A Cognitive-behavioral Approach of Rumination as Intervention for Overgeneral Mode of Processing in Perfectionism: a Single-case Experimental Design
Trial Snapshot
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Status
- Completed
- Enrollment
- 13
- Locations
- 1
- Primary Endpoint
- Anxiety - Generalized Anxiety Disorder Screener (GAD-7; Spitzer, Kroenke, Williams, Löwe, 2008)
Study Overview
Brief Summary
This study aims to investigate the mediating role of rumination in the relationship between perfectionism and psychological distress, by proposing a cognitive-behavioral intervention targeting rumination. This intervention aims at decreasing - or even neutralizing - the effect of the mediator and then examining how this decrease impacts the relationship between perfectionism and psychological distress.
A randomized, concurrent, multiple-baseline single-case design will be applied.
Detailed Description
Perfectionism is defined as "exceedingly high standards of performance accompanied by critical evaluations of oneself and others and a fear of negative social evaluation if not perfect". Factorial analyses of the two main perfectionism scales have identified two overarching dimensions: Perfectionistic Strivings and Perfectionistic Concerns. The perfectionistic concerns dimension is generally associated with negative outcomes and psychopathology, while perfectionistic strivings have been found to yield both positive outcomes and negative outcomes.
Perfectionism is a central transdiagnostic phenomenon involved in the maintenance of multiple psychological disorders (e.g., anorexia nervosa, obsessive compulsive disorder, chronic fatigue, and depression). After decades of research focusing on scales development or relying exclusively on correlational studies, the experimental investigation of the processes underlying perfectionism is just emerging. On a theoretical basis, two processes related to emotional information processing seem particularly relevant: rumination and autobiographical memory. The objective of this study is to investigate with a randomized, concurrent, multiple-baseline single-case design the contribution of these processes to perfectionists' psychological vulnerability.
Rumination is defined as a mental process characterized by repetitive, prolonged, and recurrent thinking about one's concerns and one's experience. The control theory suggests that individuals engage in rumination when perceiving a discrepancy between their goals and their current condition, and stay in this mode of thinking until the goal is either attained or abandoned. Based on this theoretical background, recent research suggests that rumination could be one of the processes explaining the perfectionistic vulnerability to psychological distress, by perseveringly focusing on the discrepancy between high and demanding standards and the actual performance. However, only few study has experimentally manipulated this process, thus precluding from any causal inference.
Autobiographical memories are "memories about personal experiences that go beyond the mere factual description of the event to include personal beliefs, emotions, and thoughts". One feature of those memories is the specificity level defined as "the extent to which retrieved autobiographical memories are specific or not (i.e., memory of a particular event that happened at a particular time and place that lasted no more than one day). Difficulty with retrieving such specific memories is called overgeneral autobiographical memory".
The perfectionism cognition theory aims to clarify how autobiographical memory and working memory might be affected by perfectionist tendencies. It especially postulates retroactive loops between (a) repetitive thinking, (b) an overdeveloped memory for mistakes, failures, and stressful experiences, and (c) a hypervigilance and cognitive bias toward related cues that signal the possibility of failure, mistakes, and negative social evaluation. These authors suggested that perfectionists are characterized by deficits in attentional capacity and working memory during times of stress. This promising cognitive approach has partially been supported. For example, a recent meta-analysis states that perseverative cognitions (i.e., worry and rumination) mediate the relationship between perfectionism and distress in non-clinical samples. However, empirical evidence of an experimental nature is still needed, in particular for the postulated autobiographical memory and working memory biases.
Study Design
- Study Type
- Interventional
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Intervention Model
- Parallel
- Primary Purpose
- Treatment
- Masking
- None
Masking Description
A computerized version of the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT; Williams et Broadbent, 1986) will be used to assess the overgeneral processing. This task focused on retrieving past memories of personal events.
AMT raters will be not involved in any other aspect of the study procedures. The memories will also be presented to the raters in a randomized order, so that there was no possibility of guessing who completed them or when.
