The role of negative affect, rumination, cognitive fusion and mindfulness on depressive symptoms in depressed outpatients and normative individuals

ABSTRACT

This study examined the mediating effect of rumination, cognitive fusion and mindfulness, in the relationship between negative affect (NA) and depressive symptoms, and the differences between depressed outpatients and normative individuals. A cross-sectional design, employing validated questionnaires was used to measure NA, depressive symptoms, rumination, cognitive fusion and mindfulness in 140 participants (70 with Major Depressive Disorder, 57 female; 70 normative individuals, 44 female). Our tested model showed that cognitive fusion was the only significant mediator of the relationship between NA and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, our results showed that both rumination and mindfulness have a mediation effect in the relationship between NA and cognitive fusion. A partial metric invariance was indicated, allowing the identification of specific parameters that may be acting differently in the two samples. Our study showed that individuals high in NA, who repeatedly think about negative aspects of the self/situations, may become easily attached to literal content of thoughts and less sensitive to the contingencies of direct experience, which may increases their depressive symptoms. However, adopting a non-evaluative perspective of unwanted private experiences, seems to be central to achieve a psychological distance from their negative thoughts/feelings, and possibly a consequential decrease of depressive symptoms. As rumination, cognitive fusion, and mindfulness operate differently across depressed outpatients and normative individuals, a deeply understanding of their unique relations allow us to plane more effective interventions

RESUMEN

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