Symptoms
Particularly in moments of the silence the brooding compulsion takes over the upper hand, which leads to many sleepless nights and in consequence to tiredness, exhaustion and infection susceptibility. Because not only the psyche, but also the body suffers from this disturbance. It leads to more or less severe restrictions in everyday life, as too much time is spent brooding instead of devoting to beneficial activities.
The bad mental state that results from this makes the compulsion to brood even worse – a vicious circle. Since all intellectual resources are devoted to brooding, cognitive deficits (problems in thinking) such as memory problems or concentration problems can occur. This also increases the time that is inevitably sacrificed for the compulsion to brood.
There are various other symptoms that, in addition to the circulating thoughts, characterize a compulsion to brood. Often the affected persons are overcome by feelings of fear. These result on the one hand from the panic of never being able to get rid of the thoughts, on the other hand from the supposed hopelessness, since apparently there is no solution for the thought-out problem.
Depression is the most common mental illness in the world. Many people suffer from the main symptoms: a depressed mood, a comprehensive loss of interest and lack of drive. Various secondary or additional symptoms are defined, which occur more frequently in patients with depression.
These additional symptoms include a negative view of the future. This pessimistic basic attitude is usually associated with brooding. One’s own situation is seen as very hopeless, and the personal future is extremely worried.
The comprehensive feeling of helplessness fires the brooding compulsion additionally on and contributes to the avoidance of the solution identification.Frequent brooding can often be identified as such by many patients who suffer from depression and is one of the symptoms that sufferers disclose on demand. There is little shame in worrying about one’s own professional or financial future and it is also quite common in the healthy population. The treatment of depression usually also provides relief from the compulsion to brood. Since psychotherapy and medication are used, self-treatment should be avoided and a doctor should be consulted.
