Effects of rumination on intrusive memories: does processing mode matter?

Excessive rumination following traumatic or highly distressing experiences has been proposed to be an important maintaining factor of posttraumatic stress symptoms. However, not all forms of repetitive thinking about a negative event appear to be dysfunctional. It has been suggested that the abstractness of thinking is critical for its symptom-maintaining effects. The present study tested this hypothesis using an experimental analogue design with participants who had experienced a recent negative life event.

After a short symptom provocation task, participants (N=57) wrote about their negative experience in either an abstract-evaluative or a concrete-experiential way. Intrusive memories were assessed during the session and in the first 36 h after the session.

In line with the expectations, participants in the abstract-evaluative condition showed less reduction of intrusive memories during the experimental session than those in the concrete-experiential condition, and showed a slower recovery in the 36 h following the session.

An analogue design was used. Therefore, results need to be replicated with survivors of traumatic events following DSM-IV.

Taken together, the results support the idea that abstractness of thinking is responsible for the dysfunctional effects of rumination about a highly distressing or traumatic event.