ABSTRACT
Rumination and the avoidance of direct experience while on automatic pilot are interconnected factors for triggering depressive relapse. The ruminative thinking process labels unwanted emotions as problems, endeavouring to get rid of them. Its lack of success triggers and maintains a downward spiral. The chapter explains experiential avoidance of difficult material adds further layers of struggle and tension and creates reservoirs of unprocessed material. It also discusses because the mind is engaged in thinking and there is an urge to avoid experience, awareness of present-moment sensory experiencing is fragmented or absent - processing of experience is happening on autopilot. Experiencing becomes narrowed and our view constricted. Experiential avoidance is the phenomenon that occurs when a person is unwilling to remain in contact with particular private experiences, and develops strategies aimed at escaping from or modifying their frequency.
