Annotated_Bibliography_of_Rumination

Ruminating. Most individuals have at one time or another ruminated over an upsetting event or a negative feelings. While most have ruminated, people do differ on the degree they ruminate (Brown,1998) For some, it is a brief period of time, and yet for others, they seem to get lost in their ruminations. Over the past twenty years, a significant amount of research has explored the act of ruminating. This current essay will endeavour to explore a small sample of the current trend in rumination research, discuss areas in which the research may have neglected to examine and to explore possible future research. One criticism of rumination research has been that there is no unifying definition for rumination. Rumination, in general, is viewed as passive, maladaptive coping strategy whereby an individual primarily focuses on internal negative emotional states. It is not clear what the distinction is between daydreaming and rumination. For example, one definition of rumination is that it is involuntary, involves repetitive thoughts, and does not requiring external cues. Yet daydreaming has been defined as a spontaneous mental event that requiring no-stimulus and is not responding to a specific situation. To “muddy the waters” even further, research on rumination is generally on negative affect, such as anger or depression. Yet, in a study by Selby, Anestis, and Joiner, the focus was on daydreaming about suicide. Even in rumination literature, there seems to be a blurring between daydreaming and rumination. For example, Allen and Berkos, explored aggressive-rumination through imagined-interactions (II), which they defined as a self-controlled daydream. Another element of contention in defining rumination is the notion that rumination as a voluntary or involuntary act. According to Taylor and Schneider, rumination is an involuntary thought of an upsetting event. Yet, as previously stated, Vaital described daydreaming as a spontaneous act, whereas Koole describe rumination as an involuntary act. One may question whether this definition may be applied to traumatic flashbacks as seen in post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but there is a distinction. Flashbacks of a traumatic event are an involuntary-reliving of an event, whereas rumination is considered a repetitive contemplation of the event. Overall, there is no consensus between researchers on a definition for rumination. Studies have indicated that there are various types of rumination.  For example, rumination may be speculations about possible future events (proactivity) or interpretations of past experiences (retroactive). According to Allen and Berkos, retroactive IIs may act as a “cognitive reviewing functions” (p. 311) of past interactions with other individuals. Results from Allen and Berkos’ study indicated that individuals use both proactivity and retroactivity in his/her II, by linking the two episodes.  Another form of rumination is abstract and concrete rumination. Concrete rumination is characterized as thoughts round a specific event or person, whereas abstract rumination is more general of one’s feelings with no clear event.  It has been suggested that rumination is a "meaning–making activity", in that those individuals who excessively focus on his/her internal state, may be ruminating to make sense of their state. Similarly, Taylor characterize rumination as a form of coping strategy for internal stress and emotion regulation). Significant amount of research has looked at two particular modes of rumination; anger rumination and sadness rumination.  Current research has predominantly focused on rumination and its mediating relationship with other cognitive states such as anger and depression. For example, Busman has done several studies on anger-rumination and has concluded that self-focused attention on a negative affect such as anger, increases the affect rather than diminish it.  Though these findings are supported by other studies, how anger-rumination increase aggression remains unclear.  Furthermore, these findings of ruminative thinking may seem contradictory to obsessive repetitive thought (ORT) found in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).   There is very little research comparing the two cognitions, however, a recent study from Germany examined the relationship between obsessive rumination and rumination thinking styles.  Data was compiled from two studies (N = 472) in which participants were asked to complete a series of self-report questionnaires (e.g. The Beck Depressive Inventory and the Ruminative Response Scale). The analysis indicated that while the two ruminations were highly correlated and had common characteristics (e.g., repetitive, intrusive, and hard to disengage from), OC rumination was deliberately used as a neutralizing strategy of anxiety.  It was also indicated that though the ORT initially worked on decreasing anxiety, it was found that in the long term, ORT maintains the problem by a negative-reinforcement mechanism. What remains unclear is why there is any difference between ORT and ruminative thinking. According to Smith and Alloy, rumination research has yet to make clear how similar constructs relate to rumination, such as repetitive thinking, emotion focused coping, and private self-consciousness. In regard to depressive rumination, it has been shown that impulsivity actually amplifies rumination. A longitudinal study looked at temperamental reactivity in adolescence and the role effort control and rumination had on depressive symptoms. Adolescent participants (N = 249) were recruited and were asked preformed a series of self-reported questionnaires (e.g., Children’s Response Style Questionnaire, Beck Depressive Inventory, Effort Control Scale, etc.). This study indicated that there was an interaction between negative affect and effort control (where as higher levels of negative affect were found to be related to depressive symptoms only at lower levels of effort control). According to the authors these results are consistent with previous research that viewed effort control as protective factor against depression. One limitation to this study is that it is unclear how many students, if any, actually had effort control issues. Another study on depressive rumination found that anger rumination is embedded in sadness rumination. This study focused on depressive and anger rumination, and how the two forms of rumination were related to the constructs of depression, entrapment, and shame.  Data was compiled from university participants (N = 166), who had been asked to complete a series of self-report questionnaires (e.g., Response Styles Questionnaire, the Entrapment Scale, Anger Rumination, etc). The study found that feelings of entrapment were significantly related to depression and rumination. The authors’ offered a tentative explanation as to why a person’s depression is likely to worse from rumination. Using the cognitive model of depression, the authors suggest that a person's depression may worsen due to an oscillation of attention between negative thoughts and moods. The authors did question if people just passively accepted their ruminations, or were the ruminations unwanted intrusions. The authors point out that for some individuals, they can become so distressed by their own thoughts and ruminations, feel so trapped by them, that suicide seems the only viable way out. Another area of rumination research that appears to be lacking is the relationship between stimulation and rumination. As of to-date, there has been no studies looking at the relationship between rumination and the need for mental stimulation. Though stimulation (or sensation-seeking) and rumination has not been explored, the construct of impulsivity (which is related to stimulation) has been examined. Several studies have explored the relationship between impulsiveness and rumination, but with conflicting results.  Impulsivity has been defined as an individual's tendency to act with less forethought than another individual of equal standing.  One study explored anger rumination and its relationship to other forms of aggression, such as anger and hostile behaviour.  The data from 200 participants’ response to several self-report questionnaires (e.g., the Anger Rumination Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Urgency, Premeditation, Perseverance, and Sensation Seeking Impulsive Behavior Scale) were compiled. The data was analyzed by regression analysis and found that anger rumination significantly predicted both physical and verbal aggression, as well as hostility, but not anger (even while holding various covariates such as depression, anxiety, and impulsiveness, as constant).   Though this study did include impulsivity and sensation-seeking in their model, the researchers neglected to measure what percentage of their participants had at impulsivity/sensation-seeking issues, such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).  As it is estimated that up to 3% of the university students have ADHD, of the 200 participants, only 6 would likely have an impulse control disorder. Therefore, the data would not accurately reflect the relationship between impulsivity/sensation seeking and anger rumination in individuals with ADHD. Two studies on rumination used participants from a population that is considered impulsive—smokers. In a study by McChargue, et al., impulsivity was defined as the “tendency to react to internal and external stimuli without considering possible consequences” (p. 97). The study by McChargue, et al., looked at trait-impulsivity and found that it moderated the relationship between depressive rumination and major depressive episodes (MDE). In other words, impulsivity modified the strength or direction of the relationship between rumination and MDE.  This study was significant in that it indicated the role of trait disposition on the cognitive vulnerability to major depressive episodes, and other clinical depressogenic consequences, such as suicidal ideation and behaviour. Another study, indicated that impulsivity moderated the relationship between the number of times a person attempted but failed to quit smoking and depressive rumination.  This study supported previous research on impulsivity that the increased association between negative affect and smoking relapse. In a study by Dvorak, Simons, and Wray (2010), their results indicated that depressive rumination was positively associated with a number of times a smoker failed quit. Furthermore, impulsivity is a moderator of the relationship between depressive rumination and the number of quit attempt failures here. In other words, the depressive thoughts around the number of failed attempts to quit smoking is significantly related to how impulsive a person is around his/her smoking habit As this essay endeavoured to show, though ADHD and rumination have not been directly studied, various symptoms of ADHD such as impulsiveness and low effort control, have been studied.  