Cognitive appraisal and bias

وَمَا يَتَّبِعُ أَكۡثَرُهُمۡ إِلَّا ظَنًّاۚ إِنَّ ٱلظَّنَّ لَا يُغۡنِي مِنَ ٱلۡحَقِّ شَيۡـًٔاۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلِيمُۢ بِمَا يَفۡعَلُونَ

Most of them follow nothing but assumptions, but assumptions can be of no value at all against the Truth: God is well aware of what they do

أَلَآ إِنَّ لِلَّهِ مَن فِي ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَمَن فِي ٱلۡأَرۡضِۗ وَمَا يَتَّبِعُ ٱلَّذِينَ يَدۡعُونَ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ شُرَكَآءَۚ إِن يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا ٱلظَّنَّ وَإِنۡ هُمۡ إِلَّا يَخۡرُصُونَ

indeed, all who are in the heavens and on the earth belong to Him. Those who call upon others beside God are not really following partner-gods; they are only following assumptions and telling lies

إِذۡ جَآءُوكُم مِّن فَوۡقِكُمۡ وَمِنۡ أَسۡفَلَ مِنكُمۡ وَإِذۡ زَاغَتِ ٱلۡأَبۡصَٰرُ وَبَلَغَتِ ٱلۡقُلُوبُ ٱلۡحَنَاجِرَ وَتَظُنُّونَ بِٱللَّهِ ٱلظُّنُونَا۠

They massed against you from above and below; your eyes rolled [with fear], your hearts rose into your throats, and you thought [ill] thoughts of God

وَقَوۡلِهِمۡ إِنَّا قَتَلۡنَا ٱلۡمَسِيحَ عِيسَى ٱبۡنَ مَرۡيَمَ رَسُولَ ٱللَّهِ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُوهُ وَلَٰكِن شُبِّهَ لَهُمۡۚ وَإِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱخۡتَلَفُواْ فِيهِ لَفِي شَكࣲّ مِّنۡهُۚ مَا لَهُم بِهِۦ مِنۡ عِلۡمٍ إِلَّا ٱتِّبَاعَ ٱلظَّنِّۚ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ يَقِينَۢا

and said, ‘We have killed the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the Messenger of God.’ (They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, though it was made to appear like that to them; those that disagreed about him are full of doubt, with no knowledge to follow, only supposition: they certainly did not kill him)

وَإِن تُطِعۡ أَكۡثَرَ مَن فِي ٱلۡأَرۡضِ يُضِلُّوكَ عَن سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِۚ إِن يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا ٱلظَّنَّ وَإِنۡ هُمۡ إِلَّا يَخۡرُصُونَ

If you obeyed most of those on earth, they would lead you away from the path of God. They follow nothing but speculation; they are merely guessing

سَيَقُولُ ٱلَّذِينَ أَشۡرَكُواْ لَوۡ شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ مَآ أَشۡرَكۡنَا وَلَآ ءَابَآؤُنَا وَلَا حَرَّمۡنَا مِن شَيۡءࣲۚ كَذَٰلِكَ كَذَّبَ ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبۡلِهِمۡ حَتَّىٰ ذَاقُواْ بَأۡسَنَاۗ قُلۡ هَلۡ عِندَكُم مِّنۡ عِلۡمࣲ فَتُخۡرِجُوهُ لَنَآۖ إِن تَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا ٱلظَّنَّ وَإِنۡ أَنتُمۡ إِلَّا تَخۡرُصُونَ

The idolaters will say, ‘If God had willed, we would not have ascribed partners to Him- nor would our fathers- or have declared anything forbidden.’ In the same way, those before them continually denied [the truth] until they tasted Our punishment. Say, ‘Have you any knowledge that you can show us? You follow only supposition and tell only lies.’

Wert thou to obey most of those in the earth, they would misguide thee from the path of God. In terms of number, God's delegates are few, but they have weight and gravity. The folk of false- hood are many, but they have no weight or meaning. For a world of metaphor, one iota of reality is enough. For a world of foolishness and falsehood, one breath of the lords of finding is enough. One swat of the Lion for a world full of carrion-eaters, one blast of the Trumpet for a hundred thousand Pharaoh-natures! [DS 184] “O MuḤammad! If you see them in terms of number and manyness, they will throw you into trouble. If you seek to get along with them, they will hold you back from the Real. Obey Our command, and turn away from them. So shout out what thou art commanded, and turn away from the associaters” [15:94].

