Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2333 AK, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
J Affect Disord. 2020 Oct 1;275:157-164. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.07.002. Epub 2020 Jul 9.
Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) is a common feature of different mental disorders in the affective spectrum. Most measures of RNT are disorder-specific and measure e.g. rumination in depression or worry in anxiety.
In the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA), 1820 adults completed the Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire to assess content-independent RNT over a 3-year follow-up period. We investigated the relative stability of content-independent RNT (Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire), over time as well as the association between changes in RNT and changes in affective disorder status (Composite International Diagnostic Interview) and depressive and anxiety severity (Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Fear Questionnaire).
In the total group, baseline RNT was strongly related to RNT three years later, while the difference between the scores at baseline and three years later was negligible. Increases and decreases in RNT were associated with the occurrence and recovery of affective disorders, respectively. Furthermore, changes in RNT between baseline and three years later were associated with corresponding changes in depression, anxiety, and avoidance symptom severity. These associations were small or negligible.
Our findings may not be representative of all affective disorders as individuals with an obsessive-compulsive disorder or bipolar disorder were excluded from our sample.
The findings suggest that RNT is not primarily an index of disorder status or epiphenomenon of symptom severity and may constitute a relatively stable transdiagnostic person characteristic.
重复性消极思维（RNT）是情感谱系中不同精神障碍的共同特征。大多数 RNT 测量方法都是特定于疾病的，例如测量抑郁症中的反刍思维或焦虑症中的担忧。
在荷兰抑郁和焦虑研究（NESDA）中，1820 名成年人完成了坚持性思维问卷，以评估 3 年随访期间内容无关的 RNT。我们调查了内容无关的 RNT（坚持性思维问卷）的相对稳定性，随着时间的推移，以及 RNT 的变化与情感障碍状态（综合国际诊断访谈）和抑郁和焦虑严重程度（抑郁症状清单、贝克焦虑量表、恐惧问卷）的变化之间的关联。
在总人群中，基线 RNT 与三年后的 RNT 密切相关，而基线和三年后得分之间的差异可以忽略不计。RNT 的增加和减少分别与情感障碍的发生和恢复相关。此外，基线和三年后 RNT 的变化与抑郁、焦虑和回避症状严重程度的相应变化相关。这些关联很小或可以忽略不计。
我们的发现可能不能代表所有的情感障碍，因为强迫症或双相情感障碍患者被排除在我们的样本之外。
这些发现表明，RNT 主要不是疾病状态或症状严重程度的表现，而是一种相对稳定的跨诊断个体特征。
