Prof Sam Vaknin
@samvaknin·443K subscribers·2.3K videos
Self-analysis or Rumination? (FREE Seminar in Description)
Posted
February 14, 2026
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4,967
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February 14, 2026
4,967
371
15
7.77%
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5:43Now PlayingFREE seminar: “The Life Cycle of the Narcissist: Relationships with Parents, Intimate Partners, His/her Children: Progression from Self to Objects”. Click on this link for details:
Self-analysis, rumination, and intrusive thoughts (or obsession, in extreme cases) are often erroneously conflated.
Two simple tests to distinguish between them would be:
1. Am I focused on finding solutions (self-analysis) or on revisiting and re-examining problems and debacles from different angles which can have no bearing on my reality now or in the future (rumination)? If the answer is "neither" and you cannot switch off your cognitions, then you are dealing with intrusive thoughts.
2. Are the lessons I am trying to derive relevant to my life anymore (self-analysis) or am I engaged in a theoretical, retrospective, inapplicable exercise (rumination)? If your recurrent unpleasant and unwanted thoughts have nothing to do with learning or with behavior modification, they are obsessive or intrusive ones.
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