And for their saying boastfully ‘We slew the Messiah Jesus son of Mary the Messenger of God’ as they claim in other words for all of these reasons We have punished them. God exalted be He says in repudiating their claim to have killed him And yet they did not slay him nor did they crucify him but he the one slain and crucified who was an associate of theirs the Jews was given the resemblance of Jesus. In other words God cast his Jesus’s likeness to him and so they thought it was him Jesus. And those who disagree concerning him that is concerning Jesus are surely in doubt regarding the slaying of him for some of them said when they saw the slain man the face is that of Jesus but the body is not his and so it is not he; and others said no it is he. They do not have any knowledge of the slaying of him only the pursuit of conjecture illā ittibā‘a l-zann is a discontinuous exception in other

If you obey most of those on earth that is the disbelievers they will lead you astray from the way of God from His religion; they follow only supposition when they dispute with you concerning the status of carrion saying ‘What God has killed is more worthy of your consumption than what you kill yourselves!’; they are merely guessing speaking falsehood in this matter.

The idolaters will say ‘Had God willed we would not have been idolaters neither we nor our fathers nor would we have forbidden anything’ in other words our idolatry and our forbidding of things are by His will and so He must be satisfied with it. God exalted be He says So in the same way that these have lied those who were before them gave the lie to their prophets until they tasted Our might Our chastisement. Say ‘Have you any knowledge that God is satisfied with this such that you can adduce for us? that is you have no such knowledge. You follow only supposition in this matter merely guessing’ telling lies therein.

Because of their breaking the covenant, and their rejecting the Ayat of Allah, and their killing the Prophets unjustly, and their saying: "Our hearts are Ghulf," nay, Allah has set a seal upon their hearts because of their disbelief, so they believe not but a little (155)And because of their disbelief and uttering against Maryam a grave false charge (156)And because of their saying, "We killed Al-Masih 'Isa, son of Maryam, the Messenger of Allah," but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but it appeared as that to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts. They have no (certain) knowledge, they follow nothing but conjecture. For surely; they killed him not (157)But Allah raised him up unto Himself. And Allah is Ever All-Powerful, All-Wise (158)And there is none of the People of the Scripture, but must believe in him, before his death. And on the Day of Resurrection, he wil

Those who committed Shirk say: "If Allah had willed, we would not have commited Shirk, nor would our fathers, and we would not have forbidden anything (against His will)." Likewise belied those who were before them, till they tasted Our wrath. Say: "Have you any knowledge (proof) that you can produce before us? Verily, you follow the Zann and you do nothing but lie. (148)Say: "With Allah is the perfect proof and argument; had He so willed, He would indeed have guided you all. (149)Say: "Bring forward your witnesses, who can testify that Allah has forbidden this." Then if they testify, do not testify with them. And do not follow the vain desires of those who belie Our Ayat, and such as believe not in the Hereafter, and they hold others as equal with their Lord (150) A False Notion and its Rebuttal Here Allah mentioned a debate with the idolators, refuting a false notion they have over t

حَدَّثَنَا مُوسَى بْنُ إِسْمَاعِيلَ، حَدَّثَنَا حَمَّادٌ، ح وَحَدَّثَنَا مُسَدَّدٌ، حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى، عَنْ حَمَّادِ بْنِ سَلَمَةَ، عَنْ حَكِيمٍ الأَثْرَمِ، عَنْ أَبِي تَمِيمَةَ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ ‏"‏ مَنْ أَتَى كَاهِنًا ‏"‏ ‏.‏ قَالَ مُوسَى فِي حَدِيثِهِ ‏"‏ فَصَدَّقَهُ بِمَا يَقُولُ ‏"‏ ‏.‏ ثُمَّ اتَّفَقَا ‏"‏ أَوْ أَتَى امْرَأَةً ‏"‏ ‏.‏ قَالَ مُسَدَّدٌ ‏"‏ امْرَأَتَهُ حَائِضًا أَوْ أَتَى امْرَأَةً ‏"‏ ‏.‏ قَالَ مُسَدَّدٌ ‏"‏ امْرَأَتَهُ فِي دُبُرِهَا فَقَدْ بَرِئَ مِمَّا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ ‏"‏ ‏.‏