Eligibility Criteria
- Ages
- 18 Years to — (Adult, Older Adult)
- Sex
- All
- Accepts Healthy Volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria
- •Being native French speakers
- •Reporting significant levels of (1) perfectionism, (2) abstract and evaluative repetitive thinking, and (3) anxio-depressive symptoms.
Exclusion Criteria
- •Being involved in a therapeutic treatment.
- •Being under 18 years old.
Arms & Interventions
First wave with 6 participants
Once selected, an individual online information session will be scheduled with each selected participant to explain the project and its practical implications. At this time, six of the twelve participants will be provided a link to complete online measures as the A-baseline phase, to constitute their own non-intervention control condition on the target behavior (i.e., rumination) and on positive and negative emotions. The other six participants will be entered into a 3-week waiting list period with a sequential introduction, to provide another non-intervention control condition.
The A-baseline phase length will include at least 5 measures and most 10 measures, resulting in 10 potential starting point for the B-experimental phase. This range will be determined to estimate autocorrelation and its associated bias.
Intervention: A cognitive-behavioral approach of rumination as intervention for overgeneral mode of processing in perfectionism (Behavioral)
Second wave with 6 other participants
After three weeks, the six participants on the waiting list will also begin the same A-baseline phase as the six participants of the first wave.
Intervention: A cognitive-behavioral approach of rumination as intervention for overgeneral mode of processing in perfectionism (Behavioral)
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Anxiety - Generalized Anxiety Disorder Screener (GAD-7; Spitzer, Kroenke, Williams, Löwe, 2008)
Time Frame: Three months after the end of the intervention
The GAD-7 is a seven-items questionnaire with a Likert type scale ranging from 0 ("not at all") to 3 ("nearly every day"). It assesses the presence and the severity of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition) symptom criteria for Generalized Anxiety Disorder over the past week.
Multiple measures of Rumination state - State Repetitive Thoughts Questionnaire (SRTQ; Philippot et al., n.d.).
Time Frame: before the beginning of the intervention
The SRTQ is a 10-item questionnaire, with a Likert type scale ranging from 1 ("totally disagree") to 5 ("totally agree"). It assesses the three modes of repetitive thinking (i.e., AERT, CERT, and CDRT) in their state form (i.e., subject to continuous changes and under many influences), in contrast with the RTMQ that assesses repetitive thinking as a stable individual characteristic.
Measure of change - Daily positive and negative emotions - Visual Analog Mood Scale (VAMS; McNally, Litz, Prassas, Shin, & Weathers, 1994).
Time Frame: During two weeks after the end of the intervention, to assess the change from the 3-week intervention
The VAMS is a seven-item questionnaire, with a Likert type scale ranging from 0 ("not at all") to 100 ("extremely"). It assesses the intensity of emotional states in the last few minutes: happy, sad, anxious, angry, emotionally aroused, in a positive mood, and in a negative mood. This questionnaire is used as a psychological distress measure.
Perfectionism - Hewitt and Flett's Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (HMPS; Hewitt & Flett,1991)
Time Frame: Three months after the end of the intervention
The HMPS includes 45 items assessing the three following subdimensions: Self-Oriented Perfectionism (SOP, reflecting "setting exacting standards for oneself and stringently evaluating and censuring one's own behavior" in the present study), Socially Prescribed Perfectionism (SPP, reflecting "the perceived need to attain standards and expectations prescribed by significant others"), and Other-Oriented Perfectionism (OOP, reflecting "unrealistic standards for significant others, places importance on other people being perfect, and stringently evaluates others' performance"). Participants completed the questionnaire with a Likert type scale ranging from 1 ("totally disagree") to 7 ("totally agree").
Depression - Center for Epidemiologic Studies - Depression (CES-D; Radloff, 1997)
Time Frame: Three months after the end of the intervention
The CES-D is a 20-item questionnaire with a Likert type scale ranging to 0 \["rarely or none of the time (less than 1 day)"\] to 3 \["most or all of the time (5-7 days)"\]. It assesses the frequency of the main symptoms of depression over the past week. Those symptoms are categorized into four subscales: depressed affect (DA), positive affect (PA), somatic complaints (SC), and disturbed interpersonal relationships (IR).
