Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Training Ruminators to Inhibit Negative Information: A Preliminary Report

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Cognitive Therapy and Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Although depression and rumination have been associated with a difficulty ignoring irrelevant negative content, the causal direction of this relationship is unclear. The aim of this study was to train individuals who engage in habitual brooding, a particularly maladaptive subtype of rumination, to inhibit or to attend to negative stimuli. The effects of the training on rumination and depression were examined. Participants were randomly assigned to four sessions of training to inhibit or to attend to negative stimuli or to a sham-training group, in a two-week span. At both pre and post training, participants completed measures of depressive symptoms, rumination and inhibition bias. Compared with individuals in the sham training condition, those who were trained to attend to negative stimuli exhibited a significant decrease in inhibition of irrelevant negative content whereas those who were trained to inhibit negative stimuli, showed a trend toward improved inhibition of irrelevant negative content and a reduction in brooding, but not in depressive symptoms. Our findings suggest that inhibition training may be beneficial for reducing brooding.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Amir, N., Beard, C., Burns, M., & Bomyea, J. (2009). Attention modification program in individuals with generalized anxiety disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118, 28–33. doi:10.1037/a0012589.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baert, S., De Raedt, R., Schacht, R., & Koster, E. H. W. (2010). Attentional bias training in depression: Therapeutic effects depend on depression severity. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 41, 265–274. doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2010.02.004.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beard, C., Sawyer, A. T., & Hofmann, S. G. (2012). Efficacy of attention bias modification using threat and appetitive stimuli: A meta-analytic review. Behavior Therapy, 43, 724–740. doi:10.1016/j.beth.2012.01.002.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. (1996). The beck depression inventory (2nd ed.). San Antonio, Tex: Psychological Corp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernblum, R., & Mor, N. (2010). Rumination and emotion-related biases in refreshing information. Emotion, 10, 423–432. doi:10.1037/a0018427.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Calkins, A. W., Deveney, C. M., Weitzman, M. L., Hearon, B. A., Siegle, G. J., & Otto, M. W. (2011). The effects of prior cognitive control task exposure on responses to emotional tasks in healthy participants. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 39, 205–220. doi:10.1017/S1352465810000652.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carlson, S. M., & Wang, T. S. (2007). Inhibitory control and emotion regulation in preschool children. Cognitive Development, 22, 489–510. doi:10.1016/j.cogdev.2007.08.002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daches, S., Mor, N., Winquist, J., & Gilboa-Schechtman, E. (2010). Brooding and attentional control in processing self-encoded information: Evidence from a modified Garner task. Cognition and Emotion, 24, 876–885. doi:10.1080/02699930902954825.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, R. N., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2000). Cognitive inflexibility among ruminators and nonruminators. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 24, 699–711. doi:10.1023/A:1005591412406.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Lissnyder, E., Koster, E. H. W., Derakshan, N., & De Raedt, R. (2010). The association between depressive symptoms and executive control impairments in response to emotional and non-emotional information. Cognition and Emotion, 24, 264–280. doi:10.1080/02699930903378354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deveney, C. M., & Deldin, P. J. (2006). A preliminary investigation of cognitive flexibility for emotional information in major depressive disorders and non-psychiatric controls. Emotion, 6, 429–437. doi:10.1037/1528-3542.6.3.429.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ekkers, W., Korrelboom, K., Huijbrechts, I., Smits, N., Cuijpers, P., & Van Der Gaag, M. (2011). Competitive memory training for treating depression and rumination in depressed older adults: A randomized controlled trial. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 49, 588–596. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2011.05.010.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, N. P., & Miyake, A. (2004). The relations among inhibition and interference control functions: A latent-variable analysis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 133, 101–135. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.133.1.101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frings, C., Wentura, D., & Holtz, M. (2007). Dysphoric cannot ignore unpleasant information. Cognition and Emotion, 21, 1525–1534. doi:10.1080/02699930601054042.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fritz, M. S., & MacKinnon, D. P. (2007). Required sample size to detect the mediated effect. Psychological Science, 18, 233–239. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01882.x.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Frost, R., & Plaut, D. (2005). The word-frequency database for printed Hebrew. Retrieved 10/27/2007, from http://word-freq.mscc.huji.ac.il/index.html.

