A new study suggests that self-compassion improves mood, largely by helping us avoid negative rumination.

“I can’t do this right,” says my patient Carla. “I know I’m going to fail. I can never do anything right.” The most innocent wish—to walk in the park, to meet a friend for lunch, to meditate— would trigger this relentlessly harsh inner voice, 24/7.

In our therapy sessions, Carla was ruminating—thinking the same negative worrisome thoughts over and over again.

Rumination usually doesn’t solve what we’re worried about and, in fact, leaves us more vulnerable to staying in a funk, even becoming depressed. Rumination makes our view of events, and our feelings about ourselves, worse.

What is the solution? To read more from LINDA GRAHAM, click here.