Rumination trait - Repetitive Thinking Mode Questionnaire (RTMQ; Philippot, Verschuren, & Douilliez, in press).
Time Frame: Three months after the end of the intervention
The RTMQ is a 18-item questionnaire, with a Likert type scale ranging from 1 ("almost never") to 4 ("almost always"). It assesses three dimensions of repetitive thinking processes : (a) abstract evaluative mode of repetitive thinking (AERT; " thoughts at an abstract, overgeneral level that address the causes and consequence of one's mood or condition, oriented toward the past and future rather than toward the present moment"), (b) concrete experiential mode of repetitive thinking (CERT; " mode of thinking centered on how one is presently feeling and experiencing the ongoing situation, and how a present experience unfolds"), and (c) creative dendritic mode of repetitive thinking (CDRT; "extremely fluent and flexible thinking, with creative content \[new and original ideas\], not necessarily centered on here and now experience".
Autobiographical Memory - The computerized version of the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT; Williams et Broadbent, 1986).
Time Frame: Three months after the end of the intervention
This task focuses on retrieving past memories of personal events. A cue word appear on the computer screen. Participants have to click on a button as soon as they had retrieved a specific and autobiographical memory triggered by the cue word, in the time-limit of 1 minute after the cue onset. A window then appears to write the memory with as much specific and contextual details as possible. Before starting this task, participants are specified that the memory must have happened once and lasted less than 24 hours.After describing the memory, participants also have to judge (on a Likert type scale ranging from 0 to 10) the emotional intensity of the reported event. Moreover, they have to assess whether their memory was (1) pleasant, (2) unpleasant or (3) neutral. Finally, participants estimate the year during which this memory occurred. This AMT contains 6 French common nouns per time-measurement (3 success-relevant words, and 3 failure-relevant words) presented in a random order.
Perfectionism - Frost, Marten, Lahart, and Rosenblate's Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS; Frost, Marten, Lahart, and Rosenblate, 1990)
Time Frame: Three months after the end of the intervention
The FMPS is a 35-item questionnaire assessing six subdimensions: Concern Over Mistakes (CM, reflecting "negative reactions to mistakes, a tendency to interpret mistakes as equivalent to failure, and a tendency to believe that one will lose the respect of others following failure"), Personal Standards (PS, reflecting "the setting of very high standards and the excessive importance placed on these high standards for self-evaluation"), Doubts About Actions (DA, reflecting "the tendency to feel that projects are not completed to satisfaction"), Parental Expectations (PE, reflecting "the tendency to believe that one's parents set very high goals and are overly critical"), Parental Criticism (PC, reflecting "the perception of high parental criticism"), and Organization (O, reflecting "the emphasis on the importance of and preference for order and organization"). Participants completed the questionnaire with a Likert type scale ranging from 1 ("strongly disagree") to 5 ("strongly agree").
Daily positive and negative emotions - Visual Analog Mood Scale (VAMS; McNally, Litz, Prassas, Shin, & Weathers, 1994).
Time Frame: before the beginning of the intervention.
The VAMS is a seven-item questionnaire, with a Likert type scale ranging from 0 ("not at all") to 100 ("extremely"). It assesses the intensity of emotional states in the last few minutes: happy, sad, anxious, angry, emotionally aroused, in a positive mood, and in a negative mood. This questionnaire is used as a psychological distress measure.
Measure of change - Multiple measures of Rumination state - State Repetitive Thoughts Questionnaire (SRTQ; Philippot et al., n.d.).
Time Frame: During two weeks after the end of the intervention, to assess the change from the 3-week intervention
The SRTQ is a 10-item questionnaire, with a Likert type scale ranging from 1 ("totally disagree") to 5 ("totally agree"). It assesses the three modes of repetitive thinking (i.e., AERT, CERT, and CDRT) in their state form (i.e., subject to continuous changes and under many influences), in contrast with the RTMQ that assesses repetitive thinking as a stable individual characteristic.
Perfectionism - Hewitt and Flett's Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (HMPS; Hewitt & Flett,1991)
Time Frame: For the recruitment, i.e. until the number of 6 participants is reached for the second wave of the study (approximately two months after the beginning of the study)
The HMPS includes 45 items assessing the three following subdimensions: Self-Oriented Perfectionism (SOP, reflecting "setting exacting standards for oneself and stringently evaluating and censuring one's own behavior" in the present study), Socially Prescribed Perfectionism (SPP, reflecting "the perceived need to attain standards and expectations prescribed by significant others"), and Other-Oriented Perfectionism (OOP, reflecting "unrealistic standards for significant others, places importance on other people being perfect, and stringently evaluates others' performance"). Participants completed the questionnaire with a Likert type scale ranging from 1 ("totally disagree") to 7 ("totally agree").
Perfectionism - Hewitt and Flett's Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (HMPS; Hewitt & Flett,1991)
Time Frame: The day before the beginning of the intervention
The HMPS includes 45 items assessing the three following subdimensions: Self-Oriented Perfectionism (SOP, reflecting "setting exacting standards for oneself and stringently evaluating and censuring one's own behavior" in the present study), Socially Prescribed Perfectionism (SPP, reflecting "the perceived need to attain standards and expectations prescribed by significant others"), and Other-Oriented Perfectionism (OOP, reflecting "unrealistic standards for significant others, places importance on other people being perfect, and stringently evaluates others' performance"). Participants completed the questionnaire with a Likert type scale ranging from 1 ("totally disagree") to 7 ("totally agree").
Perfectionism - Hewitt and Flett's Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (HMPS; Hewitt & Flett,1991)
Time Frame: Once participants have completed 4 sessions of the intervention, about a week and a half after the beginning of the intervention
The HMPS includes 45 items assessing the three following subdimensions: Self-Oriented Perfectionism (SOP, reflecting "setting exacting standards for oneself and stringently evaluating and censuring one's own behavior" in the present study), Socially Prescribed Perfectionism (SPP, reflecting "the perceived need to attain standards and expectations prescribed by significant others"), and Other-Oriented Perfectionism (OOP, reflecting "unrealistic standards for significant others, places importance on other people being perfect, and stringently evaluates others' performance"). Participants completed the questionnaire with a Likert type scale ranging from 1 ("totally disagree") to 7 ("totally agree").
Perfectionism - Hewitt and Flett's Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (HMPS; Hewitt & Flett,1991)
Time Frame: Two weeks after the end of the intervention
The HMPS includes 45 items assessing the three following subdimensions: Self-Oriented Perfectionism (SOP, reflecting "setting exacting standards for oneself and stringently evaluating and censuring one's own behavior" in the present study), Socially Prescribed Perfectionism (SPP, reflecting "the perceived need to attain standards and expectations prescribed by significant others"), and Other-Oriented Perfectionism (OOP, reflecting "unrealistic standards for significant others, places importance on other people being perfect, and stringently evaluates others' performance"). Participants completed the questionnaire with a Likert type scale ranging from 1 ("totally disagree") to 7 ("totally agree").
Perfectionism - Frost, Marten, Lahart, and Rosenblate's Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS; Frost, Marten, Lahart, and Rosenblate, 1990)
Time Frame: For the recruitment, i.e. until the number of 6 participants is reached for the second wave of the study (approximately two months after the beginning of the study)
The FMPS is a 35-item questionnaire assessing six subdimensions: Concern Over Mistakes (CM, reflecting "negative reactions to mistakes, a tendency to interpret mistakes as equivalent to failure, and a tendency to believe that one will lose the respect of others following failure"), Personal Standards (PS, reflecting "the setting of very high standards and the excessive importance placed on these high standards for self-evaluation"), Doubts About Actions (DA, reflecting "the tendency to feel that projects are not completed to satisfaction"), Parental Expectations (PE, reflecting "the tendency to believe that one's parents set very high goals and are overly critical"), Parental Criticism (PC, reflecting "the perception of high parental criticism"), and Organization (O, reflecting "the emphasis on the importance of and preference for order and organization"). Participants completed the questionnaire with a Likert type scale ranging from 1 ("strongly disagree") to 5 ("strongly agree").
Perfectionism - Frost, Marten, Lahart, and Rosenblate's Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS; Frost, Marten, Lahart, and Rosenblate, 1990)
Time Frame: The day before the beginning of the intervention
The FMPS is a 35-item questionnaire assessing six subdimensions: Concern Over Mistakes (CM, reflecting "negative reactions to mistakes, a tendency to interpret mistakes as equivalent to failure, and a tendency to believe that one will lose the respect of others following failure"), Personal Standards (PS, reflecting "the setting of very high standards and the excessive importance placed on these high standards for self-evaluation"), Doubts About Actions (DA, reflecting "the tendency to feel that projects are not completed to satisfaction"), Parental Expectations (PE, reflecting "the tendency to believe that one's parents set very high goals and are overly critical"), Parental Criticism (PC, reflecting "the perception of high parental criticism"), and Organization (O, reflecting "the emphasis on the importance of and preference for order and organization"). Participants completed the questionnaire with a Likert type scale ranging from 1 ("strongly disagree") to 5 ("strongly agree").
Perfectionism - Frost, Marten, Lahart, and Rosenblate's Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS; Frost, Marten, Lahart, and Rosenblate, 1990)
Time Frame: Once participants have completed 4 sessions of the intervention, about a week and a half after the beginning of the intervention
The FMPS is a 35-item questionnaire assessing six subdimensions: Concern Over Mistakes (CM, reflecting "negative reactions to mistakes, a tendency to interpret mistakes as equivalent to failure, and a tendency to believe that one will lose the respect of others following failure"), Personal Standards (PS, reflecting "the setting of very high standards and the excessive importance placed on these high standards for self-evaluation"), Doubts About Actions (DA, reflecting "the tendency to feel that projects are not completed to satisfaction"), Parental Expectations (PE, reflecting "the tendency to believe that one's parents set very high goals and are overly critical"), Parental Criticism (PC, reflecting "the perception of high parental criticism"), and Organization (O, reflecting "the emphasis on the importance of and preference for order and organization"). Participants completed the questionnaire with a Likert type scale ranging from 1 ("strongly disagree") to 5 ("strongly agree").
Perfectionism - Frost, Marten, Lahart, and Rosenblate's Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS; Frost, Marten, Lahart, and Rosenblate, 1990)
Time Frame: Two weeks after the end of the intervention
The FMPS is a 35-item questionnaire assessing six subdimensions: Concern Over Mistakes (CM, reflecting "negative reactions to mistakes, a tendency to interpret mistakes as equivalent to failure, and a tendency to believe that one will lose the respect of others following failure"), Personal Standards (PS, reflecting "the setting of very high standards and the excessive importance placed on these high standards for self-evaluation"), Doubts About Actions (DA, reflecting "the tendency to feel that projects are not completed to satisfaction"), Parental Expectations (PE, reflecting "the tendency to believe that one's parents set very high goals and are overly critical"), Parental Criticism (PC, reflecting "the perception of high parental criticism"), and Organization (O, reflecting "the emphasis on the importance of and preference for order and organization"). Participants completed the questionnaire with a Likert type scale ranging from 1 ("strongly disagree") to 5 ("strongly agree").
Depression - Center for Epidemiologic Studies - Depression (CES-D; Radloff, 1997)
Time Frame: For the recruitment, i.e. until the number of 6 participants is reached for the second wave of the study (approximately two months after the beginning of the study)
The CES-D is a 20-item questionnaire with a Likert type scale ranging to 0 \["rarely or none of the time (less than 1 day)"\] to 3 \["most or all of the time (5-7 days)"\]. It assesses the frequency of the main symptoms of depression over the past week. Those symptoms are categorized into four subscales: depressed affect (DA), positive affect (PA), somatic complaints (SC), and disturbed interpersonal relationships (IR).
Depression - Center for Epidemiologic Studies - Depression (CES-D; Radloff, 1997)
Time Frame: The day before the beginning of the intervention
The CES-D is a 20-item questionnaire with a Likert type scale ranging to 0 \["rarely or none of the time (less than 1 day)"\] to 3 \["most or all of the time (5-7 days)"\]. It assesses the frequency of the main symptoms of depression over the past week. Those symptoms are categorized into four subscales: depressed affect (DA), positive affect (PA), somatic complaints (SC), and disturbed interpersonal relationships (IR).
Depression - Center for Epidemiologic Studies - Depression (CES-D; Radloff, 1997)
Time Frame: Once participants have completed 4 sessions of the intervention, about a week and a half after the beginning of the intervention
The CES-D is a 20-item questionnaire with a Likert type scale ranging to 0 \["rarely or none of the time (less than 1 day)"\] to 3 \["most or all of the time (5-7 days)"\]. It assesses the frequency of the main symptoms of depression over the past week. Those symptoms are categorized into four subscales: depressed affect (DA), positive affect (PA), somatic complaints (SC), and disturbed interpersonal relationships (IR).
Depression - Center for Epidemiologic Studies - Depression (CES-D; Radloff, 1997)
Time Frame: Two weeks after the end of the intervention
The CES-D is a 20-item questionnaire with a Likert type scale ranging to 0 \["rarely or none of the time (less than 1 day)"\] to 3 \["most or all of the time (5-7 days)"\]. It assesses the frequency of the main symptoms of depression over the past week. Those symptoms are categorized into four subscales: depressed affect (DA), positive affect (PA), somatic complaints (SC), and disturbed interpersonal relationships (IR).
Anxiety - Generalized Anxiety Disorder Screener (GAD-7; Spitzer, Kroenke, Williams, Löwe, 2008)
Time Frame: For the recruitment, i.e. until the number of 6 participants is reached for the second wave of the study (approximately two months after the beginning of the study)
The GAD-7 is a seven-items questionnaire with a Likert type scale ranging from 0 ("not at all") to 3 ("nearly every day"). It assesses the presence and the severity of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition) symptom criteria for Generalized Anxiety Disorder over the past week.
Anxiety - Generalized Anxiety Disorder Screener (GAD-7; Spitzer, Kroenke, Williams, Löwe, 2008)
Time Frame: The day before the beginning of the intervention
The GAD-7 is a seven-items questionnaire with a Likert type scale ranging from 0 ("not at all") to 3 ("nearly every day"). It assesses the presence and the severity of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition) symptom criteria for Generalized Anxiety Disorder over the past week.
Anxiety - Generalized Anxiety Disorder Screener (GAD-7; Spitzer, Kroenke, Williams, Löwe, 2008)
Time Frame: Once participants have completed 4 sessions of the intervention, about a week and a half after the beginning of the intervention
The GAD-7 is a seven-items questionnaire with a Likert type scale ranging from 0 ("not at all") to 3 ("nearly every day"). It assesses the presence and the severity of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition) symptom criteria for Generalized Anxiety Disorder over the past week.
Anxiety - Generalized Anxiety Disorder Screener (GAD-7; Spitzer, Kroenke, Williams, Löwe, 2008)
Time Frame: Two weeks after the end of the intervention
The GAD-7 is a seven-items questionnaire with a Likert type scale ranging from 0 ("not at all") to 3 ("nearly every day"). It assesses the presence and the severity of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition) symptom criteria for Generalized Anxiety Disorder over the past week.
Rumination trait - Repetitive Thinking Mode Questionnaire (RTMQ; Philippot, Verschuren, & Douilliez, in press).
Time Frame: For the recruitment, i.e. until the number of 6 participants is reached for the second wave of the study (approximately two months after the beginning of the study)
The RTMQ is a 18-item questionnaire, with a Likert type scale ranging from 1 ("almost never") to 4 ("almost always"). It assesses three dimensions of repetitive thinking processes : (a) abstract evaluative mode of repetitive thinking (AERT; " thoughts at an abstract, overgeneral level that address the causes and consequence of one's mood or condition, oriented toward the past and future rather than toward the present moment"), (b) concrete experiential mode of repetitive thinking (CERT; " mode of thinking centered on how one is presently feeling and experiencing the ongoing situation, and how a present experience unfolds"), and (c) creative dendritic mode of repetitive thinking (CDRT; "extremely fluent and flexible thinking, with creative content \[new and original ideas\], not necessarily centered on here and now experience".
Rumination trait - Repetitive Thinking Mode Questionnaire (RTMQ; Philippot, Verschuren, & Douilliez, in press).
Time Frame: The day before the beginning of the intervention
The RTMQ is a 18-item questionnaire, with a Likert type scale ranging from 1 ("almost never") to 4 ("almost always"). It assesses three dimensions of repetitive thinking processes : (a) abstract evaluative mode of repetitive thinking (AERT; " thoughts at an abstract, overgeneral level that address the causes and consequence of one's mood or condition, oriented toward the past and future rather than toward the present moment"), (b) concrete experiential mode of repetitive thinking (CERT; " mode of thinking centered on how one is presently feeling and experiencing the ongoing situation, and how a present experience unfolds"), and (c) creative dendritic mode of repetitive thinking (CDRT; "extremely fluent and flexible thinking, with creative content \[new and original ideas\], not necessarily centered on here and now experience".
Rumination trait - Repetitive Thinking Mode Questionnaire (RTMQ; Philippot, Verschuren, & Douilliez, in press).
Time Frame: Once participants have completed 4 sessions of the intervention, about a week and a half after the beginning of the intervention
The RTMQ is a 18-item questionnaire, with a Likert type scale ranging from 1 ("almost never") to 4 ("almost always"). It assesses three dimensions of repetitive thinking processes : (a) abstract evaluative mode of repetitive thinking (AERT; " thoughts at an abstract, overgeneral level that address the causes and consequence of one's mood or condition, oriented toward the past and future rather than toward the present moment"), (b) concrete experiential mode of repetitive thinking (CERT; " mode of thinking centered on how one is presently feeling and experiencing the ongoing situation, and how a present experience unfolds"), and (c) creative dendritic mode of repetitive thinking (CDRT; "extremely fluent and flexible thinking, with creative content \[new and original ideas\], not necessarily centered on here and now experience".
Rumination trait - Repetitive Thinking Mode Questionnaire (RTMQ; Philippot, Verschuren, & Douilliez, in press).
Time Frame: Two weeks after the end of the intervention
The RTMQ is a 18-item questionnaire, with a Likert type scale ranging from 1 ("almost never") to 4 ("almost always"). It assesses three dimensions of repetitive thinking processes : (a) abstract evaluative mode of repetitive thinking (AERT; " thoughts at an abstract, overgeneral level that address the causes and consequence of one's mood or condition, oriented toward the past and future rather than toward the present moment"), (b) concrete experiential mode of repetitive thinking (CERT; " mode of thinking centered on how one is presently feeling and experiencing the ongoing situation, and how a present experience unfolds"), and (c) creative dendritic mode of repetitive thinking (CDRT; "extremely fluent and flexible thinking, with creative content \[new and original ideas\], not necessarily centered on here and now experience".
Autobiographical Memory - The computerized version of the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT; Williams et Broadbent, 1986).