  • Goeleven, E., De Raedt, R., Baert, S., & Koster, E. H. W. (2006). Deficient inhibition of emotional information in depression. Journal of Affective Disorders, 93, 149–157. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2006.03.007.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Haeffel, G. J., Rozek, D. C., Hames, J. L., & Technow, J. (2011). Too much of a good thing: Testing the efficacy of a cognitive bias modification task for cognitively vulnerable individuals. Cognitive Therapy and Research,. doi:10.1007/s10608-011-9379-6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hakamata, Y., Lissek, S., Bar-Haim, Y., Britton, J. C., Fox, N. A., Leibenluft, E., et al. (2010). Attention bias modification treatment: A meta-analysis toward the establishment of novel treatment for anxiety. Biological Psychiatry, 68, 982–990. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2010.07.021.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hallion, L., & Ruscio, A. (2011). A meta-analysis of the effect of cognitive bias modification on anxiety and depression. Psychological Bulletin, 137, 940–958. doi:10.1037/a0024355.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hasher, L., & Zacks, R. T. (1988). Working memory, comprehension, and aging: A review and a new view. In G. H. Bower (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation: Advances in research and theory (pp. 193–225). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hasher, L., Zacks, R. T., & May, C. P. (1999). Inhibitory control, circadian arousal, and age. In D. E. Gopher & K. Koriat (Eds.), Attention and performance XVII: Cognitive regulation of performance: Interaction of theory and application (pp. 653–675). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, S., Hirsch, C. R., & Mathews, A. (2010). Facilitating a benign attentional bias reduces negative thought intrusions. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 119, 235–240. doi:10.1037/a0018264.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hertel, P. T., & Gerstle, M. (2003). Depressive deficits in forgetting. Psychological Science, 14, 573–578. doi:10.1046/j.0956-7976.2003.psci_1467.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hertel, P. T., & Mathews, A. (2011). Cognitive bias modification: Past perspectives, current findings, and future applications. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6, 521–536. doi:10.1177/174569161142120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Houghton, G., & Tipper, S. P. (1994). A model of inhibitory mechanisms in selective attention. In D. Dagenbach & T. H. Carr (Eds.), Inhibitory processes in attention, memory and language (pp. 53–112). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joormann, J. (2004). Attentional bias in dysphoria: The role of inhibitory processes. Cognition and Emotion, 18, 125–147. doi:10.1080/02699930244000480.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joormann, J. (2006). Differential effects of rumination and dysphoria on the inhibition of irrelevant emotional material: Evidence from a negative priming task. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 30, 149–160. doi:10.1007/s10608-006-90358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joormann, J. (2010). Inhibition and emotion regulation in depression. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19, 161–166. doi:10.1177/0963721410370293.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joormann, J., & Gotlib, I. H. (2008). Updating the contents of working memory in depression: Interference from irrelevant negative material. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 117, 182–192. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.117.1.182.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Joormann, J., & Gotlib, I. H. (2010). Emotion regulation in depression: Relation to cognitive inhibition. Cognition and Emotion, 24, 913–939. doi:10.1080/02699930903407948.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joormann, J., & Siemer, M. (2011). Affective processing and emotion regulation in dysphoria and depression: Cognitive biases and deficits in cognitive control. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 5, 13–28. doi:10.1111/j.1751-9004.2010.00335.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kingston, T., Dooley, B., Bates, A., Lawlor, E., & Malone, K. (2007). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for residual depression symptoms. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, research and practice, 80, 193–203. doi:10.1348/147608306X116016.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kok, A. (1999). Varieties of inhibition: Manifestations in cognition, event-related potentials and aging. Acta Psychologica, 101, 129–158. doi:10.1016/S0001-6918(99)00003-7.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Koster, E. H. W., De Lissnyder, E., Derakshan, N., & De Raedt, R. (2011). Understanding depressive rumination from an affective neuroscience perspective: The impaired disengagement hypothesis. Clinical Psychology Review, 31, 138–145. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2010.08.005.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lau, M. A., Christensen, B. K., Hawley, L. L., Gemar, M. S., & Segal, Z. V. (2007). Inhibitory deficits for negative information in persons with major depressive disorder. Psychological Medicine, 37, 1249–1259. doi:10.1017/S0033291707000530.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lyubomirsky, S., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1993). Self-perpetuating properties of dysphoric rumination. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 339–349. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.65.2.339.