Narrated AbuHurayrah: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If anyone resorts to a diviner and believes in what he says (according) to the version of Musa), or has intercourse with his wife (according to the agreed version) when she is menstruating, or has intercourse with his wife through her anus, he has nothing to do with what has been sent down to Muhammad (ﷺ) - according to the version of Musaddad

حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، وَمُسَدَّدٌ، - الْمَعْنَى - قَالاَ حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى، عَنْ عُبَيْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ الأَخْنَسِ، عَنِ الْوَلِيدِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، عَنْ يُوسُفَ بْنِ مَاهَكَ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ "‏ مَنِ اقْتَبَسَ عِلْمًا مِنَ النُّجُومِ اقْتَبَسَ شُعْبَةً مِنَ السِّحْرِ زَادَ مَا زَادَ ‏"‏ ‏.‏

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If anyone acquires any knowledge of astrology, he acquires a branch of magic of which he gets more as long as he continues to do so

حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الْمُثَنَّى، حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الْوَهَّابِ، حَدَّثَنَا أَيُّوبُ، عَنْ أَبِي قِلاَبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا مَالِكٌ، قَالَ أَتَيْنَا النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم وَنَحْنُ شَبَبَةٌ مُتَقَارِبُونَ، فَأَقَمْنَا عِنْدَهُ عِشْرِينَ لَيْلَةً، وَكَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم رَفِيقًا، فَلَمَّا ظَنَّ أَنَّا قَدِ اشْتَهَيْنَا أَهْلَنَا أَوْ قَدِ اشْتَقْنَا سَأَلَنَا عَمَّنْ تَرَكْنَا بَعْدَنَا فَأَخْبَرْنَاهُ قَالَ ‏ "‏ ارْجِعُوا إِلَى أَهْلِيكُمْ، فَأَقِيمُوا فِيهِمْ، وَعَلِّمُوهُمْ، وَمُرُوهُمْ ـ وَذَكَرَ أَشْيَاءَ أَحْفَظُهَا أَوْ لاَ أَحْفَظُهَا ـ وَصَلُّوا كَمَا رَأَيْتُمُونِي أُصَلِّي، فَإِذَا حَضَرَتِ الصَّلاَةُ فَلْيُؤَذِّنْ لَكُمْ أَحَدُكُمْ، وَلْيَؤُمَّكُمْ أَكْبَرُكُمْ ‏"‏‏.‏

Narrated Malik:We came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and we were young men nearly of equal ages and we stayed with him for twenty nights. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) was a very kind man and when he realized our longing for our families, he asked us about those whom we had left behind. When we informed him, he said, "Go back to your families and stay with them and teach them (religion) and order them (to do good deeds). The Prophet (ﷺ) mentioned things some of which I remembered and some I did not. Then he said, "Pray as you have seen me praying, and when it is the time of prayer, one of you should pronounce the call (Adhan) for the prayer and the eldest of you should lead the prayer

حَدَّثَنَا مُسَدَّدٌ، عَنْ يَحْيَى، عَنِ التَّيْمِيِّ، عَنْ أَبِي عُثْمَانَ، عَنِ ابْنِ مَسْعُودٍ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ "‏ لاَ يَمْنَعَنَّ أَحَدَكُمْ أَذَانُ بِلاَلٍ مِنْ سَحُورِهِ، فَإِنَّهُ يُؤَذِّنُ ـ أَوْ قَالَ يُنَادِي ـ لِيَرْجِعَ قَائِمَكُمْ، وَيُنَبِّهَ نَائِمَكُمْ، وَلَيْسَ الْفَجْرُ أَنْ يَقُولَ هَكَذَا ـ وَجَمَعَ يَحْيَى كَفَّيْهِ ـ حَتَّى يَقُولَ هَكَذَا ‏"‏‏.‏ وَمَدَّ يَحْيَى إِصْبَعَيْهِ السَّبَّابَتَيْنِ‏.‏

