Recently, cross-sectional research has demonstrated that depressive rumination is significantly associated with the tendency to engage in cognitive and behavioral avoidance. This evidence suggests that rumination may be the result of attempts to avoid personally threatening thoughts, in a manner suggested by multiple contemporary theories of worry. This investigation examined the temporal relationship among daily levels of cognitive avoidance, behavioral avoidance, rumination, worry, and negative affect. Seventy-eight adolescents completed baseline questionnaires and then electronically completed daily measures of rumination, worry, behavioral avoidance, and cognitive avoidance, as well as sad and anxious affect for 7 days. Lagged-effect multilevel models indicated that increases in daily sadness were predicted by greater daily rumination and cognitive avoidance. Increases in daily anxiety were predicted by greater daily rumination, worry, and both cognitive and behavioral avoidance. Further, both daily rumination and worry were positively predicted by daily cognitive, but not behavioral, avoidance. Mediation analyses suggested that rumination mediated the effect of cognitive avoidance on both sadness and anxiety. Also, worry mediated the effect of cognitive avoidance on anxiety. Implications for models of avoidance, rumination, and worry are discussed.
Increasing research effort is being dedicated to investigating the links between emotional processes and psychosis, despite the traditional demarcation between the two. Particular focus has alighted upon two specific anxious and depressive processes, worry and rumination, given the potential for links with aspects of delusions and auditory hallucinations. This study rigorously explored the nature of these links in the context of the daily life of people currently experiencing psychosis.
METHOD:
Experiencesampling methodology (ESM) was used to assess the momentary links between worry and rumination on the one hand, and persecutory delusional ideation and auditory hallucinations on the other. Twenty-seven participants completed the 6-day experiencesampling period, which required repeated self-reports on thought processes and experiences. Multilevel modelling was used to examine the links within the clustered data.
RESULTS:
We found that antecedent worry and rumination predicted delusional and hallucinatory experience, and the distress they elicited. Using interaction terms, we have shown that the links with momentary symptom severity were moderated by participants' trait beliefs aboutworry/rumination, such that they were reduced when negative beliefs about worry/rumination (meta-cognitions) were high.
CONCLUSIONS:
The current findings offer an ecologically valid insight into the influence of worry and rumination on the experience of psychotic symptoms, and highlight possible avenues for future intervention strategies.
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