Repetitive Negative Thinking and Its Role in Perinatal Mental Health

There is evidence that anxiety is common, perhaps even more prevalent than depression, in the post-partum period. In this review we propose adopting a transdiagnostic approach to perinatal mental health: to delineate psychopathology and identify potential underlying cognitive mechanisms such as repetitive negative thinking (RNT).

We provide an overview of key studies of RNT in perinatal mental health and suggest directions for future work. We propose the value of examining post-partum depression and anxiety, and their co-occurrence, and of testing whether the psychological mechanisms that predict and maintain depression and anxiety also play a role in these conditions in the post-partum period. Further, given that psychological distress often first emerges in the antenatal phase, we make a case for investigating RNT across the perinatal period - i.e., in antenatal and postnatal women.

RNT may be a modifiable risk factor which can be targeted in pregnancy to prevent depression and anxiety in new mothers.