Another symptom that is correlated with ADHD is inattentiveness and can also be found in the rumination literature.  According to Pêcher,, inattention is “a maladaptive orientation of attention on personal thoughts, i.e. attention self-focus, which occurs to the detriment of the processing of other relevant information” (p. 44).  The ability to control one’s attention is a combination of three factors: alerting, orienting, and conflict.  Rumination impinges on one’s ability to disengage attention to a new source of information.  This particular study, found that during depressive rumination, the ability to change focus to relevant information is degraded.  In particular, it was indicated that of the three attention factors, that attention orienting showed to be significantly degraded. The authors feel that this suggests that sadness and rumination provoke a long-lasting self–focus, leading to inattention. Attention orienting is related to spatial information The authors point out that in a complex situation, such as driving a car, in which road warning signs include spatial information, rumination may negatively affect orientation, thereby affecting one’s ability to interpret the road signs accurately.  This study has strong implications for future studies on rumination and its impact on inattentiveness for individuals that are prone to distractibility, such as those with ADHD.  Poor social skills, such as inattentiveness and impulsivity, are a prevalent symptoms in children with ADHD, and often results in aggressive behaviour.  There is a high comorbidity rate, even into adulthood, of aggressive disorders and ADHD. Those with ADHD have a tendency to respond aggressively quickly, likely due to impulsivity (acting without forethought of consequences) and inattentiveness (not being aware of social cues).  In relation to rumination, one study examined aggressive-impulsivity.  According to the authors, people are generally motivated to regulate anger because of the high cost associated with displayed anger (e.g., social disapproval, moral stigma, legal ramifications).  Impulsive aggression, however, is likely due to one’s inability to restrain his/her evolutionary predisposition towards aggression. The results indicated that a negative event tends to temporarily deplete one’s resources, which in turn decreases the individual’s ability control his/her impulses. This study spotlighted the detrimental impact of anger rumination in enhancing aggression by a temporary reduction in self-control (or increased impulsivity). This study also implicated the role of the self-regulatory system as a significant factor that underlies the aversive effects of anger rumination. Other studies on aggressive rumination have focused primarily on the negative affect and did not include impulsiveness.  However, in discussing possible implications on ADHD, further examination of the topic seems warranted. In regard to aggression, anger rumination has been linked to feelings aggressive for longer periods of time, are likely to overreact to a minor provocations, and fuels the aggressive feelings.  In the study by Anestis, Anestis, Selby, and Joiner (2009), it was interesting that anger rumination was related to increased levels of hostility, trait-verbal aggression, and trait-physical aggression, but not the emotion of anger. The authors pointed out that the nonsignificant result on anger suggests that experiencing high levels of anger does not necessarily mean the person will be dwelling on the event.  Nevertheless, when dwelling on the negative experience, such as being provoked, this anger rumination heightens the aggressive response to a minor infraction not related to the initial event. In other words, if a person is provoked work and ruminates about it, he or she is likely to go home and “kick the cat” harder.  Overall, the research indicates that anger rumination tends to make one feel angrier for longer periods of time, increases verbal and physical aggression, and are likely to generalize that anger and keep it focused on the original provocateur. In conclusion, this essay has highlighted a few of the current research on rumination based on a few of the symptoms also known for ADHD.  As the various studies highlighted in this essay has suggested, rumination is a maladaptive coping strategy, and that such rumination impacts a person’s on multiple levels.  The studies represented in this article have highlighted how rumination starts. Throughout this essay, various researchers had indicated where negative-affect rumination can lead to, but not what motivates a person to persist on ruminating.  Though the studies have indicated that rumination is a maladaptive coping strategy, the current research failed to examine what motivates a person to keep ruminating on angry or painful events.  Future research into rumination may benefit from further exploring sensation-seeking relationship.  Perhaps for someone who is impulsive, the process replaying and fine tuning one’s thoughts around an event, is mentally stimulating. It may be that such tantalizing ruminations leaves certain individuals vulnerable to the negative repercussions outlined in this article.