Perseverative cognition

Imagine you are playing with your toys and suddenly something distracts you, like a loud noise outside. But instead of getting back to playing, you keep thinking about that noise over and over again. That’s what perseverative cognition is: when our brains get stuck on something and can’t stop thinking about it.

For grown-ups, perseverative cognition can happen when we keep worrying about something that has already happened or when we keep dwelling on negative thoughts. It’s kind of like when you had a bad dream and can’t stop thinking about it even though it’s not real.

Perseverative cognition can make us feel sad, worried, or stressed. It’s important to try to break the cycle of negative thoughts and focus on things that make us happy, like spending time with friends or doing something fun. Just like how you can switch to playing with some other toy if one stops being fun, we can switch our thoughts to happier things to train our brain away from perseverative cognition.