Here’s an idea for a behavioral experiement for people who ruminate (passively & repeatedly think about the causes or consequences of problems without moving to active problem solving. Often involves self-criticism).

Prep: If you have a smart phone, you might find this easiest to do using your phone to record (you could use a basic notetaking app or your calendar app, or whatever suits you).

Or, you could just use a piece of paper/notebook.

Record: each time you notice yourself ruminating (as it happens)

You might do this by noticing
- when you are lost in thought,
- thinking about the past or the future, or
- when you are feeling negative emotions.

Any of these can act as triggers for you to ask yourself “Am I ruminating right now?” Or “Was I just ruminating?”

Record approx how many minutes you were ruminating for.

At the end of each day, record: any incidents of rumination that led to useful problem solving i.e., you took a specific action.

At the end of the week: Calculate your ratio

e.g.,

15 incidents of rumination, taking up approximately 10 hours, 3 incidents of it leading to problem solving = efficiency rating of 20% (3 incidents of problem solving out of 15 incidents of rumination) or 3 hr 20 mins of rumination to 1 problem solving action.

4 topics ruminated about, only 1 topic problem solved.

(Note that even the act of doing the recording is likely to lead to you doing more problem solving so your problem solving number might be higher).

Make an advance prediction:

Before you start, make a prediction of how much time you spend ruminating and your efficiency percentage. The goal of the exercise is to test how realistic your thoughts are about your rumination and perhaps

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I’m back from Christmas break and have some appointments available this week and next, because most of my current clients are still away on their holidays.

3 Types of Appointments Available:

- You’re not back at work yet and would like a new client appointment while it’s easier than taking time off work.

- You’re a past client who would like to treat themselves to a booster session.

- You’re a blog reader from outside Christchurch and would like a one-off 50 min “brainstorming” consult by phone or Skype. These are a bit different than starting a therapy relationship. I can give you some self-help options based on whatever type of problem you’d like help with (Within my areas of practice: work/life balance, anxiety, low mood, self confidence, excessive perfectionism, procrastination, self-criticism).

If there are exercises you’ve read about on the blog but haven’t tried, you might like to try them out together via a one-off phone or Skype consult. For example:

- The Self Esteem Pie Chart (New Video ScreenCast)

- Developing more self confidence using a Situation Exposure Hierarchy

- Strategies for Reducing Rumination and Procrastination

- Strategies for Reducing Negative Thinking

- How to Begin Mindfulness Practice (It sounds weird but we can actually try some of these by phone/Skype). People often like trying out super short exercises together, discussing how it went, and tweaking.

The reason I’m offering these one-off appointments is that I’d like to reduce the psychological barriers to seeking personalized advice. This way you can try it out without the expectation of coming back for multiple sessions. If you have a clinical problem like depression or an anxiety disorder, I recommend you go the route of

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