THOUGHT SUPPRESSION, DEPRESSIVE RUMINATION AND DEPRESSION: A MEDIATION ANALYSIS

The present study is an investigation of the relationship between depressive rumination and thought suppression in predicting clinical depression. While there is significant amount of data supporting their role in depression, no attempts have been made so far to study the relationship between these two types of mental control strategies and emotion regulation in clinical depression. Depressed patients completed a battery of questionnaires including measures of thought suppression, depressive rumination, and depressive symptoms. Results show that both thought suppression and depressive rumination are related to depression, and that the impact of thought suppression on depression is completely mediated by depressive rumination (as an ironic effect of thought suppression). The roles of thought suppression and depressive rumination in depression, potential mechanisms and implications are discussed.