Narrated Ibn Mas`ud:Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "The (call for prayer) Adhan of Bilal should not stop anyone of you from taking his Suhur for he pronounces the Adhan in order that whoever among you is praying the night prayer, may return (to eat his Suhur) and whoever among you is sleeping, may get up, for it is not yet dawn (when it is like this)." (Yahya, the sub-narrator stretched his two index fingers side ways)

حَدَّثَنَا هِشَامُ بْنُ عَمَّارٍ، حَدَّثَنَا مَالِكُ بْنُ أَنَسٍ، حَدَّثَنِي إِسْحَاقُ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ أَبِي طَلْحَةَ، عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ ‏ "‏ الرُّؤْيَا الْحَسَنَةُ مِنَ الرَّجُلِ الصَّالِحِ جُزْءٌ مِنْ سِتَّةٍ وَأَرْبَعِينَ جُزْءًا مِنَ النُّبُوَّةِ ‏"‏ ‏.‏

It was narrated from Anas bin Malik that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:“A good dream from a righteous man is one of the forty-six parts of prophecy.”

حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الأَعْلَى، عَنْ مَعْمَرٍ، عَنِ الزُّهْرِيِّ، عَنْ سَعِيدٍ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ قَالَ ‏ "‏ رُؤْيَا الْمُؤْمِنِ جُزْءٌ مِنْ سِتَّةٍ وَأَرْبَعِينَ جُزْءًا مِنَ النُّبُوَّةِ ‏"‏ ‏.‏

It was narrated from Abu Hurairah that the Prophet (ﷺ) said:“The dream of a believer is one of the forty-six parts of prophecy.”

والظن بأحمد بن حنبل رضي الله عنه أنه علم أن الاستواء ليس هو الاستقرار والنزول ليس هو الانتقال ولكنه منع من التأويل حسما للباب ورعاية لصلاح الخلق

والظن ما تركن إليه النفس ويميل القلب، فليس لك أن تظن بالمسلم شرا، إلا إذا انكشف أمر لا يحتمل التأويل فإن أخبرك بذلك عدل، فمال قلبك إلى تصديقه، كنت معذورا، لأنك لو كذبته كنت قد أسأت الظن بالمخبر، فلا ينبغي أن تحسن الظن بواحد وتسيئه بآخر، بل ينبغي أن تبحث، هل بينهما عداوة وحسد؟ فتتطرق التهمة حينئذ بسبب ذلك، ومتى خطر لك خاطر سوء على مسلم، فينبغي أن تزيد في مراعاته وتدعو له بالخير، فإن ذلك يغيظ الشيطان ويدفعه عنك، فلا يلقى إليك خاطر السوء خيفة من اشتغالك بالدعاء والمراعاة.

ففعل هذه الرخص أرجح وأفضل من تركها النوع الثاني : رخص التأويلات واختلاف المذاهب فهذه تتبعها حرام ينقص الرغبة ويوهن الطلب ويرجع بالمترخص إلى غثاثة الرخص

ولا يتكلف لها تأويلا أراد بالتأويل ههنا : التأويل الاصطلاحي وهو صرف اللفظ عن ظاهره عن المعنى الراجح إلى المعنى المرجوح

وهذا أحد التأويلات في الأثر الإسرائيلي اعرف نفسك تعرف ربك

ومن تأمل كيفية ورود آيات الصفات في القرآن والسنة علم قطعا بطلان تأويلها بما يخرجها عن حقائقها فإنها وردت على وجه لا يحتمل معه التأويل بوجه

Perfectly imperfect: The use of cognitive bias modification to reduce perfectionism.: Background and objectives: Perfectionism is a transdiagnostic risk and maintenance factor for psychopathology. The current study developed and evaluated a cognitive bias modification, interpretation retraining (CBM-I) intervention targeting maladaptive perfectionistic beliefs. Methods: Participants were undergraduate students randomized to complete the perfectionism CBM-I (n = 33) or control condition task (n = 36) at two time points. Additionally, participants completed measures of perfectionis

