Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2017-09
Deficits in cognitive inhibition and post-loss rumination: evidence from a thought suppression task / Déficits de inhibición cognitiva y rumiación posterior a una pérdida: evidencia a partir de una tarea de supresión de pensamientos
The present study investigated the relationship between deficits in grief-related thought suppression and post-loss rumination. Using Wegner’s thought-suppression paradigm, bereaved participants with low and high rumination were asked to suppress painful thoughts about their loss. High ruminators were found to be less able to suppress grief-related, negative and positive words in comparison with low ruminators. In addition, they were found less able to suppress negative representations in comparison with grief-related and neutral ones. Deficits in thought suppression during bereavement are discussed in terms of their implications for ruminative processes.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BaertS.KosterE. H. W.de RaedtR. (2011). Modification of information-processing biases in emotional disorders: Clinically relevant developments in experimental psychopathology. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 4, 208–222. doi:10.1521/ijct.2011.4.2.208
2.
BeckA. T. (1995). Cognitive therapy: Basics and beyond. New York: Guilford Press.
3.
BoelenP. A.van den BoutJ. (2010). Anxious and depressive avoidance and symptoms of prolonged grief, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Psychologica Belgica, 50, 49–67. doi:10.5334/pb-50-1-2-49
4.
CowanN. (1999). An embedded-processes model of working memory. In MiyakeA.ShahP. (Eds.), Models of working memory: Mechanisms of active maintenance and executive control (pp. 62–101). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
5.
DelespauxE.ZechE. (2015). Why do bereaved partners experience interfering rumination? Evidence for deficits in cognitive inhibition. [peer-reviewed]. Death Studies. doi:10.1080/07481187.2014.958631
6.
DemeyerI.De LissnyderE.KosterE. H. W.de RaedtR. (2012). Rumination mediates the relationship between impaired cognitive control for emotional information and depressive symptoms: A prospective study in remitted depressed adults. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 50, 292–297. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2012.02.012
7.
EismaM. C.SchutH. A. W.StroebeM. S.van den BoutJ.StroebeW.BoelenP. A.KeilA. (2014). Is rumination after bereavement linked with loss avoidance? Evidence from eye-tracking. Plos One, 9(8), e104980. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0104980
8.
FolsteinM. F.FolsteinS. E.McHughP. R. (1975). ‘Mini mental state’. A practical method for grading the cognitive stateof patients for the clinician. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 12, 189–198. doi:10.1016/0022-3956(75)90026-6
9.
FournetN.MoscaC.MoreaudO. (2007). Déficits des processus inhibiteurs dans le vieillissement normal et la maladie d’Alzheimer [Deficits in inhibitory processes in normal aging and patients with Alzheimer’s disease: A review]. Gériatrie Et Psychologie: Neuropsychiatrie Du Vieillissement, 5, 281–294. doi:10.1684/pnv.2007.0103
10.
FraleyR. C.ShaverP. R. (1997). Adult attachment and the suppression of unwanted thoughts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 1080–1091. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.73.5.1080
11.
FranckM. (2009). Attentional bias in grief: Emotional Stroop and Dot Prob construction task. Unpublished master thesis. Catholic University of Louvain. Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
12.
HasherL.ZacksR. T.MayC. P. (1999). Inhibitory control, circadian arousal, and age. In GopherD.KoriatA. (Eds.), Attention and performance (Vol. 17, pp. 653–675). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
13.
CorpI. B. M. (2012). SPSS statistics for windows, version 21.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.
14.
JoormannJ. (2010). Cognitive inhibition and emotion regulation in depression. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19, 161–166. doi:10.1177/0963721410370293
15.
JoormannJ.GotlibI. H. (2008). Updating the contents of working memory in depression: interference from irrelevant negative material. Journal of abnormal psychology, 117, 182–192. doi: 10.1037/0021-843X.117.1.182
16.
JoormannJ.YoonK. L.ZetscheU. (2007). Cognitive inhibition in depression. Applied and Preventive Psychology, 12, 128–139. doi:10.1016/j.appsy.2007.09.002
17.
LarsenR. J.MercerK. A.BalotaD. A. (2006). Lexical characteristics of words used in emotional Stroop experiments. Emotion, 6, 62–72. doi:10.1037/1528-3542.6.1.62
18.
MaccallumF.BryantR. A. (2010). Attentional bias in complicated grief. Journal of Affective Disorders, 125, 316–322. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2010.01.070
19.
MichaelS. T.SnyderC. R. (2005). Getting unstuck: The roles of hope, finding meaning, and rumination in the adjustment to bereavement among college students. Death Studies, 29, 435–458. doi:10.1080/07481180590932544
20.
MikulincerM.DolevT.ShaverP. R. (2004). Attachment-related strategies during thought suppression: Ironic rebounds and vulnerable self-representations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 940–956. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.87.6.940
21.
MikulincerM.ShaverP. R. (2008). An attachment perspective on bereavement. In StroebeM.HanssonR. O.SchutH.StroebeW. (Eds.), Handbook of bereavement research and practice: Advances in theory and intervention (pp. 87–112). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
22.
MorinaN. (2011). Rumination and avoidance as predictors of prolonged grief, depression, and posttraumatic stress in female widowed survivors of war. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 199, 921–927. doi:10.1097/NMD.0b013e3182392aae
23.
Nolen-HoeksemaS. (2001). Ruminative coping and adjustment to bereavement. In StroebeM. S.HanssonR. O.StroebeW.SchutH. (Eds.), Handbook of bereavement research: Consequences, coping, and care (pp. 545–562). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
PrigersonH. G.JacobsS. C. (2001). Traumatic grief as a distinct disorder: A rationale, consensus criteria, and a preliminary empirical test. In StroebeM. S.HanssonR. O.StroebeW.SchutH. (Eds.), Handbook of bereavement research: Consequences, coping, and care (pp. 613–637). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
26.
PrigersonH. G.ShearM. K.JacobsS. C.ReynoldsC. F.3rdMaciejewskiP. K.DavidsonJ. R.RosenheckR. (1999). Consensus criteria for traumatic grief. A preliminary empirical test. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 174, 67–73. doi:10.1192/bjp.174.1.67
27.
ShearM. K.FrankE.HouckP. R.ReynoldsC. F. (2005). Treatment of complicated grief: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Medical Association, 293, 2601–2608.
28.
StroebeM. S.BoelenP. A.van den HoutM.StroebeW.SaleminkE.van den BoutJ. (2007). Ruminative coping as avoidance: A reinterpretation of its function in adjustment to bereavement. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 257, 462–472. doi:10.1007/s00406-007-0746-y
29.
StroopJ. R. (1938). Factors affecting speed in serial verbal reactions. Psychological Monographs, 50, 38–48. doi:10.1037/h0093516
30.
SyssauA.FontN. (2005). Évaluations des caractéristiques émotionnelles d’un corpus de 604 mots. Bulletin de Psychologie, 477, 361–367. doi:10.3917/bupsy.477.0361
31.
van der HouwenK.SchutH.van den BoutJ.StroebeM. S.StroebeW. (2010). The efficacy of a brief internet-based self-help intervention for the bereaved. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 48, 359–367. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2009.12.009
32.
WegnerD. M.SchneiderD. J.CarterS. R.WhiteT. L. (1987). Paradoxical effects of thought suppression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 5–13. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.53.1.5
