Repetitive negative thinking and emotion regulation difficulties as transdiagnostic processes across three mental disorders: An examination of two constructs and their interconnections
(2020) PSPR14 20201Department of Psychology
- Abstract
- Background and objectives: The transdiagnostic approach states that mental disorders share common psychopathological processes which are expressed in disorder-specific ways. The first purpose of this thesis was to examine the transdiagnostic validity of repetitive negative thinking (RNT) and emotion regulation (ER) difficulties across major depressive disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The second purpose was to explore the interconnections between these constructs.
Method: Recruitment was carried out in Germany. 41 individuals with a SCID diagnosis of MDD, 35 individuals with GAD, 42 individuals with OCD, and 35 healthy community controls were asked to complete the questionnaires... (More) - Background and objectives: The transdiagnostic approach states that mental disorders share common psychopathological processes which are expressed in disorder-specific ways. The first purpose of this thesis was to examine the transdiagnostic validity of repetitive negative thinking (RNT) and emotion regulation (ER) difficulties across major depressive disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The second purpose was to explore the interconnections between these constructs.
Method: Recruitment was carried out in Germany. 41 individuals with a SCID diagnosis of MDD, 35 individuals with GAD, 42 individuals with OCD, and 35 healthy community controls were asked to complete the questionnaires PTQ and DERS, rating core RNT processes during a typical RNT episode and general ER difficulties respectively. Results were analyzed using analysis of variance, analysis of covariance, and mediation analysis.
Results: All participants in the clinical groups scored higher on DERS and PTQ than healthy controls. The OCD group scored lower than the MDD group on DERS, and lower than both the MDD group and the GAD group on PTQ. There was no interaction effect between diagnostic group and PTQ score on DERS score. The relationship between diagnostic group and DERS score was mediated by PTQ score when contrasting clinical groups to healthy controls. When contrasting OCD to MDD, there was a total effect of diagnosis on DERS, but this effect was not mediated by PTQ.
Limitations: The results rely on retrospective self-report measures, limiting the validity of responses. Results involving ER difficulties might have been confounded by responses missing systematically.
Conclusions: The transdiagnostic approach was not completely supported in this thesis due to significant differences among the clinical groups, but further research is required for definitive conclusions. RNT processes mediate the relationship between diagnostic group and ER difficulties, tentatively supporting conclusions that ER difficulties are in part expressed via RNT processes. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9012094
- author
- Laghem, Isak LU and Svensson, Amanda LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- PSPR14 20201
- year
- 2020
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- repetitive negative thinking, RNT, emotion regulation, emotion regulation difficulties, transdiagnostic, OCD, GAD, MDD, mediation, moderation, PTQ, DERS
- language
- English
- id
- 9012094
- date added to LUP
- 2020-06-03 16:23:25
- date last changed
- 2020-06-03 16:23:25
@misc{9012094, abstract = {{Background and objectives: The transdiagnostic approach states that mental disorders share common psychopathological processes which are expressed in disorder-specific ways. The first purpose of this thesis was to examine the transdiagnostic validity of repetitive negative thinking (RNT) and emotion regulation (ER) difficulties across major depressive disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The second purpose was to explore the interconnections between these constructs. Method: Recruitment was carried out in Germany. 41 individuals with a SCID diagnosis of MDD, 35 individuals with GAD, 42 individuals with OCD, and 35 healthy community controls were asked to complete the questionnaires PTQ and DERS, rating core RNT processes during a typical RNT episode and general ER difficulties respectively. Results were analyzed using analysis of variance, analysis of covariance, and mediation analysis. Results: All participants in the clinical groups scored higher on DERS and PTQ than healthy controls. The OCD group scored lower than the MDD group on DERS, and lower than both the MDD group and the GAD group on PTQ. There was no interaction effect between diagnostic group and PTQ score on DERS score. The relationship between diagnostic group and DERS score was mediated by PTQ score when contrasting clinical groups to healthy controls. When contrasting OCD to MDD, there was a total effect of diagnosis on DERS, but this effect was not mediated by PTQ. Limitations: The results rely on retrospective self-report measures, limiting the validity of responses. Results involving ER difficulties might have been confounded by responses missing systematically. Conclusions: The transdiagnostic approach was not completely supported in this thesis due to significant differences among the clinical groups, but further research is required for definitive conclusions. RNT processes mediate the relationship between diagnostic group and ER difficulties, tentatively supporting conclusions that ER difficulties are in part expressed via RNT processes.}}, author = {{Laghem, Isak and Svensson, Amanda}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{Repetitive negative thinking and emotion regulation difficulties as transdiagnostic processes across three mental disorders: An examination of two constructs and their interconnections}}, year = {{2020}}, }