Rumination and self-defining memories in the context of health concerns

Abstract

Individuals with health anxiety report experiencing a strong sense of vulnerability to illness. Such beliefs may be driven by the biased recollection of past illness-related events. However, little research has explored the role of memory in health anxiety. In other disorders, rumination has also been identified as a process that leads individuals to recall memories dominated by the content of their concerns. This study examined the proposition that rumination might impact the content of "self-defining" autobiographical memories among 60 college students with varying health anxiety (35% with clinical-level health anxiety). Participants were randomised to experiential/ruminative self-focus conditions, and then they completed the Self-Defining Memory Task. Responses were coded for valence and illness-relatedness. Results indicated that rumination led participants to retrieve more illness-related self-defining memories, while higher health anxiety scores were associated with more negative, but not more illness-focused memories. Ruminative thinking appears to activate health concerns, and may play a role in maintaining ongoing health anxiety.

Phenomenological variables of autobiographical memory narratives associated with healthy habits in children

“…Blagov and Singer (2004) found a connection between the psychological well-being or social adjustment of individuals with the affect they show in their narratives. Continuing with particular aspects of SDMs, Moffitt and Singer (1994) found people whose SDMs are developed around their attainments showed more positive affect about these memories Regarding the association between SDMs and aspects of health, higher health anxiety levels have been associated with the retrieval of SDMs that were particularly negative (Sansom-Daly et al, 2016). The authors suggested that participants with high levels of health anxiety attributed greater value to negative beliefs about themselves and about illness/death, in line with previous results of Wells and Hackmann (1993).…”

“…Mood has also been connected to the memory affectivity (Boyano & Mora, 2015). In previous studies, variables of the SDMs have been linked to well-being or health, (e. g.: Blagov & Singer, 2004;Lardi et al, 2010;Sansom-Daly et al, 2016). For example, higher psychological well-being has been related to narrative memories narrated more related to achievements, which are central to SDMs.…”

Self‐defining memories—Narrative features in relation to adaptive and maladaptive personality traits (replication and extension of Blagov & Singer, 2004)

“…Traits likely influence SDM affect indirectly, by biasing mood and cognitive‐affective processes. Internalizing psychopathology (Sanson‐Daly et al., 2015) and attachment insecurity (Sutin & Gillath, 2009) may promote negative affect in SDMs and, perhaps, reduce their positive affect. Emotional avoidance may limit the use of positive memories to repair mood (Vanderlind et al., 2017).…”

Autobiographical Memory and Episodic Future Thinking in Severe Health Anxiety: A Comparison with Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder

“…2014) found that student's level of health anxiety symptoms was associated with the number of illness-related episodic future thoughts reported, but not with the number of illnessrelated autobiographical memories reported. Sansom-Daly et al (2016) examined self-defining memories and found that students with high scores of health anxiety did not identify more illnessrelated self-defining memories than students with low scores, but higher levels of health anxiety symptoms were associated with reporting more negative self-defining memories.…”