Worry and rumination.

Abstract

Maria, a 28-year-old Latina American woman, presents with somatic symptoms of anxiety (e.g., muscle tension, headaches, gastrointestinal disturbance) and intermittent depression. Despite her initial emphasis on somatic concerns, assessment reveals diffuse distress about many domains. Specifically, she reports perseverative thoughts about whether her part-time online business will fail. Maria also spends hours worrying about the adequacy of education for her two elementary school-age children and her own competence as a parent, given her own developmental history of neglect. Moreover, she routinely questions her balance of work and parenting. In her marriage, she ruminates about whether she had found the right husband, given their personality differences. At her worst, she feels unable to stop thinking about such issues, wondering if it makes her physically ill. Maria's chronic preoccupation with these domains feeds symptoms of anxiety and irritability, occasional panic attacks, shame, and at times, suicidal ideation. She copes with negative emotions by alternating between avoiding direct problem-solving (e.g., completing taxes for her business, seeking help) and perfectionistic overcommitment. Expecting that others would not support her, she chronically takes care of others' needs but avoids disclosing her needs to her husband or friends. This leads to resentment punctuated by occasional angry complaints-followed by apologetic, passive behavior. Although Maria possesses the important strengths of resilience and determination, she reports a recurring sense of a life spinning out of control. 1 1 All clinical case material has been altered to protect patient confidentiality.

Perfectionism, Academic Stress, Rumination and Worry: A Predictive Model for Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms in University Students From Colombia

“…Avoidance is used to suppress emotional discomfort, but instead, it increases and maintains negative emotionality (Borkovec et al, 2004). In this regard, evidence is contradictory with some studies pointing out the association between worry and anxiety and depressive symptoms (Erickson et al, 2020;Skodzik et al, 2016), and other studies indicating no significant associations between these variables (Pimentel & Cova, 2011). Contradictory findings suggest that not all persons exhibiting worry are anxious or depressed.…”

“…It was found that worry and rumination have a direct and positive effect on both anxiety and depressive symptoms. Later studies have also provided evidence about the contribution of worry on affective symptoms (Erickson et al, 2020; Muris et al, 2004; Skodzik et al, 2016), as well as for the contribution of rumination on these symptoms (Pimentel & Cova, 2011; Drost et al, 2014; McLaughlin & Nolen-Hoeksema, 2011; Yilmaz, 2015). However, we did not find studies exploring the mediating role of repetitive negative thoughts.…”

Gender differences in sleep quality among Iranian traditional and industrial drug users

“…One of these factors may be attributed, in part, to their proclivity for engaging in dysfunctional cognitive processes, specifically heightened levels of rumination and worry, relative to men ( Nolen-Hoeksema and Aldao, 2011 ; Jose and Brown, 2007 ). Rumination and worry play an essential role in a wide range of people in society ( Erickson et al, 2020 ), including people with sleep disorders ( Olatunji et al, 2023 ), people with other mental disorders ( Takano et al, 2012 ) and healthy people ( Tang et al, 2023 ). For example, Harvey's cognitive model of insomnia postulates that excessive worry about sleep and the consequences of poor quality sleep causes spontaneous arousal, emotional distress, and excessive monitoring of thoughts that threaten sleep quality in women (eg, insufficient sleep indicators or poor daytime functioning), which ultimately lead to actual sleep loss.…”

Initial psychometric evaluation of the Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire in Peruvian undergraduates

“…RNT is characterised by the predominance of verbal processing (as opposed to imagery), negative affective valence, and abstractness (as opposed to concreteness) (Ehring & Watkins, 2008;Watkins, 2008). This thinking style hence promotes and prolongs states of discomfort, while also impairing problem-solving and interpersonal relations (Erickson et al, 2020).…”

“…Traditionally, RNT has been studied as different, diagnosis-specific constructs (Erickson et al, 2020). For example, in relation to depressive disorders, RNT has been mostly studied as rumination, which is characterised by thinking repetitively and passively about the symptoms of distress, as well as the possible causes and consequences of such symptoms (Nolen-Hoeksema et al, 2008).…”