Maladaptive perfectionism, depression and rumination

Harris, P. W., Pepper, C. M., & Maack, D. J. (2008). The relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and depressive symptoms: The mediating role of rumination. Personality and Individual Differences,44, 150–160.

Abstract

Maladaptive perfectionism is associated with both rumination and depressive symptoms (Frost, Marten, Lahart, & Rosenblate, 1990). In the current study we tested whether rumination, as well as the rumination components of reflective pondering and brooding, mediates the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and depressive symptoms. College students (N = 96) completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale-Frost (Frost et al., 1990) and retrospectively reported levels of rumination on the Response Styles Questionnaire (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991) and depressive symptoms on the Beck Depression Inventory II (Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996) following a disappointing exam. Consistent with our model, rumination mediated the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and depressive symptoms. Brooding, a component of rumination, also mediated this relationship whereas reflective pondering was a partial mediator. Results support a model whereby students who score high on maladaptive perfectionism report higher depressive symptoms through a mechanism of rumination.

Rumination and distraction

Trask, P. C., & Sigmon, S. T. (1999). Ruminating and distracting: The effects of sequential tasks on depressed mood. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 23, 231-246.

Abstract

Response styles theory (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1987) provided the impetus for recent research efforts investigating the effects of rumination and distraction on depressed mood. This study elaborates on previous research by examining the sequential effects of engaging in ruminating and distracting tasks. Results from two studies indicated that initially engaging in a ruminating task maintained postinduction levels of dysphoric mood, whereas initially engaging in a distracting task reduced levels of dysphoric mood. More important, however, were the effects of task order on mood. When particip ants engaged in a distracting task following a ruminating task, dysphoric mood, which had been maintained with a ruminating task, was reduced to premoodinduction levels. Of equal importance, individuals who ruminated after distracting maintained their current mood and did not report an increase in depressed mood. In the second study, engaging in sequential rumination tasks further prolonged depressed mood, whereas engaging in sequential distraction tasks reduced depressed mood. The results suggest that, although engaging in a rumination task maintains depressed mood and engaging in a distraction task reduces it, the order in which these tasks are performed is also important. The implications of these results for response styles theory are discussed.

Rumination, adolescents and depression

Kuyken, W., Watkins, E., Holden,E., & Cook, W. (2006). Rumination in adolescents at risk for depression. Journal of Affective Disorders, 96, 39-47.

Abstract

Background: Identifying high-risk adolescents and understanding first onset of depression in adolescence are important steps in reducing depression morbidity. There is compelling evidence that the personality dimension neuroticism is a risk factor for depression, but the vulnerability mechanism is not yet understood. This study examined the association between a hypothesized psychological vulnerability factor (rumination) and depression in adolescents.
Methods: A behavioural high-risk design differentiated a sample of 326 adolescents (aged 14–18) as either at normal or high risk for depression (operationalized as scores on a measure of neuroticism).
Results: Adolescents at risk for depression reported more rumination than adolescents not at risk. We hypothesized that the well established relationship between neuroticism and depression would be mediated by rumination in cross-sectional analyses, and our findings suggest that rumination partially mediated this relationship.
Conclusions: The findings tentatively suggest that neuroticism acts as a risk factor for adolescent onset depression through increased tendency towards brooding rumination (i.e. moody self-evaluative dwelling) in response to depressed mood. Prospective and experimental research examining this mechanism is required.

Worry versus rumination

Hong, R. Y. (2007). Worry and rumination: Differential associations with anxious and depressive symptoms and coping behavior. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45, 277–290.

