Why do people ruminate in dysphoric moods?

Rumination has been recognised as an important maintaining factor in depression. Most assessment up until now has been concerned with what people ruminate about and the frequency of the rumination, rather than exploring the reasons for rumination. A sample (n=61) self-identified as suffering from rumination reported the reasons they ruminated in response to open-ended questions. Approximately 80% of participants reported at least one perceived benefit of rumination. The most frequently reported benefits of rumination were increasing self-awareness and understanding of the depression, and solving problems/preventing future mistakes. A scale was also developed to provide a quantitative measure of the reasons for ruminating. Participants with higher levels of self-reported rumination endorsed significantly more strongly the reasons for ruminating than participants with lower levels of self-reported rumination. The scale showed sufficient validity and reliability in this preliminary study to indicate that further use is appropriate. The implications for understanding and treating rumination are discussed.