Rumination as a Transdiagnostic Construct: a Preliminary Meta-Analysis on Depression and Anxiety

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Live Poster Session: Zoom Link
Thursday, July 30th 1:15-2:30pm EDT

Natasha Jones
Natasha Jones

Natasha Jones is a rising junior (‘22) from Hong Kong, where she graduated from King George V School. Outside of the classroom she loves dancing as a member of two dance groups on campus (Fusion and Wesmalai), participating in musicals, singing, and ice-skating. She plans on graduating from Wesleyan as a psychology major to pursue a career in clinical psychology.

Olivia Siegal
Olivia Siegal

Olivia Siegal is a rising senior (’21) from Brookline, Massachusetts and a graduate of Gann Academy. At Wesleyan, she is a Psychology and Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies double major. Aside from psychology, languages, and Russian literature, she loves creative writing, and she has worked as a writing tutor on campus for two years, in addition to attending creative writing workshops in her spare time. Olivia plans to pursue a career in clinical psychology and experimental psychopathology after graduating from Wesleyan.

Abstract: Rumination involves the repeated retrieval of self-referential thoughts that may occur in response to a negative mood or episode. There are two components of rumination, reflective pondering (adaptive) and brooding (maladaptive). Brooding rumination has been associated with many clinical problems, including anxiety and depression, and it is hypothesized to tax cognitive control. Because it is a shared mechanism of several disorders, rumination is thought of as a transdiagnostic construct. This preliminary study examines the role of brooding rumination across clinical constructs in recent studies to develop a strategy for a meta-analytic study of rumination. We hypothesized an ordering effect whereby rumination would be more related to anxiety than depression. We also explored trends across findings from selected studies. Recent studies were selected that utilize the Ruminative Response Scales (RRS; Nolen-Hoeksema and Morrow, 1991). Only studies that examined two or more clinical constructs, with at least one being depression or anxiety were included. We found trends that illustrated the relative relation of rumination and the various psychiatric diagnoses and psychological constructs. Results from this meta-analysis will inform our approach and hypotheses for a more comprehensive investigation of rumination as a transdiagnostic construct. The goal of this work is to inform our understanding of the relation of rumination to comorbid disorders and psychological constructs, which, in turn, will provide clues for better treatment targets.

RIS-PRESENTATION-NJ-update

Live Poster Session: Zoom Link
Thursday, July 30th 1:15-2:30pm EDT

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