Browsing by Author "Thibault, Maisa"

Depression is an affective disorder that causes low mood and feelings of guilt and hopelessness. Rumination is a persistent, negative and self-focused form of thinking. Rumination has been found to predict higher levels of depressive symptoms, but also the onset of depressive episodes. The connection between rumination and depression should be studied more in order to develop better methods for intervention The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between rumination, self-reflection and depression. The participants were recruited from the University of Helsinki by sending online questionnaires to the student associations' mailing-lists. Rumination was measured with the self-rumination scale, self-reflection with self-reflection scale and depression with BDI. 588 students answered the questionnaire (512 women). The second questionnaire was sent 18 months later to those who gave their email in the first data collection. 296 students answered the second questionnaire (266 women). Participants ranged in age from 18 to 60 years, with a mean of 27 years. Rumination was a relatively stable trait in the study. Changes in rumination appeared to be closely linked to changes in depressive symptoms. Those who were depressed in the second data point and those who were depressed in the first data point but not in the second one, ruminated more than those who had never been depressed. Rumination also predicted depression in the 18-month longitudinal study. Self-reflection was only weakly linked to depression. Rumination had an independent role in maintaining and predicting depression. Tendency to ruminate was still high after recovery in previously depressed participants. Focused interventions could help people with ruminative tendencies to get over depression and prevent depression.