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There's two really good approaches to this issue that I've learned. The one in the article is cognitive behavioral therapy (also, dialectical behavioral therapy
by jameslk 10y ago
There's two really good approaches to this issue that I've learned. The one in the article is cognitive behavioral therapy (also, dialectical behavioral therapy, depending on the type of ruminations). Another approach that has been gaining more traction lately is mindfulness, which is basically using meditation to clear the mind of ruminating thoughts.
I've read bits of Feeling Good Handbook, which is an often recommended book for CBT, but I really felt like I connected more with the mindfulness approach. Mindfulness seems to work faster for me since I can use meditation to quickly clear out negative thoughts rather than trying to reason about them over time as with CBT. For mindfulness, I'd highly recommend Hardwiring Happiness, which goes into depth about using neuroplasticity (the ability to rewire the brain) to pave more positive neural paths using mindfulness techniques.
I'm sure both CBT and mindfulness are good approaches and can be used in conjunction, and there's likely other good alternatives to these as well. Ultimately the goal is to balance our evolved negativity bias with more positive thinking.
- kilroy123 10y agoI totally agree about the mindfulness. I started to use the app, https://www.headspace.com https://www.headspace.com. Which walks you through mindfulness meditation. I've noticed a stead improvement after using it for a while.
- unlikelymordant 10y agoThat app on android needs some strange permissions, access to photos and storage and access to device id and call information plus some other stuff. I can't see why it would need to know what numbers I call.
- anowlcalledjosh 10y agoThe actual permission is 'read phone status and identity', which I guess is used to pause a meditation session if you get a phone call. 'Access to photos' is needed to get access to external storage, presumably to download audio files. Disclaimer: I'm not an Android dev, this is just what I've picked up from the internet.
- hrnnnnnn 10y agoThe two approaches work well together in my experience. Mindfulness makes you more aware of what's really happening (detrimental rumination) and CBT techniques help take the sting out of the negative thoughts once they are recognised.