Apparently you're supposed to distract yourself from negative emotions and ruminate on positive emotions. Not very useful if you don't have any positive emotions to ruminate on.
I constantly ruminate on the times my family went to Disneyland when I was growing up. It just makes me sad that it was so long ago and likely won't be the same if I go now :(
Interesting result. The truth is nobody knows where their motivation comes from and it's why telling someone to 'cheer up' is well understood to be ineffective. The minimum requirement is a desire to change and that must come from within, motivated by some mysterious and inscrutable process. We can tell ourselves that eating vegetables is the right thing to do but why would I choose them over that delicious piece of cake? First I need to get cancer and the diabeetus, then I will become enlightened.
I should also add that realising that I am not the author of my thoughts and not in control of my motivation and that I don't have free will in the way I originally conceived it, has been a great consolation. I remind myself of these axioms every day because somehow they get lost in the clamour of daily life. My happiness depends on it.
Yeah they didn't particularly explain anything or present much of the data from the paper the article was written about.
They posed several questions that may be helpful for depressed people but my tldr for the article was people with major depression disorder may be subject to some kind of suvivorship bias for bad memories vs good ones.
Basically depressed people may be less likely to notice/appreciate the good times and more likely to ruminate/get stuck on the bad times creating a viscious cycle
Possibly because they overuse distraction as a coping mechanism leading to them being more distracted during good times