The Precipitating and Maintaining Factors of Depressive Rumination: Investigating the Effect of Depression Symptomatology on Mental Control of Depressive Rumination
Date Issued
2011
Date
2011
Author(s)
Yu, Sheng-Hsiang
Abstract
Literatures indicate that depressive rumination is a maladaptive coping strategy. It not only intensifies depression but also impairs one’s cognitive function. However, it is still unclear why some depressed individuals still keep ruminating in spite of its negative consequences. In order to investigate this issue, the precipitating factors and maintaining factors of depressive rumination were examined in this study. In terms of precipitating factors of depressive rumination, depressive or negative emotions, stressful situations, and lack of social interaction may be the possible candidates. In terms of maintaining factors, the mental control of one’s ruminative thoughts may be the possible mechanism for depressed individuals to have difficulty in stopping rumination. Accordingly, the aims of the present study are (1) to examine the situational characteristics in real life in order to investigate the precipitating factors of depressive rumination, (2) to investigate how depression symptoms affect one’s mental control process of rumination in order to verify the maintaining factors of rumination, and (3) to re-examine the relationships between different forms of rumination and depression.
The participants of the present study included 30 depressed outpatients and 30 never depressed healthy adults. To adequately assess the temporal variation of rumination, the experience sampling method (ESM) was adopted. Data collection was proceeded as follows. Firstly, general level of intelligence and current diagnostic status of the participants were evaluated. They were also asked to complete the measurement of mood status, response style, cognitive inhibitory function, and severity of depression symptoms. Secondly, in ESM stage, participants were provided a mobile phone on which they were asked to make responses to the measures of mood, rumination, and the mental control strategy of rumination five times per day for ten days. Finally, participants were asked to complete the measurement of mood status and severity of depression symptoms again.
Results reveal that: (1) depressed emotion and lack of social interaction predicted rumination in real life; (2) brooding significantly predicted depressed emotion and depression symptom; (3) the cognitive inhibitory function of the depressed outpatient group was significantly lower than that of the healthy group; (4) depression symptom severity was associated with the pattern of mental control strategies toward rumination. Individuals with more severe depression symptoms tended to adopt more thought suppression and less cognitive reappraisal to control their rumination; (5) thought suppression predicted the maintenance of rumination, and the effect was moderated by cognitive inhibitory function.
The findings of this study support that both depressed emotion and lack of social interaction can precipitate rumination in real life, but stress does not play a precipitating role in rumination. Once rumination occurs, the strategy one uses to control it could affect its maintainence. Thought suppression could predict the maintenance of rumination positively, but cognitive reappraisal predicts the maintenance negatively. Moreover, cognitive inhibitory function could moderate the relationship between thought suppression and rumination maintenance. In sum, this dissertation discusses how depression symptomatology affects rumination, mental control process, and inhibitory function. A vicious cycle among depression, rumination, and thought suppression is suggested to explain the relationships of the above-mentioned variables. Finally, clinical implications and directions of future research are suggested.
Subjects
experience sampling
rumination
thought suppression
depression
Type
thesis
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