Rumination in Clinical Depression: A Type of Emotional Suppression?

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between rumination and the use of other emotion-regulation strategies in a depressed sample. Sixty outpatients diagnosed with unipolar depression completed questionnaires and participated in a sad mood induction. The mood induction was used to investigate the relationship between the use of rumination and each of two theoretically relevant emotionregulation strategies-suppression and acceptance. Findings demonstrated that rumination was positively associated with other types of suppression and negatively related to acceptance. Results offer tentative support for the conceptualization of rumination as a maladaptive, cognitive emotion-regulation strategy utilized by depressed individuals in an attempt to suppress their experience of negative emotion. Findings also suggest a potential mechanism of action for efficacious mindfulness and acceptance-based treatments for depression.

Mindfulness and acceptance in relation to Behavioral Inhibition System sensitivity and psychological distress

“…Findings support that acceptance may diminish use of maladaptive ER associated with depression, including rumination (Liverant, Kamholz, Sloan, & Brown, 2011). Rumination, which is associated with experiential avoidance (conceptually the opposite of acceptance), is the focus on negative emotions and the avoidance of events resulting in compounded emotional distress (e.g., Cribb, Moulds, & Carter, 2006).…”

“…Rumination, which is associated with experiential avoidance (conceptually the opposite of acceptance), is the focus on negative emotions and the avoidance of events resulting in compounded emotional distress (e.g., Cribb, Moulds, & Carter, 2006). Rumination is also related to BIS sensitivity (Keune, Bostanov, Kotchoubey, & Hautzinger, 2012) and decreased acceptance (Liverant et al, 2011). According to the current model, unregulated BIS sensitivity may increase depression symptoms through the inflated evaluation of negative emotion as threatening or overly negative.…”

Rumination following bereavement: an overview

“…In the years to follow, survey studies in non-bereaved samples clearly supported a link between rumination on the one hand and cognitive avoidance (e.g., thought suppression) and emotional avoidance on the other hand (e.g., Dickson, Ciesla & Reily, 2012;Liverant, Kamholz, Sloan & Brown, 2011;Giorgio et al, 2010;Moulds, Kandris, Starr & Wong, 2007; Cribb, Moulds & Carter, 2006;Wenzlaff & Luxton, 2003). There was also one study that demonstrated that widows who ruminate more also show a stronger tendency to engage in experiential avoidance (i.e., avoidance of internal experiences such as emotions, bodily sensations, thoughts, and memories) (Morina, 2011).…”

Self‐evaluative and emotion processes linked with brooding rumination among adolescents

“…Rumination has been conceptualized both as a maladaptive emotion regulation strategy (e.g., an attempt to gain insight into one’s dysphoric mood, yet void of active problem solving) (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2004) and as a meta-cognitive process (Liverant, Kamholz, Sloan, & Brown, 2011), with a focus on the process more than the content of repetitive thinking. In addition to exploring the underpinnings of this repetitive form of thinking among adolescents, the current study examines mechanisms by which brooding rumination develops.…”

“…Suppression theory (Wegner, 1989) proposes rumination stems from efforts to suppress one’s unwanted thoughts and has been supported empirically through the white bear studies in which undergraduates and adults who actively attempt to suppress thoughts report more preoccupation about those thoughts (Liverant et al, 2011; Roemer & Borkovec, 1994). These studies support a conceptualization of brooding as an attempt at emotional (Borkovec & Lyonfields, 1993) and experiential (Hayes, Wilson, Gifford, Follette, & Strosahl, 1996) avoidance.…”