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  1. Home
  3. Cracking The Repetitive Negative Thinking Code: Keys To Understanding Anxiety And Depression.
  1. Home
  3. Cracking The Repetitive Negative Thinking Code: Keys To Understanding Anxiety And Depression.

Related Experiment Video

Design and Implementation of an fMRI Study Examining Thought Suppression in Young Women with, and At-risk, for Depression
08:42

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Cracking the Repetitive Negative Thinking Code: Keys to Understanding Anxiety and Depression.

Ryan Aberback1, Andrea R Ashbaugh2

  • 1School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.

Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy
|May 21, 2026

View abstract on PubMed

Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Repetitive negative thinking (RNT), encompassing worry and rumination, is a transdiagnostic construct. Both the process and content of RNT significantly predict psychological symptom severity in anxiety and depression.

Keywords:
anxietydepressionrepetitive negative thinkingruminationworry

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Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Clinical Psychology
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Background:

  • Cognitive components of anxiety and depression, such as worry, postevent processing (PEP), and rumination, are debated as either symptom-specific or transdiagnostic constructs.
  • Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) is a proposed transdiagnostic construct.
  • The relevance of RNT's process versus content to symptom severity requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if transdiagnostic RNT explains additional variance in symptom severity compared to symptom-specific constructs (PEP, worry, rumination).
  • To explore whether the content or process of RNT is more strongly associated with psychological symptom severity.
  • To examine the relationship between RNT, PEP, worry, rumination, and overall symptom severity.

Main Methods:

  • A study involving 646 undergraduates.
  • Participants completed self-report measures assessing RNT, PEP, worry, rumination, and psychological symptom severity.
  • Statistical analyses were used to determine the unique variance explained by RNT and its components.

Main Results:

  • Transdiagnostic RNT explained additional variance in symptom severity beyond PEP, worry, or rumination, and vice versa.
  • Both the content and process of RNT were significant predictors of greater psychological symptom severity.
  • Both general and symptom-specific RNT content and process were associated with depression and anxiety symptom severity.

Conclusions:

  • RNT is a valuable transdiagnostic construct in understanding anxiety and depression.
  • Both the content and process of repetitive negative thinking contribute to psychological symptom severity.
  • Interventions targeting both the content and process of RNT may be beneficial for reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression.