Ruminative response style.

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the evidence that a ruminative response style increases risk for depression, describes the proposed mechanisms by which rumination increases this risk, and discusses possible treatment implications. Increased risk is not specific to depression but generalizes to other forms of psychopathology. Rumination is a mode of responding to distress by passively focusing on the possible causes and consequences of one's distress without moving into active problem-solving. Ruminative response style is correlated with depressive symptoms and predicts the development of future depressive episodes. Gender is also related to rumination, with more women than men reporting a tendency to ruminate in response to distress. The theory was proposed in part to explain the greater prevalence of depression in women than in men, and the gender difference in rumination has been shown to mediate the gender difference in depression. A ruminative response style is thought to increase risk for depression through a variety of mechanisms.

[1]  S. Segerstrom,et al.  A multidimensional structure for repetitive thought: what's on your mind, and how, and how much? , 2003, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[2]  Steven Taylor,et al.  The Effect of Rumination as a Mediator of Elevated Anxiety Sensitivity in Major Depression , 2001, Cognitive Therapy and Research.

[3]  D. Klein,et al.  Rumination and Distraction Among Chronic Depressives in Treatment: A Structural Equation Analysis , 2004, Cognitive Therapy and Research.

[4]  Christopher G. Davis,et al.  "Thanks for sharing that": ruminators and their social support networks. , 1999, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[5]  Michael E. McCullough,et al.  Vengefulness: Relationships with Forgiveness, Rumination, Well-Being, and the Big Five , 2001 .

[6]  Lisa D. Butler,et al.  Gender differences in responses to depressed mood in a college sample , 1994 .

[7]  Steven J. Sandage,et al.  Interpersonal forgiving in close relationships: II. Theoretical elaboration and measurement. , 1998, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[8]  E. Watkins,et al.  Comparisons between rumination and worry in a non-clinical population. , 2005, Behaviour research and therapy.

[9]  S. Nolen-Hoeksema,et al.  Ruminative coping with depressed mood following loss. , 1994, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[10]  S. Nolen-Hoeksema,et al.  Nonsuicidal self-injury in young adolescent girls: moderators of the distress-function relationship. , 2008, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[11]  S. Nolen-Hoeksema,et al.  The Response Styles Theory , 2008 .

[12]  S. Nolen-Hoeksema.  Responses to depression and their effects on the duration of depressive episodes. , 1991, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[13]  Sociotropy/autonomy, self-construal, response style, and gender in adolescents , 2002 .

[14]  L. Alloy,et al.  Rumination as a common mechanism relating depressive risk factors to depression. , 2001, Emotion.

[15]  T. Joiner,et al.  Depression in its interpersonal context. , 2002 .

[16]  Ian H. Gotlib,et al.  Neuroticism and Ruminative Response Style as Predictors of Change in Depressive Symptomatology , 1998, Cognitive Therapy and Research.

[17]  R. Bagby,et al.  The Stability of the Response Styles Questionnaire Rumination Scale in a Sample of Patients with Major Depression , 2004, Cognitive Therapy and Research.

[18]  C. Hammen.  Stress and depression. , 2005, Annual review of clinical psychology.

[19]  L. Koenig,et al.  Response styles and negative affect among adolescents , 1996, Cognitive Therapy and Research.

[20]  Sonja Lyubomirsky,et al.  RUMINATIVE RESPONSE STYLES AND DELAY OF SEEKING DIAGNOSIS FOR BREAST CANCER SYMPTOMS , 2006 .

[21]  R. Bell,et al.  Personality and aggression: The Dissipation–Rumination Scale. , 1997 .

[22]  Katherine M. Conway,et al.  Gender Differences in Rates of Depressive Symptoms Among Low-Income, Urban, African American Youth: A Test of Two Mediational Hypotheses , 2004 .

[23]  E. Watkins,et al.  The effects of self-focused rumination on global negative self-judgements in depression. , 2005, Behaviour research and therapy.

[24]  S. Lyubomirsky,et al.  Self-perpetuating properties of dysphoric rumination. , 1993, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[25]  R. Bagby,et al.  Relation of Rumination and Distraction with Neuroticism and Extraversion in a Sample of Patients with Major Depression , 2001, Cognitive Therapy and Research.

[26]  S. Nolen-Hoeksema,et al.  Effects of rumination and distraction on naturally occurring depressed mood , 1993 .

[27]  V. Blankenship,et al.  Ruminative Thoughts and Their Relation to Depression and Anxiety1 , 2002 .