Abstract

Worry and rumination are closely allied cognitive processes that impact on the experience of anxious and depressive symptoms. Using a prospective design, this study examined overlapping and distinct features of worry and rumination in relation to symptoms and coping behavior in a nonclinical sample of Singaporean college students. Worry and rumination were highly correlated, but they retained distinct components that predicted anxious and depressive symptoms differentially within and across time. Specifically, worry was uniquely associated with anxious and depressive symptoms whereas rumination was uniquely related to depression. In comparison to rumination, worry emerged as the dominant cognitive vulnerability factor that predicted increments in symptoms over time. With regards to coping behavior, low perceived coping effectiveness partially mediated the relation between worry and increases in anxiety and depression. Conversely, rumination uniquely predicted higher disengagement from problems, which resulted in further exacerbation of depressive mood. These results demonstrated not only the distinct features of worry and rumination on coping behavior, but also the different coping pathways by which they differentially impact on subsequent symptoms.

Rumination in affective outcomes in chronic illness

Soo, H., Burney, S., & Basten, C,. (2009). The role of rumination in affective distress in people with a chronic physical illness: A review of the literature and theoretical formulation. Journal of Health Psychology, 14, 956 - 966.

Abstract

The role of maladaptive cognitive content among individuals with chronic physical illness has been acknowledged in cognitive models. Rumination has been documented as a key predictor of depression, and to a lesser extent of anxiety, in non-clinical samples. This paper provides a preliminary discussion of the potential role of rumination as a causal and maintaining factor for emotional distress in the setting of chronic physical illness. Although a number of methodological limitations exist, the current research on rumination may provide a useful framework for the extension of existing cognitive models in chronic illness.

A roadmap to rumination

Smith, J. M., & Alloy, L. B. (2009). A roadmap to rumination: A review of the definition, assessment, and conceptualization of this multifaceted construct. Clinical Psychology Review, 29, 116–128.

Abstract

Rumination has been widely studied and is a crucial component in the study of cognitive vulnerabilities to depression. However, rumination means different things in the context of different theories, and has not been uniformly defined or measured. This article aims to review models of rumination, as well as the various ways in which it is assessed. The models are compared and contrasted with respect to several important dimensions of rumination. Guidelines to consider in the selection of a model and measure of rumination are presented, and suggestions for the conceptualization of rumination are offered. In addition, rumination's relation to other similar constructs is evaluated. Finally, future directions for the study of ruminative phenomena are presented. It is hoped that this article will be a useful guide to those interested in studying the multifaceted construct of rumination.

Rumination in emotional regulation

Aldao, A., Nolen-Hoeksema, S., & Schweizer, S. (2010). Emotion-regulation strategies across psychopathology: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 30, 217–237.

Abstract

We examined the relationships between six emotion-regulation strategies (acceptance, avoidance, problem solving, reappraisal, rumination, and suppression) and symptoms of four psychopathologies (anxiety, depression, eating, and substance-related disorders). We combined 241 effect sizes from 114 studies that examined the relationships between dispositional emotion regulation and psychopathology. We focused on dispositional emotion regulation in order to assess patterns of responding to emotion over time. First, we examined the relationship between each regulatory strategy and psychopathology across the four disorders. We found a large effect size for rumination, medium to large for avoidance, problem solving, and suppression, and small to medium for reappraisal and acceptance. These results are surprising, given the prominence of reappraisal and acceptance in treatment models, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy and acceptance-based treatments, respectively. Second, we examined the relationship between each regulatory strategy and each of the four psychopathology groups. We found that internalizing disorders were more consistently associated with regulatory strategies than externalizing disorders. Lastly, many of our analyses showed that whether the sample came from a clinical or normative population significantly moderated the relationships. This finding underscores the importance of adopting a multi-sample approach to the study of psychopathology.

Rumination psychometrics

Armey, M. F., Fresco, D. M., Moore, M. T., Mennin, D. S., Turk, C. L., Heimberg, R. G., Kecmanovic, J., & Alloy, L. B. (2009). Brooding and pondering: Isolating the active ingredients of depressive rumination with exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Assessment, 16, 315-327.

Abstract

Depressive rumination, as assessed by Nolen-Hoeksema's Response Styles Questionnaire (RSQ), predicts the onset, chronicity, and duration of depressed mood. However, some RSQ items contain depressive content and result in a heterogeneous factor structure. After the a priori elimination of items potentially confounded with depressed item content, Treynor, Gonzalez, and Nolen-Hoeksema identified two factors within the remaining RSQ rumination sub-scale that were differentially related to depression: brooding and pondering. However, Treynor et al. used a nonstandard form and administration of the RSQ. The present study sought to address these methodological idiosyncrasies and replicate the factor structure of Treynor et al. through exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Findings support the brooding and pondering solution and demonstrate that brooding relates more strongly to depression and anxiety than does pondering.

Rumination, Negative Cognition, Depressed Mood

Rumination, negative cognition and their interactive effects on depressed mood.

Ciesla, J. A., & Roberts, J. E. (2007). Rumination, negative cognition and their interactive effects on depressed mood. Emotion, 7, 555-565.

Abstract

Response styles theory posits that rumination represents a trait vulnerability to depression. Recent evidence has suggested that rumination predicts changes in depression more strongly among individuals with high levels of negative cognition. Three studies evaluated this model of interactive vulnerabilities. Study 1 provided empirical support for the distinction between rumination and negative cognitive content. The next 2 studies investigated the interactive model in the laboratory. Study 2 randomly assigned participants to either ruminate or distract following a sad mood induction. This study found that rumination was more strongly associated with dysphoria among individuals who report high levels of negative cognition. Similarly, Study 3 found that rumination and negative cognition interact to predict changes in dysphoria across a no-task delay period following a sad mood induction. These studies provide support for an interactive model in which rumination amplifies the deleterious effects of negative cognition.

A copy of the full article can be found here.

Chewing the cud and other ruminations

While rumination is often seen as goal-orientated and instrumental, Susan Nolen-Hoeksema discusses rumination as a maladaptive process, differentiating it from the problem-solving process proposed by others such as Martin and Tesser.

Key elements include:

Rumination versus problem-solving
Rumination and mood
Rumination and current theories

Martin, L. L., & Tesser, A. (1996). Some ruminative thoughts. In R. S. Wyer (Ed.) Advances in social cognition (Vol. IX) (pp. 3-47). USA: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Preview available here.

Rumination Reconsidered

Re-visiting the Ruminative Response Styles Questionnaire.

Treynor, W., Gonzalez. R., Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2003). Rumination reconsidered: A psychometric analysis. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 27, 247–259. Link to full article here.

Abstract

In an attempt to eliminate similar item content as an alternative explanation for the relation between depression and rumination, a secondary analysis was conducted using the data from S. Nolen-Hoeksema, J. Larson, and C. Grayson (1999). After constructing a measure of rumination unconfounded with depression content, support for a two factor model of rumination was found. These analyses indicate that the 2 components, reflective pondering and brooding, differentially relate to depression in terms of predictive ability and gender difference mediation. The results presented here support the general premise of Nolen-Hoeksema’s Response Styles Theory (S. Nolen-Hoeksema 1987) that rumination can contribute to more depressive symptoms and to the gender difference in depression, but suggest important refinements of the theory. Such refinements include the need to differentiate between the reflective pondering component of rumination and the brooding component in rumination research.

Depression's Evolutionary Roots

An article by Paul W. Andrews and J. Anderson Thomson Jr. in the current (Jan 2010) edition of Scientific American Mind suggesting rumination as beneficial in ending depressive episodes.
Key concepts

The brain’s ability to enter a depressed state has been preserved throughout evolution, suggesting that depression is an adaptation.

Depression promotes focused rumination about problems. People in this state of mind are better at solving complex social dilemmas.

Effective therapies encourage patients to engage in rumination, allowing them to find solutions to their problems and end their depressive episode.

Unfortunately PPV if you can't access it otherwise but you can read a preview here.

Flies in the face of some pretty substantial work suggesting otherwise. Thoughts anyone?