Guided self-help concreteness training as an intervention for major depression in primary care: a Phase II randomized controlled trial.: Background: The development of widely accessible, effective psychological interventions for depression is a priority. This randomized trial provides the first controlled data on an innovative cognitive bias modification (CBM) training guided self-help intervention for depression. Method: One hundred and twenty-one consecutively recruited participants meeting criteria for current major depression were randomly allocated to treatment as usual (TAU) or to TAU plus concreteness training (CNT) guided

Assessing treatments used to reduce rumination and/or worry: a systematic review.: Perseverative cognitions such as rumination and worry are key components of mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. Given the frequent comorbidity of conditions in which rumination and worry are present, it is possible that they are underpinned by the same cognitive process. Furthermore, rumination and worry appear to be part of a causal chain that can lead to long-term health consequences, including cardiovascular disease and other chronic conditions. It is important therefore to under

Mind-wandering, cognition, and performance: a theory-driven meta-analysis of attention regulation.: The current meta-analysis accumulates empirical findings on the phenomenon of mind-wandering, integrating and interpreting findings in light of psychological theories of cognitive resource allocation. Cognitive resource theory emphasizes both individual differences in attentional resources and task demands together to predict variance in task performance. This theory motivated our conceptual and meta-analysis framework by introducing moderators indicative of task-demand to predict who is more li

Physiological concomitants of perseverative cognition: A systematic review and meta-analysis.: Rumination about the past and worries about the future (perseverative cognition) are extremely common, although pervasive and distressing, dysfunctional cognitive processes. Perseverative cognition is not only implicated in psychological health, contributing to mood worsening and psychopathology but, due to its ability to elicit prolonged physiological activity, is also considered to play a role in somatic health. Although there is emerging evidence that such negative and persistent thoughts hav

Cognitive appraisals and emotions predict cortisol and immune responses: a meta-analysis of acute laboratory social stressors and emotion inductions.: Models of stress and health suggest that emotions mediate the effects of stress on health; yet meta-analytic reviews have not confirmed these relationships. Categorizations of emotions along broad dimensions such as valence (e.g., positive and negative affect) may obscure important information about the effects of specific emotions on physiology. Within the context of the integrated specificity model, we present a novel theoretical framework that posits that specific emotional responses associat

When is your head at? An exploration of the factors associated with the temporal focus of the wandering mind.

Two experiments employed experience sampling to examine the factors associated with a prospective and retrospective focus during mind wandering. Experiment One explored the contribution of working memory and indicated that participants generally prospect when the task does not require continuous monitoring. Experiment Two demonstrated that in the context of reading, interest in what was read suppressed both past and future-related task-unrelated-thought. Moreover, in disinterested individuals the temporal focus during mind wandering depended on the amount of experience with the topic matter-less experienced individuals tended to prospect, while more experienced individuals tended to retrospect. Together these results suggest that during mind wandering participants' are inclined to prospect as long as the task does not require their undivided attention and raise the intriguing possibility…

matched on Thinking (mesh)

Negative affect and anger rumination as mediators between forgiveness and sleep quality.

Research indicates that forgiveness of interpersonal transgressions relates to better sleep quality, whereas maintaining feelings of anger and hostility relates to poorer sleep quality. However, the mechanisms explaining these relationships have yet to be determined. We examined whether negative affect and anger rumination mediate the relationship between forgiveness of others and sleep quality using a sample of 277 undergraduates from a medium-sized Midwestern Catholic university. Participants completed self-report questionnaires assessing forgiveness of others (situational and dispositional), sleep quality (nocturnal sleep and daytime fatigue), negative affect (depression and anxiety), and anger rumination. Using structural equation modeling, we found that negative affect and anger rumination mediated the relationship between forgiveness and sleep quality through two indirect pathways.…

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Processing memories of anger-eliciting events: the effect of asking 'why' from a distance.