[28]  D. Lam,et al.  Rumination, mood and social problem-solving in major depression , 2004, Psychological Medicine.

[29]  R. Brown,et al.  Rumination and executive function in depression: an experimental study , 2002, Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry.

[30]  Ingmar H. A. Franken,et al.  Mediating effects of rumination and worry on the links between neuroticism, anxiety and depression , 2005 .

[31]  J. Joormann,et al.  Memory accessibility, mood regulation, and dysphoria: difficulties in repairing sad mood with happy memories? , 2004, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[32]  Ian H. Gotlib,et al.  Ruminative Response Style and Vulnerability to Episodes of Dysphoria: Gender, Neuroticism, and Episode Duration , 1998, Cognitive Therapy and Research.

[33]  Nancy L. Kocovski,et al.  Ruminative coping and post-event processing in social anxiety. , 2005, Behaviour research and therapy.

[34]  S. Nolen-Hoeksema,et al.  Effects of responses to depression on the remediation of depressive affect. , 1990, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[35]  Michelle G. Craske,et al.  Worry and Rumination: Repetitive Thought as a Concomitant and Predictor of Negative Mood , 2000, Cognitive Therapy and Research.

[36]  S. Lyubomirsky,et al.  Effects of self-focused rumination on negative thinking and interpersonal problem solving. , 1995, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[37]  Psychosocial predictors of the short-term course and outcome of major depression: a longitudinal study of a nonclinical sample with recent-onset episodes. , 2000 .

[38]  M. Thase,et al.  Biological aspects of depression. , 2002 .

[39]  L. Alloy,et al.  Negative Cognitive Styles and Stress-Reactive Rumination Interact to Predict Depression: A Prospective Study , 2003, Cognitive Therapy and Research.

[40]  S. Lyubomirsky,et al.  Dysphoric Rumination Impairs Concentration on Academic Tasks , 2003, Cognitive Therapy and Research.

[41]  Regina Miranda,et al.  Brooding and reflection: rumination predicts suicidal ideation at 1-year follow-up in a community sample. , 2007, Behaviour research and therapy.

[42]  S. Nolen-Hoeksema,et al.  Rumination Reconsidered: A Psychometric Analysis , 2003, Cognitive Therapy and Research.

[43]  S. Nolen-Hoeksema,et al.  Regulating responses to anger: effects of rumination and distraction on angry mood. , 1998, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[44]  S. Nolen-Hoeksema,et al.  Gender Differences in Depression , 2001 .

[45]  R. N. Davis,et al.  Cognitive Inflexibility Among Ruminators and Nonruminators , 2000, Cognitive Therapy and Research.

[46]  S. Nolen-Hoeksema,et al.  Rumination, Depression, and Alcohol Use: Tests of Gender Differences , 2002, Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy.

[47]  M. Keller,et al.  Major Depressive Disorder: Initial Results from a One‐Year Prospective Naturalistic Follow‐Up Study , 1981, The Journal of nervous and mental disease.

[48]  S. Nolen-Hoeksema,et al.  Coping with loss , 1998 .

[49]  S. Nolen-Hoeksema,et al.  The role of rumination in depressive disorders and mixed anxiety/depressive symptoms. , 2000, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[50]  E. Watkins,et al.  Distinct modes of ruminative self-focus: impact of abstract versus concrete rumination on problem solving in depression. , 2005, Emotion.

[51]  Sona Dimidjian,et al.  Response styles among patients with minor depression and dysthymia in primary care. , 2002, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[52]  J. Teasdale,et al.  Rumination and overgeneral memory in depression: effects of self-focus and analytic thinking. , 2001, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[53]  B. Fredrickson,et al.  Response styles and the duration of episodes of depressed mood. , 1993, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[54]  Z. Segal,et al.  Prevention of relapse/recurrence in major depression by mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. , 2000, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[55]  T. Dalgleish,et al.  Autobiographical Memory Specificity and Emotional Disorder , 2007, Psychological bulletin.

[56]  N. Jacobson,et al.  Behavioral Activation Treatment for Depression: Returning to Contextual Roots , 2006 .

[57]  S. Nolen-Hoeksema,et al.  A prospective study of depression and posttraumatic stress symptoms after a natural disaster: the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. , 1991, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[58]  J. Abela,et al.  The response styles theory of depression: A test of specificity and causal mediation , 2005 .

[59]  Phil A. Silva,et al.  Development of depression from preadolescence to young adulthood: emerging gender differences in a 10-year longitudinal study. , 1998, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[60]  Cynthia L. Turk,et al.  Distinct and Overlapping Features of Rumination and Worry: The Relationship of Cognitive Production to Negative Affective States , 2002, Cognitive Therapy and Research.

