Reduced concreteness of rumination in depression: A pilot study

2004

Consider the following questions: What is rumination? How does rumination overlap with, and differ from, other cognitive processes and products? What is the role of rumination in depression? What factors are responsible for initiating and maintaining rumination, and how is rumination linked to depression? In this chapter, we address each of these questions by exploring the phenomenology of depressive rumination. The chapter begins by examining definitions of rumination. The second section reviews studies comparing depressive rumination with other forms of repetitive negative thinking. The next section considers the functions of rumination in depression. The final section explores the relationships between rumination, depression, and metacognitive beliefs.

Evolution and Human Behavior, 2018

Rumination is a symptom of depression that refers to intense, distraction-resistant thinking. Although rumination is widely considered maladaptive, the analytical rumination hypothesis (ARH) proposes that rumination is an adaptive cognitive process where depression first promotes rumination on the causes of problems ("causal analysis"), which in turn promotes rumination on solving problems ("problem-solving analysis"). Effective problem-solving then feeds back to reduce depressive symptoms. To test this cyclical model, a scale with both problem-solving and causal analysis components is required. There are two candidates: (1) the widely used Ruminative Responses Scale (RRS); and (2) the Analytical Rumination Questionnaire (ARQ)-a new scale based on the ARH. These instruments were administered to five samples (Total N = 1414) from two different cultures (Canada, Czech Republic) with different clinical statuses (nonclinical, hospitalized). Latent factor analysis of the ARQ supported the existence of both causal analysis and problem-solving analysis factors, making it suitable for testing ARH predictions. Using the ARQ, we found consistent support for the predicted covariance pattern between depression, causal analysis, and problem-solving analysis. However, we found no evidence that either of the RRS factors were related to problem-solving. Moreover, we were systematically unable to detect the predicted covariance pattern between depression and the RRS factors. We conclude that the ability to detect functional relationships between depression and rumination requires the researcher to consider both function (a correct hypothesis for how rumination and depression are adaptively related to each other) and form (valid measures of those constructs). Understanding rumination as a two-stage problem-solving process may help explain why most depressive episodes eventually resolve without treatment.

Cognitive Therapy and …, 2000

Worry and depressive rumination have both been described as unproductive, repetitive thought which contributes to anxiety or depression, respectively. It was hypothesized that repetitive thought, rather than its specific forms, is a general concomitant of negative mood. Study 1 was a cross-sectional test of the hypothesis. Repetitive thought was positively correlated with anxiety and depression in students (n ϭ 110). In patients (n ϭ 40), repetitive thought was positively correlated with anxiety and depression, and rumination was also specifically correlated with depression. Study 2 was a prospective test of the hypothesis. In students (n ϭ 90), there were significant crosssectional relationships between repetitive thought and both anxiety and depression. In addition, repetitive thought at least partially predicted maintenance of anxious symptoms. Phenomena such as goal interruption, failures of emotional processing, and information processing may lead to repetitive thought which increases negative mood states, including both anxiety and depression.

Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 2008

according to the response styles theory , rumination contributes to both the development and maintenance of depressive symptoms. in this study, we examined the vulnerability and maintenance hypotheses in a multi-wave prospective study of young adults with levels of negative events and depressive symptoms assessed every week for 7 weeks. We found no support for the vulnerability hypothesis. Specifically, levels of rumination (brooding or reflective rumination) did not moderate the link between weekly negative events and weekly changes in depressive symptoms. in contrast, we did find support for the maintenance hypothesis. Specifically, levels of brooding and reflective rumination were related to elevated depressive symptom levels across the follow-up. Consistent with previous research, the magnitude of the effect for brooding was stronger than that for reflective rumination.

Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 2000

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 2009

Rumination has been identified as ac ore process in the development and maintenance of depression. Treatments targeting ruminative processes may, therefore, be particularly helpful for treating chronic and recurrent depression. The development of such treatments requires translational research that marries clinical trials, process -outcome research, and basic experimental research that investigates the mechanisms underpinning pathological rumination. For example, ap rogram of experimental research has demonstrated that there are distinct processing modes during rumination that have distinct functional effects for the consequences of rumination on ar ange of clinically relevant cognitive and emotional processes: an adaptive style characterized by more concrete, specific processing and am aladaptive style characterized by abstract, overgeneral processing. Based on this experimental work, two new treatments for depression have been developed and evaluated: (a) rumination-focused cognitive therapy, an individual-based face-to-face therapy, which has encouraging results in the treatment of residual depression in an extended case series and ap ilot randomized controlled trial; and (b) concreteness training, af acilitated self-help intervention intended to increase specificity of processing in patients with depression, which has beneficial findings in ap roof-of-principle study in ad ysphoric population. These findings indicate the potential value of process-outcome research( a) explicitly targetingi dentified vulnerability processesa nd (b) developing interventions informed by research into basic mechanisms.

Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 2014

Rumination has been robustly implicated in the onset and maintenance of depression. However, despite empirically well-supported theories of the consequences of trait rumination (response styles theory; , and of the processes underlying state episodes of goal-oriented repetitive thought (control theory;, the relationship between these theories remains unresolved. Further, less theoretical and clinical attention has been paid to the maintenance and treatment of trait depressive rumination. We propose that conceptualizing rumination as a mental habit helps to address these issues. Elaborating on this account, we propose a framework linking the response styles and control theories via a theoretical approach to the relationship between habits and goals . In this model, with repetition in the same context, episodes of self-focused repetitive thought triggered by goal discrepancies can become habitual, through a process of automatic association between the behavioral response (i.e., repetitive thinking) and any context that occurs repeatedly with performance of the behavior (e.g., physical location, mood), and in which the repetitive thought is contingent on the stimulus context. When the contingent response involves a passive focus on negative content and abstract construal, the habit of depressive rumination is acquired. Such habitual rumination is cued by context independent of goals and is resistant to change. This habit framework has clear treatment implications and generates novel testable predictions.

Emotion, 2001

Cognitive Therapy and Research, 2007

Page 1. Cognitive Therapy and Research, Vol. 30, No. 3, June 2007 ( C 2006) DOI: 10.1007/s10608-006-9004-2 Rumination and Excessive Reassurance-Seeking in Depression: A Cognitive–Interpersonal Integration Lauren ...

Personality and Individual Differences, 2005

reported that positive beliefs about rumination were elevated in depressed patients, using the Positive Beliefs about Rumination Scale (PBRS). However, this study had a relatively small sample and there is a possibility that there were confounds within this measure between the severity of depressed mood and endorsement of beliefs. This study attempted to replicate these findings within a larger sample, and to extend these findings to recovered depressed patients, who are known to demonstrate elevated rumination. Furthermore, a version of the PBRS adapted to reduce confounds with mood state and valence was also used. Consistent with predictions, both currently depressed and recovered depressed patients had elevated scores on both the original and adapted PBRS compared to neverdepressed controls. The present findings confirm that positive beliefs about rumination are genuinely associated with elevated levels of rumination in depression-prone groups and indicated that previous similar positive findings were not the result of methodological confounds such as criteria contamination in the PBRS or small sample size.