LPCC) specializing in OCD and anxiety disorders, providing telehealth therapy throughout Ohio—including Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Akron, Youngstown, Dayton, and Toledo. He uses evidence-based approaches including ERP, I-CBT, and ACT to help clients with emotion regulation and to break free from rumination patterns and build tolerance for uncertainty. His practice focuses on clients whose previous therapy didn't address the specific mechanisms keeping them stuck in OCD and rumination patterns. Contact for a free 15-minute consultation.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you're experiencing symptoms of OCD, anxiety, or other mental health concerns, please consult with a qualified mental health professional. The information provided here is not a substitute for professional clinical assessment and care. If you're experiencing a mental health emergency, please call 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or go to your nearest emergency room.