Preliminary experimental evidence suggests that ruminating about anger-eliciting events exacerbates anger and associated affect. However, no research has investigated the effect of rumination on processing memories of these events. This study examined the impact of manipulating cognitive processing when recalling anger-eliciting events. Participants (N=60) outlined an anger-related experience and were randomly allocated to recall the event according to an experimental instruction that manipulated recall perspective and emotional focus (distanced-why, distanced-what, immersed-why or immersed-what). Participants completed measures of negative affect and implicit and explicit anger, and returned the following day to complete measures that indexed frequency of intrusive memories of the event and memory-related distress. Contrary to prediction, participants allocated to the distanced-why cond…

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Reduced autobiographical memory specificity predicts depression and posttraumatic stress disorder after recent trauma.

In this prospective longitudinal study, the authors examined the relationship between reduced specificity in autobiographical memory retrieval and the development of depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and specific phobia after injury in an assault. Assault survivors (N = 203) completed the Autobiographical Memory Test (J. M. G. Williams & K. Broadbent, 1986) at 2 weeks after the trauma as well as structured clinical interviews at 2 weeks and 6 months. Participants with acute stress disorder or major depression at 2 weeks, but not those with phobia, retrieved fewer specific autobiographical memories than those without the respective disorder. Reduced memory specificity at 2 weeks also predicted subsequent PTSD and major depression at 6 months over and above what could be predicted from initial diagnoses and symptom severity. Moderator analyses showed that low memory specifi…

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On the mediating role of subtypes of rumination in the relationship between childhood emotional abuse and depressed mood: brooding versus reflection.

Background: We examined the mediating role of rumination in the relationship between emotional abuse and depression, focusing on two subtypes of rumination: reflection versus brooding. Methods: Students (n=101) completed the Emotional Abuse subscale of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire; the Ruminative Response Scale; and the Beck Depression Inventory. Results: Rumination was found to mediate the relationship between childhood emotional abuse and depressive symptoms. Further analyses showed that this was only the case for the brooding but not the reflective subtype of rumination. Conclusions: Results further evidence the role of rumination as a mediator of the relationship between childhood maltreatment and depression, and are consistent with the recently proposed distinction between different subtypes or forms of rumination.

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Rumination and depression in adolescence: investigating symptom specificity in a multiwave prospective study.

A ruminative response style has been shown to predict depressive symptoms among youth and adults, but it is unclear whether rumination is associated specifically with depression compared with co-occurring symptoms of anxiety and externalizing behaviors. This prospective, multiwave study investigated whether baseline rumination predicted prospective elevations in depressive symptoms specifically. Rumination was assessed at baseline in a sample of early and middle adolescents (N = 350, 6-10th graders). Symptom measures of depression, anxious arousal, general internalizing, and conduct/externalizing problems with good discriminant validity were assessed at four time points over a 5-month period. Results using hierarchical linear modeling show that rumination predicted prospective fluctuations in symptoms of depression and general internalizing problems specifically but not anxious arousal o…

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Thoughts and emotions during traumatic birth: a qualitative study.

Background: Previous research shows that 1 to 6 percent of women will develop symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder after childbirth. The objective of this study was to examine thoughts and emotions during birth, cognitive processing after birth, and memories of birth that might be important in the development of postnatal posttraumatic stress symptoms. Methods: In a qualitative study, women with posttraumatic stress symptoms (n= 25) and without (n = 25) were matched for obstetric events to examine the nonmedical aspects of birth that made it traumatic. Women were interviewed 3 months after birth. Results: The following themes emerged for all women: thoughts during birth included mental coping strategies, wanting labor to end, poor understanding of what was going on, and mental defeat. More negative than positive emotions were described during birth, primarily feeling scared, frighte…

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Is death really the worm at the core? Converging evidence that worldview threat increases death-thought accessibility.

According to terror management theory, if the cultural worldview protects people from thoughts about death, then weakening this structure should increase death-thought accessibility (DTA). Five studies tested this DTA hypothesis. Study 1 showed that threatening Canadian participants' cultural values (vs. those of another culture) increased DTA on a word-fragment completion task. Study 2 showed that when participants could dismiss the threat, DTA remained low. Study 3 replicated the results of Study 1, but DTA was measured using a lexical decision task. Response latencies to death, negative, and neutral content were measured. Worldview threat increased DTA relative to accessibility for negative and neutral content. Study 4 showed that the DTA effect emerged independently of the arousal of anger or anxiety. Finally, Study 5 demonstrated that participants with a pro-creation (vs. pro-evolut…

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Initial psychometric properties of the experiences questionnaire: validation of a self-report measure of decentering.

Decentering is defined as the ability to observe one's thoughts and feelings as temporary, objective events in the mind, as opposed to reflections of the self that are necessarily true. The Experiences Questionnaire (EQ) was designed to measure both decentering and rumination but has not been empirically validated. The current study investigated the factor structure of the EQ in both undergraduate and clinical populations. A single, unifactorial decentering construct emerged using 2 undergraduate samples. The convergent and discriminant validity of this decentering factor was demonstrated in negative relationships with measures of depression symptoms, depressive rumination, experiential avoidance, and emotion regulation. Finally, the factor structure of the EQ was replicated in a clinical sample of individuals in remission from depression, and the decentering factor evidenced a negative …

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Rumination in posttraumatic stress disorder.

Recent studies have shown that rumination is a powerful predictor of persistent posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, to date, the mechanisms by which rumination maintains PTSD symptoms are little understood. Two studies of assault survivors, a cross-sectional (N = 81) and a 6-month prospective longitudinal study (N = 73), examined several facets of ruminative thinking to establish which aspects of rumination provide the link to PTSD. The current investigation showed that rumination is not only used as a strategy to cope with intrusive memories but it also triggers such memories. Certain characteristics of rumination, such as compulsion to continue ruminating, occurrence of unproductive thoughts, and "why" and "what if" type questions, as well as negative emotions before and after rumination, were significantly associated with PTSD, concurrently and prospectively. These characte…

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Brooding and reflection: rumination predicts suicidal ideation at 1-year follow-up in a community sample.

The cognitive processes underlying suicidal thinking and behavior are not well understood. The present study examined brooding and reflection, two dimensions of rumination, as predictors of suicidal ideation among a community sample of 1134 adults. Participants completed self-report measures of rumination and depression, and a semi-structured clinical interview that included an assessment of suicidal ideation, at baseline and 1-year follow-up. Brooding was more strongly related to degree of ideation at baseline than was reflection. However, both brooding and reflection predicted whether an individual thought about suicide at 1-year follow-up, even after adjusting for baseline suicidal ideation. Symptoms of depression mediated the relationship between brooding and ideation but not that between reflection and ideation. Implications for the nature of thought processes that result in suicida…

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Rumination and attention in major depression.

Up until recently, it had been assumed that attentional biases for negative information do not exist in depression. However studies using post-conscious exposure durations have produced contradictory results. The limitations of common attentional tasks, suitability of stimulus materials and differences in stimulus duration times may have contributed to these inconsistencies. We aimed to address many of these issues and examine attentional responses in major depression at two post-conscious exposure times. We also investigated possible roles for rumination and distraction in increasing and lessening attentional biases for negative information. We used a fully controlled experimental design to test the effects of both induced and trait rumination and distraction on attention in patients with major depression and healthy controls. Attention was assessed using the dot-probe task. The finding…

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Anticipation of aversive stimuli activates extended amygdala in unipolar depression.

According to cognitive theories, negative cognitions including negative attitudes towards the future are key factors associated with depressive disorder. We investigated the neural correlates of anticipation of emotional stimuli in patients with unipolar depression to reveal influences of future thinking on brain activity. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study 12 female patients with stable antidepressant medication and 12 healthy women. Subjects were presented with positive, negative and neutral pictures that were announced by a congruent cue. Subjects were instructed to expect and subsequently watch the pictures. After scanning, subjects filled the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) to assess the regulation strategies suppression and reappraisal. Compared to the healthy control group, during expectation of negative vs. neutral or positive stimuli the patient…

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The role of thought suppression in the relationship between mindfulness meditation and alcohol use.

Previous studies have demonstrated that attempts to suppress thoughts about using substances may actually lead to increases in substance use. Vipassana, a mindfulness meditation practice, emphasizes acceptance, rather than suppression, of unwanted thoughts. A study by Bowen and colleagues examining the effects of a Vipassana course on substance use in an incarcerated population showed significant reductions in substance use among the Vipassana group as compared to a treatment - usual control condition [Bowen S., Witkiewitz K., Dillworth T.M., Chawla N., Simpson T.L., Ostafin B.D., et al. (2006). Mindfulness Meditation and Substance Use in an Incarcerated Population. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.]. The current study further examines the mediating effects of thought suppression in the relationship between participation in the course and subsequent alcohol use. Those who participated i…

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Is post-event processing specific for social anxiety?

In their model of social phobia, Clark and Wells [1995. A cognitive model of social phobia. In R. G. Heimberg, M. Liebowitz, D. A. Hope & F. Schneier (Eds.), Social phobia: Diagnosis, assessment, and treatment (pp. 69-93). New York, London: The Guilford Press] introduced a process called "post-event processing" (PEP), which is characterized by prolonged rumination about past social situations. The present study examined to what extent PEP is specific for (a) social anxiety or (b) social situations. In a cross-sectional study, 217 participants reported about a social and a phobic event followed by negative thinking. PEP as well as its potential predictors such as social anxiety, general anxiety, and depression were measured by questionnaires. Results showed that social events were followed more often and by more intense PEP. Further confirming specificity, the fear of negative evaluation …

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The lights are on but no one's home: meta-awareness and the decoupling of attention when the mind wanders.

In a recent review, we suggested that an important aspect of mind-wandering is whether participants are aware that they are off task (Smallwood & Schooler, 2006). We tested this hypothesis by examining the information-processing correlates of mind wandering with and without awareness in a task requiring participants to encode words and detect targets with either a high or a low probability. Target detection was measured via response inhibition. Mind wandering in the absence of awareness was associated with a failure to supervise task performance, as indicated by short RTs, and was predictive of failures in response inhibition. Under conditions of low target probability, mind wandering was associated with a relative absence of the influence of recollection at retrieval. The results are consistent with the notion that mind wandering involves a state of decoupled attention and emphasizes th…

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Rumination, fear, and cortisol: an in vivo study of interpersonal transgressions.

The authors sought to examine whether rumination about psychologically painful, though nontraumatic, interpersonal transgressions is associated with increased salivary cortisol. They measured salivary cortisol, rumination about a transgression, fear and anger regarding the transgressor, perceived painfulness of the transgression, and positive and negative mood in 115 undergraduates who had experienced an interpersonal transgression during the previous 7 days. They obtained measurements on as many as 5 occasions separated by approximately 14 days each. On occasions when participants reported that they had been ruminating to a degree that was greater than was typical for them, they had higher levels of salivary cortisol than was typical for them. The rumination- cortisol association appeared to be mediated by fear of the transgressor. Rumination about even moderately painful but nontraumat…

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Predicting short-term outcome in well-being following suicidal behaviour: the conjoint effects of social perfectionism and positive future thinking.

This study investigated an integrative, psychological model of suicidality involving the relationship between perfectionism and future thinking to predict short-term outcome in well-being following a suicidal episode. Two hundred and sixty-seven adults hospitalized following a self-harm episode completed a range of clinical and psychological measures in hospital and were followed up approximately two months after discharge. Hierarchical regression analyses confirmed that, among the suicidal self-harmers who had a history of repetitive self-harm (n=65), outcome among low social perfectionists changed as a function of positive future thinking such that outcome was better for those high on positive thoughts compared with those low on positive future thoughts. There was no such positive change in outcome among the high social perfectionists. There were also no significant interactive effects…

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Coping with breast cancer in newly diagnosed Iranian women.

Aim: This paper reports a study exploring how Iranian women coped with newly diagnosed breast cancer and provides a foundation for cultural-based care. Background: Although research has indicated that coping strategies are associated with adaptation to breast cancer, and despite the number of women with newly diagnosed breast cancer increasing each year, there is no information on how Iranian women cope with breast cancer when compared with women of other cultures. Method: In this qualitative study, 19 women with newly diagnosed breast cancer were interviewed during the period May-September 2004 about coping with their disease. Interviews were analysed using a content analysis method. Findings: The main themes emerging from this qualitative study included coping using a religious approach (acceptance of disease as God's will; spiritual fighting), thinking about the disease (positive thin…

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