Reducing repetitive negative thinking with psychological therapy lowers depression: Study

A new study published in Psychological Medicine suggests that reducing repetitive negative thinking (RNT) in combination with psychological therapy is linked to reduced anxiety and depression in young people.

Youth populations frequently experience depression and anxiety, which generally start throughout puberty. Continually linked to sadness and anxiety, repetitive negative thinking is a hypothesized transdiagnostic process. Youth depression and anxiety may respond better to focused, individualized, and effective therapy that targets transdiagnostic mechanisms like RNT. Imogen Bell and colleagues conducted this study to evaluate the psychological intervention on persistently pessimistic thinking in young depression and anxiety.

Young individuals with depression or anxiety were the subjects of a meta-analysis to look at the impact of psychological interventions on RNT, symptoms of depression and anxiety, and a meta-regression to look at correlations between outcomes. The review was prospectively registered and adhered to PRISMA standards.

The key findings of this study were:

1. Included were 28 randomized controlled studies that looked at 17 different psychological therapies. All outcomes had minor to moderate effect sizes.

2. RNT-focused and non-RNT focused approaches had similar effects, but those focusing on altering the RNT process had a much greater impact on RNT than those focusing on altering the content of negative thoughts.

3. In all intervention types and for RNT focused interventions only, meta-regression showed a significant relationship between RNT and depression outcomes only.

In conclusion, the findings of this current research suggests lowering RNT through a number of psychological treatment modalities may aid kids with depression and anxiety. The clinical significance of RNT as a transdiagnostic target in psychological treatment for youth is highlighted by the significant relationship between reductions in RNT and improvements in depression and anxiety, though additional research is required to determine whether this relationship is causal. The results support third wave approaches and the theoretical utility of RNT as an overarching process capturing both worry and rumination, suggesting that process focused interventions may be particularly effective for reducing RNT.

Reference:

Bell, I. H., Marx, W., Nguyen, K., Grace, S., Gleeson, J., & Alvarez-Jimenez, M. (2022). The effect of psychological treatment on repetitive negative thinking in youth depression and anxiety: a meta-analysis and meta-regression. In Psychological Medicine (pp. 1–11). Cambridge University Press (CUP). https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291722003373