Rumination, Dysphoria, and Subjective Experience

Abstract

An experiment is presented which investigated the relationship between rumination, dysphoria, and subjective experience during a short word-fragment completion task. Consistent with previous work off-task thinking, operationalized as task unrelated thought, was associated with dysphoria. By contrast, rumination was a significant predictor of task appraisal defined as task-related interference (TRI). While rumination did not directly contribute to the experience of task unrelated thinking (TUT), evidence was presented which suggests that when combined with a negative mood a ruminative style may amplify the association between this style of thinking and dysphoria. These findings suggest that we can distinguish between the phenomenological experience associated with rumination as distinct from dysphoria and this dissociation may be important in our ability to explain how self-focused attention contributes to enhanced psychological vulnerability.