[61]  Eric Stice,et al.  Reciprocal relations between rumination and bulimic, substance abuse, and depressive symptoms in female adolescents. , 2007, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[62]  M. Kovács.  Gender and the course of major depressive disorder through adolescence in clinically referred youngsters. , 2001, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

[63]  Z. Segal,et al.  Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: A New Approach to Preventing Relapse , 2001 .

[64]  S. Lyubomirsky,et al.  Why ruminators are poor problem solvers: clues from the phenomenology of dysphoric rumination. , 1999, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[65]  C. Carver,et al.  On the Self-Regulation of Behavior , 1998 .

[66]  Jutta Joormann,et al.  Inhibition, Rumination, and Mood Regulation in Depression. , 2005 .

[67]  J. Joormann.  Differential Effects of Rumination and Dysphoria on the Inhibition of Irrelevant Emotional Material: Evidence from a Negative Priming Task , 2006, Cognitive Therapy and Research.

[68]  S. Nolen-Hoeksema,et al.  Mediators of the Gender Difference in Rumination , 2001 .

[69]  Effects of ruminative and distracting responses to depressed mood on retrieval of autobiographical memories. , 1998 .

[70]  C. Kuehner,et al.  Responses to depression in unipolar depressed patients: an investigation of Nolen-Hoeksema's response styles theory , 1999, Psychological Medicine.

[71]  Sussie Eshun.  Role of Gender and Rumination in Suicide Ideation: A Comparison of College Samples From Ghana and the United States , 2000 .

[72]  Yanni G. Malliaris,et al.  Rumination-focused cognitive behaviour therapy for residual depression: a case series. , 2007, Behaviour research and therapy.

[73]  A. Beck.  Depression : clinical, experimental, and theoretical aspects , 1967 .

[74]  J. V. Wood,et al.  Self-focused attention, coping responses, and distressed mood in everyday life. , 1990, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[75]  S. Lyubomirsky,et al.  The Consequences of Dysphoric Rumination , 2008 .

[76]  G. Metalsky,et al.  Hopelessness depression: A theory-based subtype of depression. , 1989 .

[77]  J. Teasdale,et al.  Effects of induced rumination and distraction on mood and overgeneral autobiographical memory in adolescent Major Depressive Disorder and controls. , 2004, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[78]  J. Abela,et al.  An Examination of the Response Styles Theory of Depression in Third- and Seventh-Grade Children: A Short-Term Longitudinal Study , 2002, Journal of abnormal child psychology.

[79]  John E. Roberts,et al.  Self-Directed Thought and Response to Treatment for Depression: A Preliminary Investigation , 2002, Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy.

[80]  Anna Lavender,et al.  Rumination and future thinking in depression. , 2004, The British journal of clinical psychology.

[81]  Richard N. Shadick,et al.  The nature of normal and pathological worry. , 1991 .

[82]  L. Abramson,et al.  Cognitive vulnerability to depression, rumination, hopelessness, and suicidal ideation: multiple pathways to self-injurious thinking. , 2006, Suicide & life-threatening behavior.

[83]  R. Rapee,et al.  Post-event rumination and negative self-appraisal in social phobia before and after treatment. , 2004, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[84]  R. Baumeister,et al.  Binge eating as escape from self-awareness. , 1991, Psychological bulletin.

[85]  A. Tesser,et al.  Some ruminative thoughts. , 1996 .

[86]  L. Alloy,et al.  The response styles theory of depression: tests and an extension of the theory. , 1997, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[87]  R. Kessler,et al.  Sex and depression in the National Comorbidity Survey. I: Lifetime prevalence, chronicity and recurrence. , 1993, Journal of affective disorders.

[88]  Amanda J. Rose.  Co-rumination in the friendships of girls and boys. , 2002, Child development.

[89]  J. Anthony,et al.  Natural history of Diagnostic Interview Schedule/DSM-IV major depression. The Baltimore Epidemiologic Catchment Area follow-up. , 1997, Archives of general psychiatry.

[90]  P. Muris,et al.  Rumination and Worry in Nonclinical Adolescents , 2004, Cognitive Therapy and Research.

[91]  S. Nolen-Hoeksema,et al.  Explaining the gender difference in depressive symptoms. , 1999, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[92]  Roy F. Baumeister,et al.  Escaping the self : alcoholism, spirituality, masochism, and other flights from the burden of selfhood , 1991 .