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Adaptive and maladaptive ruminative self-focus during emotional processing.

Ed Watkins1

  • 1Washington Singer Laboratories, School of Psychology, University of Exeter, EX4 4QG, UK. e.r.watkins@exeter.ac.uk

Behaviour Research and Therapy
|August 25, 2004
PubMed
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Rumination can worsen depression or aid recovery. This study found that focusing on "how you felt" (experiential) helps recovery, while focusing on "why you felt that way" (conceptual-evaluative) worsens negative mood and intrusions.

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
  • Mental Health

Background:

  • Rumination, or self-focused attention, has mixed effects on mental health.
  • It can perpetuate depression or promote recovery from upsetting events.
  • Distinct modes of rumination may explain these contrasting outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To experimentally test if an experiential mode of self-focused attention aids recovery more than a conceptual-evaluative mode.
  • To investigate the differential functional properties of rumination modes.

Main Methods:

  • 69 participants wrote about an induced failure experience.
  • Participants were assigned to either a conceptual-evaluative condition (focusing on 'why') or an experiential condition (focusing on 'how').

Related Experiment Videos

  • Negative mood and intrusive thoughts were assessed post-task.

    • Main Results:

    • Higher trait rumination correlated with increased negative mood in the conceptual-evaluative group compared to the experiential group.
    • The conceptual-evaluative condition led to more intrusive thoughts about the failure.
    • Experiential self-focus was associated with better recovery from the upsetting event.

    Conclusions:

    • Rumination can be differentiated into distinct modes with differing functional effects.
    • A conceptual-evaluative mode of rumination appears maladaptive, potentially worsening depression.
    • An experiential mode of rumination seems adaptive, facilitating recovery from negative experiences.