Neurodivergent Rumination: Why It Happens and How to Manage

What Is Rumination? Understanding Its Impact on Neurodivergent Individuals

Rumination refers to repetitive, often distressing thought loops. These loops involve dwelling on past interactions, worrying about future events, and replaying things that went “wrong.” Many autistic individuals experience rumination intensely and frequently, making it difficult to break free. This phenomenon overlaps with perseverative cognition, which is characterized by inflexible, repetitive thought patterns. Such cognitive traits are key characteristics associated with autism.

When left unaddressed, rumination can lead to increased anxiety, emotional distress, and depressive symptoms. It can also exacerbate challenges related to neurodivergence, such as sensory overwhelm, social fatigue, and difficulty with uncertainty.

Why Rumination Is So Common in Neurodivergence

To understand how Like Minds works with our community, it helps to explore research findings about why rumination is particularly prevalent among neurodivergent individuals, especially those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) traits, and how ADHD traits contribute to this issue.

• A study titled “Investigating the structure of trait rumination in autistic adults” (2021) found that autistic adults exhibit distinct patterns of rumination. The study revealed that repetitive negative thinking (RNT) is strongly linked to depressive symptoms. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

  
  

• Another study by Cooper et al. (2025), titled “Insistence on sameness, repetitive negative thinking and autism,” argues that repetitive thinking styles are connected to insistence on sameness, a core autism trait. This inflexibility around change can further fuel rumination. SAGE Journals

  
  

• Sensory reactivity also plays a significant role. Individuals with autistic traits who are more sensitive to sensory input report higher levels of rumination and are more vulnerable to stress or PTSD symptoms. Cambridge University Press & Assessment

  
  

The ADHD Connection

ADHD traits, such as attention difficulties, impulsivity, and mind-wandering, correlate with rumination, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. For instance, a large Japanese adult sample (n ≈ 3,000) found that ADHD traits lead to increased self-rumination, which in turn results in greater depressive symptoms. Self-reflection, a more open form of self-monitoring, can moderate these negative effects. Nature

Another study, “Excessive mind wandering, rumination, and correlations among ADHD symptoms” (2024), found significant correlations among ADHD symptoms, rumination, mind-wandering, anxiety, and depression. Wiley Online Library

This means that for many individuals who are autistic and/or have ADHD, overlapping cognitive and emotional traits make rumination more likely, persistent, and distressing.

Where Rumination Hurts: Impact on Daily Life & Mental Health

Rumination can amplify existing difficulties in several ways:

• Emotional Overload: Persistent rumination can prevent emotional closure. Every minor social misstep, sensory discomfort, or uncertain event gets replayed and magnified.

  
  

• Anxiety & Depression: Repetitive negative thinking is one of the strongest predictors of depression and anxiety. Among autistic adults, higher rumination is associated with more depressive symptoms. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

  
  

• Difficulty Moving Forward: If mental energy is consumed by overthinking the past or worrying about the future, it reduces capacity for creative thinking, planning, problem-solving, and even day-to-day decision-making.

  
  

• Sleep & Rest Disruption: Rumination often occurs at night or during quiet moments, interfering with rest and worsening emotional regulation.

  
  

How Like Minds Alliance Works with Our Community on This Challenge

At Like Minds, our approach is rooted in listening, peer support, tailored tools, and co-creation. Here are ways we work with our community to help with rumination, especially for those who are autistic or who also have ADHD.

1. Community Conversation & Shared Stories

Creating space for individuals to share their rumination experiences is crucial. We encourage discussions about triggers, recurring thoughts, and emotional responses. These shared stories help others recognize they are not alone, reduce shame, and allow us to identify patterns.

2. Mapping Personal Rumination Cycles

We assist individuals in mapping their own rumination loops:

• What triggers the loop? (e.g., uncertainty, criticism, sensory overwhelm, change)

• What thoughts or images recur?

• What emotions or sensations accompany them?

• What typical responses (behaviors, avoidance, masking) occur?

  
  

Mapping helps in intervening because it becomes easier to identify where to disrupt the loop.

3. Skill Building: Cognitive Flexibility & Emotional Regulation

Cognitive inflexibility, intolerance of uncertainty, and emotional reactivity play significant roles in rumination. We emphasize building:

• Cognitive Flexibility Practice: Exercises to gently shift attention away from rumination (e.g., alternate thinking, “What else might be true?” or reframing).

  
  

• Mindfulness & Self-Reflection: Designed not as rumination, but as neutral observation of thoughts. Research suggests that self-reflection may moderate negative effects, especially in individuals with ADHD traits. Nature

  
  

• Grounding / Sensory Regulation: For autistic individuals, sensory overload tends to worsen rumination. Strategies to reduce sensory discomfort (e.g., noise reduction, managing temperature, movement breaks) are essential.

  
  

4. Peer Support & Mentoring

Many in our community benefit from talking with peers who understand the overlap of autism, ADHD, and rumination. Peer mentors share tools, validate emotional distress, and provide insights that reduce isolation.

