Studies // Cited work
Distinct modes of ruminative self-focus: Impact of abstract versus concrete rumination on problem solving in depression
Watkins, E., & Moulds, M. (2005). Distinct modes of ruminative self-focus: Impact of abstract versus concrete rumination on problem solving in depression.
Level B Experiment doi:10.1037/1528-3542.5.3.319
What this study supports
Supports the claim that concrete rather than abstract symptom-focused self-focus improved social problem solving in depressed patients, so the mode of rumination rather than its topic determined its effect on problem solving. Small sample, single session.
- Who was studied
- 40 depressed patients and 40 never-depressed controls.
- Design
- Experiment
- Level of evidence
- Controlled studies: randomised or experimental designs, and syntheses of correlational work.
Claims that rest on it
Each claim states what the site asserts, at what strength, and with what caveat.
EmpiricalLevel BConfidence MODERATE
In experiments, dysphoric participants induced to ruminate made more negative interpretations and generated less effective solutions than those induced to distract, and in depressed patients concrete rather than abstract self-focus improved social problem solving.
- Scope
- Brief laboratory inductions in dysphoric students and in depressed patients with controls.
- Caveat
- Short-term outcomes in small samples; the effects of changing thinking mode in everyday life over weeks are not shown here.
Last reviewed · Review due · induced-rumination-impairs-problem-solving