اثر نگرانی و نشخوار فکری بر روی حالات و فعالیت شناختی

The effects of worry and rumination on affective states and mentation type were examined in an unselected undergraduate sample in Study 1 and in a sample of individuals with high trait worry and rumination, high rumination, and low worry/rumination in Study 2. Participants engaged in worry and rumination inductions, counterbalanced in order across participants to assess main and interactive effects of these types of negative thinking. During mentation periods, the thought vs. imaginal nature and the temporal orientation of mentations were assessed 5 times. Following mentation periods, negative and positive affect, relaxation, anxiety, and depression were assessed. Both worry and rumination produced increases in negative affect and decreases in positive affect. Worry tended to generate greater anxiety, and rumination tended to generate greater depression. Interactive effects were also found indicating that worry may lessen the anxiety experienced during subsequent rumination. Moreover, worry lessened the depressing effects of rumination. Worry was associated with significantly greater thought than imagery, compared to rumination. Rumination involved a progression from mentation about the past to mentation about the future over time. Implications for understanding the generation of negative affect and comorbid anxiety and depression are discussed.

Considerable research indicates extensive comorbidity of anxiety and mood disorders (Brown and Barlow, 1992, Brown et al., 2001, Kessler et al., 1994, Kessler et al., 1995 and Kessler et al., 1998), especially for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and major depression (Brown et al., 2001, Kessler et al., 1999 and Kessler et al., 1996). Two causal explanations for such high comorbidity of anxiety and mood disorders have been put forth (see Barlow, 2002). Having one disorder may serve as a risk factor for developing another. Alternatively, anxiety and mood disorders may develop from the same underlying predisposition. Negative affect is a stable dispositional characteristic that involves experiencing negative emotional states (Watson & Clark, 1984) that may serve as this underlying predisposition to the development of anxiety and mood disorders. Within Clark and Watson’s (1991) tripartite model, negative affect represents a nonspecific distress factor common to both anxiety and depression and is considered to be a predisposing factor to the experience of both (Clark, Watson, & Mineka, 1994). Despite their co-occurrence and mutual association with high negative affect, depression has been uniquely associated with low positive affect, and anxiety has been uniquely associated with autonomic arousal (Clark & Watson, 1991).