rahmatollah mohammadi-fesharaki

Mental rumination is a strong predictor for depression. Depression can damage the marital relationship. Therefore, this study was aimed at investigating the consequences of rumination in women with marital conflicts. This research was carried out qualitatively using thematic analysis method. The sampling method was purposeful and continued until data saturation. The data was obtained from 15 married women who had marital conflicts. To collect data, semi-structured interviews were used. After analyzing the data content, six main categories were obtained, including: symptoms of depression (physical pains, loss of energy, impatience, reduced desire to live, sleep problems and lack of motivation, and lower sexual desires), negative emotions (anger, sadness, hatred, sense of revenge, malice, and anxiety), impulsivity (aggression and lack of control over behavior), lowered efficiency (aggression to children, reduced association with children, and failing to do the household chores), getting caught up in negative association cycles (controversy, criticism, resentment towards spouse), and resentment towards others (reduced communication with others and withdrawal). When the conflict is not resolved, the process of mental rumination is activated in women which leads to consequences such as reduced efficacy in both individual and marital relationships, as well as depression. Depression leads to increased mental rumination and marital conflics.

Aim and Rumination can cause various kinds of damage to which women are more vulnerable. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the factors affecting rumination among women having marital conflicts.
Methods and Materials: This was a qualitative study in which a thematic analysis was carried out. The nonrandom purposive sampling method was used, and the research sample saturated upon selecting 15 women having marital conflicts. The semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect the data.
Findings: After the content analysis, the resultant data included three themes and 14 subthemes. The themes were stressors (sexual problems, financial and occupational issues, unfulfilled expectations, frustration, personality differences, value differences, and familial differences), personal characteristics (neuroticism, lack of communication skills, and low self-confidence), and spousal characteristics (dominance, unaccountability, harsh characteristics, and imperviousness).
According to the findings, stressors trigger rumination. However, when they interfere with spousal characteristics and personal rumination characteristics, marital conflicts will lose solvability and result in rumination. On the one hand, it increases stress. Besides, it increases marital conflicts, and forms this self-sustaining cycle.

Rumination is the predisposing and continuing factor of depression. Since women are prone to rumination, the purpose of this study was to discover the content of rumination thoughts among women with marital conflicts.
This study was conducted on a qualitative method basis, and target society was composed of women with marital conflicts and rumination. The sample was selected from among those referring to Isfahan counseling centers and was statured with 15 persons through purposeful sampling method. Information was collected through semi-structured interviews and data analysis was performed based on thematic analysis.
Five main categories were obtained from data analysis: root cause analysis, feeling incompetence, remembrance of bitter memories, negative emotions, and hesitation in continuation of couple relationship.
The findings indicate that when women with marital conflicts become ruminant, the course of rumination is so that it could harm continuation of their couple relationship. Therefore, to reduce this damage, interventions are required to intervene effectively in this process.