Rumination, Cognitive Flexibility, and Emotion Regulation in Women Survivors of Domestic Violence: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Psychological recovery following domestic violence (DV) involves cognitive and emotional processes that may influence how survivors process traumatic experiences, adapt their thinking, and respond to associated distress. Rumination, cognitive flexibility, and emotion regulation represent distinct but complementary aspects of these processes and have each been studied in relation to DV and its psychological consequences. However, research on these constructs has largely developed in parallel, limiting understanding of their potential interrelationships. Thus, the current narrative review attempts to synthesize the existing literature on rumination, cognitive flexibility, and emotion regulation among women survivors of DV, with particular attention to their predictors and correlates and the available evidence from India. Narrative literature review was employed as the methodology, and 27 peer-reviewed articles published between 2007 and 2026 were analyzed based on keyword searches conducted using PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar. The reviewed studies indicated that rumination was associated with psychological distress and factors such as event centrality, self-blame, and cognitive schemas. Cognitive flexibility was reported to be lower among women exposed to intimate partner violence, with some studies linking it to psychological stress and abuse-related brain injury. Emotion-regulation difficulties were associated with PTSD, depression, disordered eating, and complex PTSD, with some studies reporting mediation effects. Preliminary Indian evidence indicated improvements in emotion regulation following a tailored intervention. However, no identified study examined all three constructs concurrently, and no DV-specific Indian study examining cognitive flexibility was identified. The review highlights the need for longitudinal and multimethod research to examine the potential interrelationships among these cognitive and emotional processes in women survivors of DV.