Origins of Ruminative Thought: Trauma, Incompleteness, Nondisclosure, and Suppression

“These strategies have been shown to lead to a paradoxical increase in the occurrence of the target thoughts (Clark, Ball, & Pape, 1991; Gold & Wegner, 1995; Wegner, Schneider, Carter, & White, 1987; Wegner, Schneider, Knutson, & McMahon, 1991).”

“The link between perfectionism and ruminative thought can be analyzed within the context of incompleteness theories of rumination (for a review, see Gold & Wegner, 1995).”

“Researchers have addressed different types of rumination (Gold & Wegner, 1995; Holman & Cohen Silver, 1996; Martin & Tesser, 1996; Nolen-Hoeksema, 1990).”

“…events often lead to increases in the internal events that one is attempting to control (Cioffi & Holloway, 1993; Clark, Ball, & Pape, 1991; Gold & Wegner, 1995; Hayes, Wilson, Gifford, Follette, 1996; Kelly & Kahn, 1994; Muris, Merckelback, van den Hout, & de Jong, 1992; Salkovskis &…”

“Consistent with incompleteness theories of cognition (Gold & Wegner, 1995), Stainton et al. (2000) suggested that this type of ruminative thought, which includes self-blame and brooding about past procrastination, arises when there is difficulty in performing instrumental behaviors that would help…”

“Rumination theory states that the perceived threat to the satisfaction of a fundamental need is one of the crucial factors eliciting and maintaining rumination (Gold & Wegner, 1995; Martin & Tesser, 1996).”

“For example, some writers instruct people to ignore or suppress their feelings of being homesick and their thoughts about home (Baier & Welch, 1992 ), which may lead to rumination (Gold & Wegner, 1995 ).”

“Furthermore, the present data are in line with([24,25]) hypothesis that childhood maltreatment may be one developmental antecedent of rumination.([26]) So far, only the study by Spasojevic([4]) reported evidence in support of that claim.”

“Consistent with incompleteness theories of cognition (Gold & Wegner, 1995), procrastinatory cognitions involve brooding about past procrastination and being ruminatively focused on the unattained goal (i.e. end-state thinking) rather than on problem-focused means of attaining the goal (Stainton et…”

“Over time, the increasingly intense efforts to avoid or change the unpleasant events resulting from BOS can result in progressively higher levels of stress, psychopathology, and a poorer quality of life (Gold and Wegner, 1995).”

“Repeated efforts to avoid aversive thoughts or feelings often result in an increase in the thought or feeling that one intends to avoid (Gold & Wegner, 1995).”

“Rumination, or mulling, is defined as ''conscious thinking directed toward a given object for an extended period of time'' and is a reaction to an unpleasant situation (Gold & Wegner, 1995, p. 1246).”

“However, EA is often counterproductive in the long run, because attempts to avoid private events create or even increase the frequency, severity, and accessibility of the private event that one who wants to avoid (Gold & Wegner, 1995).”

“Theory suggests that feelings of revenge are often ruminative, as one origin of rumination consists in discrepancies between the present state and central goals that are not easily attainable or that the individual does not know how to attain (Gold & Wegner, 1995; Martin & Tesser, 1996).”

“…feelings, thoughts, and memories may actually result in eventual increases in the unwanted emotions, thoughts, and memories one is attempting to avoid (D. B. Gold & Wegner, 1995; Hayes et al., 1996; Wenzlaff & Wegner, 2000), further perpetuating attempts at controlling internal experiences.”

“This reasoning is consistent with several other commentaries that have argued that the thought suppression paradigm may have utility for understanding the maintenance of posttraumatic intrusions and avoidance (Trinder and Salkovskis, 1994; Ehlers and Steil, 1995; Gold and Wegner, 1995).”

“These findings support the hypothesis that deliberate thought suppression facilitates the maintenance of these symptoms, a supposition that has been discussed by several authors (Amir et al., 1997; Gold & Wegner, 1995; Purdon, 1999; Purdon & Clark, 2000; Steil & Ehlers, 2000; Trinder & Salkovskis, 1994).”

“First, deliberate attempts to suppress unwanted thoughts and negative emotions lead to greater amounts of such thoughts rather than less (Gold & Wegner, 1995; Gross & Levenson, 1997; Wegner, Schneider, Knutson, & McMahon, 1991; see Purdon, 1999, for a review).”

“Stainton et al. (2000) also noted that the concept of procrastination-related automatic thoughts is very much in keeping with incompleteness theories of cognition (see Gold and Wegner 1995).”

“Previous studies have demonstrated that childhood maltreatment might be one developmental antecedent of rumination (Gold and Wegner, 1995; Nolen-Hoeksema, 2004).”

“Furthermore, the escape theory stipulates that the negative affect that the individual attempts to avoid is still readily available in spite of the efforts to keep it out of awareness (Baumeister 1990), which is consistent with other research suggesting that the suppression of unwanted thoughts and negative emotions m…”

“Firstly, in terms of accounting for the causes of ruminative thinking, traumatic stress may play a key role in generating such ruminative thinking (Gold & Wegner, 1995).”

“For example, forgiveness might help one reach psychological closure with the event and thereby decrease the frequency of event-related rumination (cf. Gold & Wegner, 1995; Martin & Tesser, 1996).”

“Thought suppression may set up a state in which people not only increase the amount of time they think about an unwanted thought, but potentially also sharpen emotional reactions to those thoughts and provide the beginnings of ruminative symptoms (Gold & Wegner, 1995).”

“Likewise, through increasing accessibility of these unwanted thoughts and intensifying negative emotional reactions to these thoughts, thought avoidance may also lead to ruminative processing (Gold & Wegner, 1995).”

“…of the literature has focused on rumination as a maladaptive style of thinking (Lyubomirsky, Caldwell, & Nolen-Hoeksema, 1998), where ‘repeated thoughts unexpectedly and automatically dominate our awareness to the point that they become noticeable and bothersome’ (Gold & Wegner, 1995, p. 1245).”

“Research on thought suppression has supported this concept (e.g., Gold and Wegner 1995 ).”

“Repeated efforts to avoid aversive thoughts or feelings often result in a “rebound” effect—an increase in the thought or feeling that one intends to avoid [84].”

“trauma [20–22] and thus are conceptualized as the marker of incomplete cognitive processing [2, 23, 24].”

“Thus, among young adult females, stress-related symptoms may yield ruminative thinking, as suggested in previous literature (Brosschot et al. 2006; Elwood et al. 2009; Gold and Wegner 1995), and also increase suicidal ideation through increases in depressive symptoms.”

“First, by the emotion-amplifying hypothesis (e.g. Gold & Wegner, 1995; Hayes et al., 1996), EA should exacerbate reactions as situations become more emotionally provocative (Fig.”

“On the other hand, individuals characterized by low self-esteem have a tendency to hide their feelings, problems, and/or personal failures from others [45], but nondisclosure of undesired feelings enhances ruminative thinking [46].”

“Other studies have suggested that emotion suppression may lead to incongruence between felt emotion and expressed emotion, which itself may result in increased anxiety, depression, increased rumination, and re-experiencing of the suppressed negative affect (Gold and Wegner 1995; Wegner et al. 1987).”

“Although everyone engages in some avoidance, when it becomes a pervasive strategy it can interfere with general functioning and psychological health (Gold & Wegner, 1995).”

“Such a process bears a resemblance to thought suppression and its ironic result—rumination (Gold & Wegner, 1995).”

“…and can result in more (not less) unwanted thoughts and emotions (e.g., Clark, Ball, and Pape, 1991; Feldner, Zvolensky, Eifert, and Spira, 2003; Gold & Wegner, 1995; Karekla, Forsyth, and Kelly, 2004; Lavy & van den Hout, 1990; Wegner, Schneider, Knutson, and McMahon, 1991; see also Purdon,…”

“Rumination involves ‘‘conscious thinking directed toward a given object for an extended period of time’’ and occurs as the result of an unpleasant situation (Gold & Wegner, 1995, p. 1246).”

“Several studies have supported the fact that actively suppressing a thought, feeling, or bodily sensation, including pain, will ultimately increase it (Cioffi and Holloway 1993; Clark et al. 1991; Gold and Wegner 1995; Wegner et al. 1987, 1991).”

“Thus, the irony would appear to be that the act of trying not to think about a traumatic event may actually have the opposite effect of what could be expected ( Gold and Wegner, 1995 ), i.e., it may result in hyperaccessibility which, in turn, may lead to repeated and uncontrollable intrusions of unwanted thoughts and…”

“Suppressing feelings of burden increases the potential for rumination and resentment (Gold & Wegner, 1995; Weitzner, Haley, & Chen, 2000), thus, writing may have served as an outlet for burdensome experiences.”

“Specifically, the said theories suggest a positive association between the non-disclosure of trauma-related concerns, and the suppression of thoughts with increased ruminations (Gold & Wegner, 1995).”

“However, these attempts at avoidance have been shown to be both unsuccessful and distressing in that they (a) can paradoxically result in a greater frequency of thinking about the subject matter one had tried to avoid ( 32 ,33); (b) may make intrusive thoughts more distressing because when thought suppression is succe…”

“As noted previously, some types of avoidance strategies, such as distraction, can be beneficial with acute psychological and physical symptoms [27, 56].”

“An individual attempts to change the content of personal thoughts and feelings, or how often those thoughts and feelings occur (e.g., thought suppression; Gold & Wegner, 1995; Hayes et al., 1996).”

“This avoidance strategy may exacerbate their negative experience [32] and result in a stronger food craving and subsequent food intake.”

“…(e.g., Carlson, Dalenberg, & McDade-Montez, 2012; Morgan et al., 2001), as well as rumination as a strategy to cope with the trauma (e.g., Gold & Wegner, 1995; Michael, Halligan, Clark, & Ehlers, 2007), and finally, decreased sleep quality (e.g., Åkerstedt, Kecklund, & Axelsson, 2007;…”

“Forgiveness may help to buffer and reduce PTSD symptoms through the process of reevaluating and reinterpreting the incident and the actions of the attacker or, in the case of traffic accidents (TAs), the person at fault (Gold and Wegner, 1995).”

“According to Gold and Wegner (1995), rumination is conscious, ongoing, unwanted thought that arises in response to upsetting events or instances where goals or plans have been frustrated.”

“Indeed, suppression has been implicated as a cause of rumination (Erber & Wegner, 1996; Gold & Wegner, 1995; Wenzlaff & Luxton, 2003), and rumination has been linked to both depressed and anxious mood (Harrington & Blankenship, 2002; Lyubomirsky & NolenHoeksema, 1995; Nolen-Hoeksema, 1998).”

“Rumination is ‘‘conscious thinking directed toward a given object for an extended period of time’’ ( Gold & Wegner, 1995, p. 1246 ).”

“Researchers find that suppressing thoughts and keeping a secret heightens the cognitive accessibility of that secret (eg, Lane & Wegner, 1995 ; Wegner & Erber, 1992 ), as it intrudes on the secret-holder's thoughts ( Gold & Wegner, 1995 ).”

“Described as conscious thinking toward a given object for an extended period of time (Martin & Tesser, 1989), rumination is referred to as “thoughts that repeat too much” (Gold & Wegner, 1995, p. 1245).”