Rumination in clinical depression: A type of emotional suppression?

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between rumination and the use of other emotion-regulation strategies in a depressed sample. Sixty outpatients diagnosed with unipolar depression completed questionnaires and participated in a sad mood induction. The mood induction was used to investigate the relationship between the use of rumination and each of two theoretically relevant emotion-regulation strategies-suppression and acceptance. Findings demonstrated that rumination was positively associated with other types of suppression and negatively related to acceptance. Results offer tentative support for the conceptualization of rumination as a maladaptive, cognitive emotion-regulation strategy utilized by depressed individuals in an attempt to suppress their experience of negative emotion. Findings also suggest a potential mechanism of action for efficacious mindfulness and acceptance-based treatments for depression. © 2010 US Government.