Understanding depressive rumination from a mood-as-input perspective: Effects of stop-rule manipulation

• Published in: Behaviour research and therapy Vol. 51; no. 6; pp. 300 - 306
• Main Authors: Chan, Jason C.S., Davey, Graham C.L., Brewin, Chris R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.06.2013; Elsevier; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Affect - physiology; Aged; Attention - physiology; Belief & doubt; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; Cognition & reasoning; Depression; Depressive Disorder, Major - psychology; Diagnosis; Emotions; Female; Humans; Male; Medical diagnosis; Medical sciences; Mental depression; Mental health care; Metacognition; Middle Aged; Mood; Mood disorders; Moods; Perseveration; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Rumination; Self Report; Thinking - physiology; Young Adult; Depression; Perseveration; Mood; Rumination; Metacognition; Mood disorder; Human; Affect affectivity; Cognition; Rule; Comprehension
• ISSN: 0005-7967; 1873-622X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2013.02.007

The current study tested the mood-as-input hypothesis account of perseverative rumination in 25 participants with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder and 25 healthy controls. It also examined the factors underlying mood changes within a bout of rumination and their relations with trait rumination and metacognitive beliefs about rumination. A structured rumination interview was used to facilitate participants' reflection on two previous depressive incidents while deploying a specific stop-rule for the task (either a goal-guided or feeling-guided stop-rule). As predicted by the mood-as-input hypothesis, perseveration exhibited by depressed participants was affected by the interaction between diagnosis and stop-rule, with levels of perseveration being greatest when depressed participants used the goal-guided stop-rule. Increases in negative mood over the rumination interview were shown to be influenced only by participants' diagnostic status, regardless of their stop-rule. Compared to healthy controls, depressed participants also reported a preferential use of the goal-guided stop-rule in response to negative mood states in their daily lives. The findings about the dependence of rumination on stop-rule use within the depressed sample support the use of metacognitive treatment approaches in which patients are encouraged to challenge negative beliefs about the controllability of rumination. ► We tested how long depressed and healthy participants ruminate with different stop-rules. ► There were no group differences when participants used a feeling-guided stop-rule. ► The depressed only ruminated longer when using a goal-guided stop-rule. ► The depressed described a general preference for a goal-guided stop-rule. ► Manipulation of stop-rules may be an effective element of metacognitive therapy.