Anxious Rumination
"Anxiety is something you do in response to emotional dysregulation...Anxiety is ruminating on fear to the point where a person trains the brain to continue ruminating, that actually injures their identity and sense of safety."
This is the definition that Dr. Terry Hargrave stated in our Anxiety Roundtable discussion on the RT Dialogue podcast back in April of 2025.
What is important about this definition of anxiety is that it communicates three important aspects of anxiety:
Anxiety is something we do when emotionally dysregulated. It’s not a feeling, but something we do.
Rumination is a very destructive part of anxiety. When we ruminate, by turning the thought over and over in our brain, in can often feel like we are doing something that is productive with anxiety. But it’s quite damaging.
Anxious rumination is damaging to our identity and safety. It is injurious to how we think about ourselves, and our safety in the world.
Do you ever find yourself ruminating when anxious?