5. Adapted Therapeutic Supports

We collaborate with therapists and clinicians who understand neurodiversity. Supports may include:

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy adapted for autism and ADHD (e.g., with more scaffolding, slower pacing, and attention to sensory and uncertainty triggers).

  
  

• Mindfulness-based interventions, especially those modified to allow for more movement or sensory input.

  
  

• Practices of compassionate self-reflection rather than self-criticism, cultivating self-compassion, which some research shows can mitigate rumination. Taylor & Francis Online

  
  

6. Environmental & Routine Supports

External structure helps reduce uncertainty, a major rumination trigger. We assist community members in building routines, establishing environmental supports (spaces for quiet or decompression), planning for known stressors, and incorporating recovery periods.

7. Research, Feedback, and Co-Design

We believe community members should have an active voice in what helps. We conduct surveys, feedback loops, and workshops to learn which strategies people use in daily life, what barriers they face, and how we can adapt our programming.

Practical Strategies to Manage Rumination: What You Can Try

Here are some techniques our community has found helpful, drawn from research and lived experience:

Strategy	What It Looks Like	Why It Helps
Distraction with structure	Engaging in an absorbing hobby, physical activity, or project with clear steps	Shifts attention; gives the brain something concrete; reduces opportunity for loops
Scheduled “worry time”	Setting aside 10–15 minutes a day to check in on concerns, then trying to let them go	Contains rumination so it doesn’t infect the whole day
Mindful awareness of thoughts	Not trying to suppress thoughts, but noticing them and letting them pass	Builds distance and reduces emotional charge
Journaling or expressive art	Writing or creating art to express recurring thoughts or feelings	Helps externalize and see patterns; reduces intensity
Reframing / cognitive restructuring	Asking “Is this thought definitely true?” or “What could be another way to see this?”	Weakens automatic negative thought loops
Sensory regulation & rest	Using breathing, calming sensory input, breaks, and good sleep hygiene	Reduces emotional arousal, which often exacerbates rumination
Peer support & talk	Sharing with someone who understands; hearing how others break out of loops	Reduces sense of isolation; small insights can shift loops

ADHD, Rumination, & Intersectional Challenges

When a person is both autistic and has ADHD (or significant ADHD traits), the challenges of rumination often intensify:

• ADHD traits like mind-wandering, difficulties with sustained attention, and impulsivity can make it harder to redirect away from rumination. The “mental chatter” or distractibility increases the likelihood of anxiety or new worries invading thought loops.

  
  

• Inattention in ADHD is more strongly related to depressive symptoms via rumination than hyperactivity traits. Nature

  
  

• Co-occurring anxiety and depression often go hand in hand, with rumination acting as a mediator. This means that ADHD traits lead to more rumination, which in turn leads to more depression and anxiety.

  
  

• Standard therapeutic approaches sometimes assume attention and processing styles typical of neurotypical individuals. Adaptation, such as more visual or sensory supports, becomes crucial.

  
  

What Research Still Needs to Tell Us (And How Our Community Helps Fill Gaps)

While there is growing research, gaps still exist:

• Longitudinal studies are needed to clarify causality (e.g., which comes first: rumination, depression, anxiety, etc.).

  
  

• More research into which strategies work best for different subgroups (autistic, autistic+ADHD, different sensory profiles, communication styles) is essential.

  
  

• Better measurement tools validated for neurodivergent populations are necessary to avoid bias toward neurotypical ways of thinking or processing.

  
  

• Understanding how rumination interacts with sensory, social, and environmental stressors over daily life is crucial (not just in lab settings).

  
  

At Like Minds, we aim to fill some of these gaps by collecting feedback, encouraging contributions from lived experiences, and partnering with academic researchers. Our community workshops, journaling projects, and peer interviews contribute to both individual well-being and collective understanding.

Key Takeaways & How You Might Begin

• Rumination is common in autistic and ADHD communities, especially during times of uncertainty, change, perceived failure, or sensory overwhelm.

  
  

• It’s not your fault: many cognitive and emotional traits associated with autism and ADHD make rumination more likely. However, there are ways to reduce its frequency, intensity, or duration.

  
  

• You don’t have to go it alone—peer support and community sharing are powerful.

  
  

• Small, consistent strategies, such as journaling, mindfulness, scheduled worry time, and reframing, can have a significant impact over time.

  
  

References & Further Reading

• Williams, Z. J., et al. Investigating the structure of trait rumination in autistic adults (2021). pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

• Cooper, K., et al. Insistence on sameness, repetitive negative thinking and autism (2025). SAGE Journals

• Tamura, T., et al. The role of self-rumination and self-reflection in depressive symptoms among individuals with ADHD traits (2025). Nature

• Kandeğer, A., et al. Excessive mind wandering, rumination, and correlations among ADHD symptoms, anxiety, depression (2024). Wiley Online Library

• Schwartzman, J. M., et al. Neuroticism Drives Associations Between Repetitive Negative Thinking, Autism, and Depression (2022). Frontiers