Depressive Rumination as Experiential Avoidance

Abstract

This study examined an experiential avoidance conceptualization of depressive rumination in 3 ways: 1) associations among questionnaire measures of rumination, experiential avoidance, and fear of emotions; 2) performance on a dichotic listening task that highlights preferences for non-depressive material; and 3) psychophysiological reactivity in an avoidance paradigm modeled after the one used by Borkovec, Lyonfields, Wiser, & Deihl (1993) in their examination of worry. One hundred and thirty eight high (HR) or low (LR) ruminating Temple University undergraduates completed questionnaire measures and participated in a clinical interview to diagnose current and past episodes of depression. Of those, 100 were assigned to the rumination or relaxation induction condition and participated in a dichotic listening task, rumination/relaxation induction, and depression induction, while heart rate and vagal tone were monitored. Questionnaire measures confirmed a relationship between rumination status and avoidance; however, no significant effects were found in the dichotic listening task. Psychophysiological measures indicate that HR individuals show less of an inter-beat interval (IBI) response to a depression induction than LR individuals, regardless of condition assignment. Further, rumination induction, regardless of underlying propensity of rumination, appears to inhibit heart rate variability (HRV) response to a depression induction. Overall, these results support an avoidance conceptualization of depressive rumination. Implications of these findings are discussed.