Do daily dynamics in rumination and affect predict depressive symptoms and trait rumination? An experience sampling study

Patient-rated scales improve the classification accuracy for patients with depression and anxiety disorder: a linear discriminant analysis

BACKGROUND

The current study aimed to investigate the performances of clinical scales rated by clinicians and patients as well as cognitive function tests in distinguishing patients with affective and anxiety disorders from healthy controls (HCs).

METHODS

We recruited a total of 122 subjects, comprising 24 patients with bipolar disorder (BD), 34 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), 29 patients with anxiety disorder (AD), and 35 matched HCs. Three clinician-rated scales and five patient-rated scales were used to quantify clinical symptoms, while four cognitive tests were employed to measure cognitive functions in all subjects. Fisher's discriminant analysis (FDA) was employed to distinguish patients from HCs, as well as to discriminate patient sub-groups from each other. In the FDA model, the prior probability of each group was set as 0.5 in the two-group classification and 0.25 in the four-group classification.

RESULTS

The results showed that patient-rated scales achieved higher classification accuracies than clinician-rated scales in identifying MDD and AD from HCs. In contrast, cognitive tests exhibited the lowest accuracy.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that patient-rated scales might improve the classification accuracy for patients with MDD and AD.

The temporal dynamics of perceived stress and depression in college students: An ecological momentary assessment

Previous studies have implied that stress is a risk factor for depression, but relatively little is known about how healthy individuals' stress dynamically affects depression as a mood in daily life. Therefore, an ecological momentary assessment study was conducted among 141 college students to test the temporal dynamic effect of daily perceived stress on depression and the underlying mediating and moderating role of rumination. Perceived stress, state rumination, and depression were measured using self-compiled questionnaire three times a day over 12 days. Trait rumination was measured with the Nolen-Hoeksema Ruminative Response Scale. Hierarchical linear models with HLM 7.0 were adopted to examine the mediation and moderation effects. In the mediation model, the greater the daily perceived stress at time t, the higher the state rumination at time t + 1, and state rumination at t + 1 positively predicted college students' depression at t + 2. In the moderation model, trait rumination significantly facilitated perceived stress-induced depression. These results verified that daily perceived stress could affect college students' depression directly or indirectly through the critical mediating mechanism of state rumination, and this effect would be exacerbated with a higher level of trait rumination.

Thought habits and processing modes among Japanese university students do not influence dynamic associations between rumination and negative affect

The integrated model of rumination argues that two trait factors-negative thinking habits and processing modes-get people stuck in maladaptive rumination. There is little evidence showing whether these factors influence the daily dynamic associations between rumination and negative moods. To address this, in this study, we conducted an experience-sampling method on Japanese university students. We recruited 92 Japanese university students and assessed their daily rumination and negative affect (NA) eight times a day for seven days. We examined the effects of habits and processing modes on the dynamic associations between rumination and negative moods using dynamic structural equation modeling. We found that individuals were more likely to ruminate when they experienced NA. However, contrary to previous findings, this study's participants did not experience NA after engaging in rumination. Moreover, we did not detect any significant trait factor effect on these dynamic associations. Our findings imply that individuals are more likely to engage in rumination after experiencing NA, but the reverse association, particularly the autoregression of rumination, may not be maintained in natural daily life. Furthermore, negative thinking habits and processing modes may not influence the daily dynamic associations between rumination and NA among Japanese university students.

Reciprocal Prospective Effects of Momentary Cognitions and Affect in Daily Life and Mood Reactivity Toward Daily Events in Remitted Recurrent Depression

Major depressive disorder is a recurrent condition. Potential risk factors for future episodes are maladaptive cognitions, such as rumination and unfavorable reactivity toward negative daily events. Positive thoughts and positive daily events, in contrast, could act as a buffer against mood deterioration. The aim of the present study is to (a) examine differences in daily affect and cognitions in remitted depressed patients with a history of recurrent episodes (rMDD) and healthy controls, (b) analyze reciprocal prospective effects of momentary cognitions and affect, and (c) investigate effects of daily events on affect and cognitions in both groups. A sample of N = 102 participants underwent an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) phase of 5 consecutive days, where rMDD patients (n = 51) and healthy controls (n = 51) indicated their momentary rumination, positive thoughts, affect, and the occurrence of daily events 10 times per day. Via multilevel lag models, we found higher rumination to predict a decrease of positive affect (PA) in the rMDD group, but no effect of rumination on subsequent negative affect (NA) in either group. Higher positive thoughts predicted an increase in PA and a decrease in NA, similarly strong in both groups. Regarding daily events, rMDD patients reported a stronger increase in NA and rumination following negative daily events compared to controls, whereas an observed subsequent decrease of PA and positive thoughts was not moderated by group. Following positive daily events, rMDD patients showed a stronger increase in PA and positive thoughts and a stronger decrease in NA and rumination than controls. For interventions targeting relapse prevention, our results indicate the implementation of strategies fostering the responsiveness to positive events and the up-regulation of positive affect.

Recovering Within-Person Dynamics from Psychological Time Series

Idiographic modeling is rapidly gaining popularity, promising to tap into the within-person dynamics underlying psychological phenomena. To gain theoretical understanding of these dynamics, we need to make inferences from time series models about the underlying system. Such inferences are subject to two challenges: first, time series models will arguably always be misspecified, meaning it is unclear how to make inferences to the underlying system; and second, the sampling frequency must be sufficient to capture the dynamics of interest. We discuss both problems with the following approach: we specify a toy model for emotion dynamics as the true system, generate time series data from it, and then try to recover that system with the most popular time series analysis tools. We show that making straightforward inferences from time series models about an underlying system is difficult. We also show that if the sampling frequency is insufficient, the dynamics of interest cannot be recovered. However, we also show that global characteristics of the system can be recovered reliably. We conclude by discussing the consequences of our findings for idiographic modeling and suggest a modeling methodology that goes beyond fitting time series models alone and puts formal theories at the center of theory development.

Social Undermining and Interpersonal Rumination among Employees: The Mediating Role of Being the Subject of Envy and the Moderating Role of Social Support

Rumination is a common problem and is associated with reduced psychological well-being. However, little is known about how rumination in the workplace is affected by interpersonal relationships. We propose that negative workplace behavior could serve as a potential influencing factor for rumination. Therefore, the current study constructed a multilevel moderated mediation model to investigate the relationship between workplace unit social undermining and interpersonal rumination. We also examined whether unit social support moderated that relationship and whether being the subject of envy mediated that relationship. Survey data were collected from 630 employees in China. The results indicate that: (1) a high level of unit social undermining by either a supervisor or co-workers has a significant positive influence on interpersonal rumination; (2) being the subject of envy exerts a mediating effect between unit supervisor social undermining and interpersonal rumination, as well as between unit co-worker social undermining and interpersonal rumination; and (3) unit social support moderates the associations between unit supervisor/co-worker social undermining and interpersonal rumination. These findings extend the research on rumination to the field of management and interpersonal relationships and emphasize the potential mechanisms of rumination, providing significant guidance for reducing staff rumination and improving psychological well-being.

Exploring the digital footprint of depression: a PRISMA systematic literature review of the empirical evidence

BACKGROUND

This PRISMA systematic literature review examined the use of digital data collection methods (including ecological momentary assessment [EMA], experience sampling method [ESM], digital biomarkers, passive sensing, mobile sensing, ambulatory assessment, and time-series analysis), emphasizing on digital phenotyping (DP) to study depression. DP is defined as the use of digital data to profile health information objectively.

AIMS

Four distinct yet interrelated goals underpin this study: (a) to identify empirical research examining the use of DP to study depression; (b) to describe the different methods and technology employed; (c) to integrate the evidence regarding the efficacy of digital data in the examination, diagnosis, and monitoring of depression and (d) to clarify DP definitions and digital mental health records terminology.

RESULTS

Overall, 118 studies were assessed as eligible. Considering the terms employed, "EMA", "ESM", and "DP" were the most predominant. A variety of DP data sources were reported, including voice, language, keyboard typing kinematics, mobile phone calls and texts, geocoded activity, actigraphy sensor-related recordings (i.e., steps, sleep, circadian rhythm), and self-reported apps' information. Reviewed studies employed subjectively and objectively recorded digital data in combination with interviews and psychometric scales.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest links between a person's digital records and depression. Future research recommendations include (a) deriving consensus regarding the DP definition and (b) expanding the literature to consider a person's broader contextual and developmental circumstances in relation to their digital data/records.

Biological, Psychological, and Social Determinants of Depression: A Review of Recent Literature

Depression is one of the leading causes of disability, and, if left unmanaged, it can increase the risk for suicide. The evidence base on the determinants of depression is fragmented, which makes the interpretation of the results across studies difficult. The objective of this study is to conduct a thorough synthesis of the literature assessing the biological, psychological, and social determinants of depression in order to piece together the puzzle of the key factors that are related to this condition. Titles and abstracts published between 2017 and 2020 were identified in PubMed, as well as Medline, Scopus, and PsycInfo. Key words relating to biological, social, and psychological determinants as well as depression were applied to the databases, and the screening and data charting of the documents took place. We included 470 documents in this literature review. The findings showed that there are a plethora of risk and protective factors (relating to biological, psychological, and social determinants) that are related to depression; these determinants are interlinked and influence depression outcomes through a web of causation. In this paper, we describe and present the vast, fragmented, and complex literature related to this topic. This review may be used to guide practice, public health efforts, policy, and research related to mental health and, specifically, depression.

Examining rumination, devaluation of positivity, and depressive symptoms via community-based network analysis

OBJECTIVE

Components of rumination, including brooding and reflection, as well as devaluating prospective positivity, may help maintain depressive symptoms. We examined these components together for the first time using network analysis.

METHODS

We examined the robustness of rumination communities of closely related items in one network and then examined the interrelationships between rumination communities, devaluation of positivity, and depression, in a second network.

RESULTS

Three rumination communities emerged, replicating findings of Bernstein et al. (2019). Within a dense network, nodes representing brooding, reflective pondering, and difficulty trusting positive feelings were most influential. In addition, the node representing the depressive symptom negative self-views shared strong edges with nodes representing devaluation of positivity and brooding.

CONCLUSION

Brooding, reflective pondering, and elements of devaluing positivity are influential to depressive symptoms and may be important future experimental and therapeutic targets. Depressed individuals with negative self-views may engage in brooding and devalue their experience of positivity.

Social Media Exposure and College Students' Mental Health During the Outbreak of COVID-19: The Mediating Role of Rumination and the Moderating Role of Mindfulness

In response to reports of people experiencing varying levels of anxiety and depression during the outbreak of COVID-19, researchers have argued that exposure to related information on social media is a salient contributing factor. Based on the integrated model of ruminative response style and the diathesis-stress model, it has been suggested that incorporating rumination and mindfulness may elucidate the potential mechanism underlying the aforementioned association. This study aimed to examine the mediating role of rumination and the moderating role of mindfulness in the association between social media exposure (SME) to COVID-19 information and psychological distress. The results from online questionnaire responses of 439 college students from two universities in Wuhan, Hubei Province, showed that rumination mediated the association between SME and psychological distress. Furthermore, mindfulness was revealed as a protective factor that buffered the adverse effect of SME on psychological distress through rumination. These findings advance a better understanding of the formation process of psychological symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic and provide insights regarding effective interventions for adverse mental health consequences in college students.

Assessing repetitive negative thinking in daily life: Development of an ecological momentary assessment paradigm

Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) is a transdiagnostic process and a promising target for prevention and treatment of mental disorders. RNT is typically assessed via self-report questionnaires with most studies focusing on one type of RNT (i.e., worry or rumination) and one specific disorder (i.e., anxiety or depression). However, responses to such questionnaires may be biased by memory and metacognitive beliefs. Recently, Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) has been employed to minimize these biases. This study aims to develop an EMA paradigm to measure RNT as a transdiagnostic process in natural settings. Based on empirical and theoretical considerations, an item pool was created encompassing RNT content and processes. We then (1) tested model fit of a content-related and a process-related model for assessing RNT as an individual difference variable, (2) investigated the reliability and construct validity of the proposed scale(s), and (3) determined the optimal sampling design. One hundred fifty healthy participants aged 18 to 40 years filled out baseline questionnaires on rumination, worry, RNT, symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. Participants received 8 semi-random daily prompts assessing RNT over 14 days. After the EMA phase, participants answered questionnaires on depression, anxiety, and stress again. Multilevel confirmatory factor analysis revealed excellent model fit for the process-related model but unsatisfactory fit for the content-related model. Different hybrid models were additionally explored, yielding one model with satisfactory fit. Both the process-related and the hybrid scale showed good reliability and good convergent validity and were significantly associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress after the EMA phase when controlling for baseline scores. Further analyses found that a sampling design of 5 daily assessments across 10 days yielded the best tradeoff between participant burden and information retained by EMA. In sum, this paper presents a promising paradigm for assessing RNT in daily life.