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lyubomirsky, S., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1995). Effects of self-focused rumination on negative thinking and interpersonal problem solving. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 176–190. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.69.1.176.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • MacLeod, C. M. (2007). The concept of inhibition in cognition. In D. S. Gorfein & C. M. MacLeod (Eds.), Inhibition in cognition (pp. 3–23). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • MacLeod, C., Koster, E. H. W., & Fox, E. (2009). Whither cognitive bias modification research? Commentary on the special section articles. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118, 89–99. doi:10.1037/a0014878.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • MacLeod, C., Mathews, A., & Tata, R. (1986). Attentional bias in emotional disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95, 15–20. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.95.1.15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mathews, A., & Mackintosh, B. (2000). Induced emotional interpretation bias and anxiety. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109, 602–615. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.109.4.602.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mayr, S., & Buchner, A. (2007). Negative priming as a memory phenomenon: A review of 20 years of negative priming research. Journal of Psychology, 215, 35–51. doi:10.1027/0044-3409.215.1.35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neill, W. T. (1997). Episodic retrieval in negative priming and repetition priming. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 23, 1291–3105. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.23.6.1291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nigg, J. T. (2000). On inhibition/disinhibition in developmental psychopathology: Views from cognitive and personality psychology and a working inhibition taxonomy. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 220–246. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.126.2.220.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1991). Responses to depression and their effects on the duration of depressive episodes. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100, 569–582. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.100.4.569.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2000). The role of rumination in depressive disorders and mixed anxiety/depressive symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109, 504–511. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.109.3.504.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nolen-Hoeksema, S., & Morrow, J. (1991). A prospective study of depression and posttraumatic stress symptoms after a natural disaster: The Loma Prieta earthquake. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 115–121. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.61.1.115.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Stice, E., Wade, E., & Bohon, C. (2007). Reciprocal relations between rumination and bulimic, substance abuse, and depressive symptoms in female adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 116, 198–207. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.116.1.198.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Papageorgiou, C., & Wells, A. (2000). Treatment of recurrent major depression with attention training. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 74, 407–413. doi:10.1016/S1077-7229(00)80051-6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Papageorgiou, C., & Wells, A. (2001). Metacognitive beliefs about rumination in recurrent major depression. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 8, 160–164. doi:10.1016/S1077-7229(01)80021-3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Philippot, P., & Brutoux, F. (2008). Induced rumination dampens executive processes in dysphoric young adults. Journal of Behavior Therapy, 39, 219–227. doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2007.07.001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rothermund, K., Wentura, D., & De Houwer, J. (2005). Retrieval of incidental stimulus-response associations as a source of negative priming. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 31, 482–495. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.31.3.482.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Salemink, E., van den Hout, M. A., & Kindt, M. (2007). Selective attention and threat: Quick orienting versus slow disengagement and two versions of the dot probe task. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45, 607–615. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2006.04.004.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Siegle, G. J., Moore, P. M., & Thase, M. E. (2004). Rumination: One construct, many features in healthy individuals, depressed individuals, and individuals with lupus. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 28, 645–668. doi:10.1023/B:COTR.0000045570.62733.9f.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siegle, G. J., Ghinassi, F., & Thase, M. E. (2007). Neurobehavioral therapies in the 21st century: Summary of an emerging field and an extended example of cognitive control training for depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 31, 235–262. doi:10.1007/s10608-006-9118-6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spasojevic, J., & Alloy, L. B. (2001). Rumination as a common mechanism relating depressive risk to depression. Emotion, 1, 25–37. doi:10.1037/1528-3542.1.1.25.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tipper, S. P. (2001). Does negative priming reflect inhibitory mechanisms? A review and integration of conflicting views. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology A: Human Experimental Psychology, 54, 321–343. doi:10.1080/02724980042000183.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Treynor, W., Gonzalez, R., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2003). Rumination reconsidered: A psychometric analysis. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 27, 247–259. doi:10.1023/A:1023910315561.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Bockstaele, B., Koster, E. H. W., Verschuere, B., Crombez, G., & De Houwer, J. (2012). Limited transfer of threat bias following attentional retraining. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 43, 794–800. doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2011.11.001.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wadlinger, H. A., & Isaacowitz, D. M. (2011). Fixing our focus: Training attention to regulate emotion. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 15, 75–102. doi:10.1177/1088868310365565.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Watkins, E. R. (2009). Depressive rumination and co-morbidity: evidence for brooding as a transdiagnostic process. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 27, 160–175. doi:10.1007/s10942-009-0098-9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watkins, E., & Brown, R. G. (2002). Rumination and executive function in depression: an experimental study. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 72, 400–402. doi:10.1136/jnnp.72.3.400.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Watkins, E., & Moulds, M. (2005). Distinct modes of ruminative self-focus: Impact of abstract versus concrete rumination on problem solving in depression. Emotion, 5, 319–328. doi:10.1037/1528-3542.5.3.319.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Watkins, E., Scott, J., Wingrove, J., Rimes, K., Bathurst, N., Steiner, H., et al. (2007). Rumination-focused cognitive behavior therapy for residual depression: A case series. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45, 2144–2154. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2006.09.018.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Watkins, E. R., Baeyens, C. B., & Read, R. (2009). Concreteness training reduces dysphoria: Proof-of-principle for repeated cognitive bias modification in depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118, 55–64. doi:10.1037/a0013642.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Watkins, E. R., Mullan, E. G., Wingrove, J., Rimes, K., Steiner, H., Bathurst, N., et al. (2011). Rumination-focused cognitive behavior therapy for residual depression: Phase II randomized controlled trial. British Journal of Psychiatry, 199, 317–322. doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.110.090282.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Watkins, E. R., Taylor, R. S., Byng, R., Baeyens, C., Read, R., Pearson, K., et al. (2012). Guided self-help concreteness training as an intervention for major depression in primary care: A phase II randomized controlled trial. Psychological Medicine, 42, 1359–1371. doi:10.1017/S0033291711002480.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wells, T. T., & Beevers, C. G. (2010). Biased attention and dysphoria: Manipulating selective attention reduces subsequent depressive symptoms. Cognition and Emotion, 24, 719–728. doi:10.1080/02699930802652388.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wells, A., & Matthews, G. (1994). Attention and emotion: A clinical perspective. Hove, UK: Lawrence Erlbanm Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wells, T. T., Fisher, P., Myers, S., Wheatley, J., Patel, T., & Brewin, C. R. (2012). Metacognitive therapy in treatment-resistant depression: A platform trial. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 50, 367–373. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2012.02.004.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wentura, D. (1999). Activation and inhibition of affective information: Evidence for negative priming in the evaluation task. Cognition and Emotion, 13, 65–91. doi:10.1080/026999399379375.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitmer, A. J., Gotlib, I. H. (2012). An attentional scope model of rumination. Psychological Bulletin. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/a0030923.

  • Wilson, E. J., MacLeod, C., Mathews, A., & Rutherford, E. M. (2006). The causal role of interpretive bias in anxiety reactivity. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 115, 103–111. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.115.1.103.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zetsche, U., & Joormann, J. (2011). Components of interference control predict depressive symptoms and rumination cross-sectionally and at six months follow-up. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 42, 65–73. doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2010.06.001.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was conducted as part of the first author’s dissertation and was supported by a Grant from the Israel Foundation Trustees to Nilly Mor.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, 91905, Jerusalem, Israel

    Shimrit Daches & Nilly Mor

Authors
  1. Shimrit Daches
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Nilly Mor
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shimrit Daches.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Daches, S., Mor, N. Training Ruminators to Inhibit Negative Information: A Preliminary Report. Cogn Ther Res 38, 160–171 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-013-9585-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-013-9585-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation