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hyporational comments on How habits work and how you may control them - Less Wrong
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The anticipated reward for ruminating might be the feeling of closure you'd get from finding a clear, simple solution to whatever problem you're ruminating about. So it's not a separate habit in itself but a misapplication of analytical, 'perfectionist' problem solving to problems with high uncertainty. I think that was it for me. I also had this idea shoved into my head while growing up, that real life is harsh and unpleasant and being an adult is all about facing the harsh unpleasantness. As a result, ruminating felt somewhat virtuous.
I second the idea about closure. Closure feels good. The problem is finding closure can take any time from hours to days for me. The "solution" is usually completely irrational.
I partially solved the problem by replacing the habit with physical exercise. Unfortunately light exercise won't do the trick, it has to be strenuous and last atleast for an hour.
Sometimes it seems I manage to simply suppress the habit, but maybe there are other replacement habits I'm not aware of.