Time Frame: The day before the beginning of the intervention
This task focuses on retrieving past memories of personal events. A cue word appear on the computer screen. Participants have to click on a button as soon as they had retrieved a specific and autobiographical memory triggered by the cue word, in the time-limit of 1 minute after the cue onset. A window then appears to write the memory with as much specific and contextual details as possible. Before starting this task, participants are specified that the memory must have happened once and lasted less than 24 hours.After describing the memory, participants also have to judge (on a Likert type scale ranging from 0 to 10) the emotional intensity of the reported event. Moreover, they have to assess whether their memory was (1) pleasant, (2) unpleasant or (3) neutral. Finally, participants estimate the year during which this memory occurred. This AMT contains 6 French common nouns per time-measurement (3 success-relevant words, and 3 failure-relevant words) presented in a random order.
Autobiographical Memory - The computerized version of the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT; Williams et Broadbent, 1986).
Time Frame: Once participants have completed 4 sessions of the intervention, about a week and a half after the beginning of the intervention
This task focuses on retrieving past memories of personal events. A cue word appear on the computer screen. Participants have to click on a button as soon as they had retrieved a specific and autobiographical memory triggered by the cue word, in the time-limit of 1 minute after the cue onset. A window then appears to write the memory with as much specific and contextual details as possible. Before starting this task, participants are specified that the memory must have happened once and lasted less than 24 hours.After describing the memory, participants also have to judge (on a Likert type scale ranging from 0 to 10) the emotional intensity of the reported event. Moreover, they have to assess whether their memory was (1) pleasant, (2) unpleasant or (3) neutral. Finally, participants estimate the year during which this memory occurred. This AMT contains 6 French common nouns per time-measurement (3 success-relevant words, and 3 failure-relevant words) presented in a random order.
Autobiographical Memory - The computerized version of the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT; Williams et Broadbent, 1986).
Time Frame: Two weeks after the end of the intervention
This task focuses on retrieving past memories of personal events. A cue word appear on the computer screen. Participants have to click on a button as soon as they had retrieved a specific and autobiographical memory triggered by the cue word, in the time-limit of 1 minute after the cue onset. A window then appears to write the memory with as much specific and contextual details as possible. Before starting this task, participants are specified that the memory must have happened once and lasted less than 24 hours.After describing the memory, participants also have to judge (on a Likert type scale ranging from 0 to 10) the emotional intensity of the reported event. Moreover, they have to assess whether their memory was (1) pleasant, (2) unpleasant or (3) neutral. Finally, participants estimate the year during which this memory occurred. This AMT contains 6 French common nouns per time-measurement (3 success-relevant words, and 3 failure-relevant words) presented in a random order.
Measure of change - Multiple measures of Rumination state - State Repetitive Thoughts Questionnaire (SRTQ; Philippot et al., n.d.).
Time Frame: Each day during the intervention, as well as between each week of the intervention
The SRTQ is a 10-item questionnaire, with a Likert type scale ranging from 1 ("totally disagree") to 5 ("totally agree"). It assesses the three modes of repetitive thinking (i.e., AERT, CERT, and CDRT) in their state form (i.e., subject to continuous changes and under many influences), in contrast with the RTMQ that assesses repetitive thinking as a stable individual characteristic.
Measure of change - Daily positive and negative emotions - Visual Analog Mood Scale (VAMS; McNally, Litz, Prassas, Shin, & Weathers, 1994).
Time Frame: Each day of the three-week intervention, to assess changes between the 10-day A-baseline phase and the intervention phase, as well as between each week of the intervention
The VAMS is a seven-item questionnaire, with a Likert type scale ranging from 0 ("not at all") to 100 ("extremely"). It assesses the intensity of emotional states in the last few minutes: happy, sad, anxious, angry, emotionally aroused, in a positive mood, and in a negative mood. This questionnaire is used as a psychological distress measure.
Secondary Outcomes
- Experiential avoidance - Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire (MEAQ ; Gamez, Chmielewski, Ruggero, Kotov, & Watson, 2011).(Three months after the end of the intervention)
- Self-Discrepancy - Self-Discrepancies Scale (S-DS; Philippot, Dethier, Baeyens, & Bouvard, 2017).(Three months after the end of the intervention)
- Experiential avoidance - Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire (MEAQ ; Gamez, Chmielewski, Ruggero, Kotov, & Watson, 2011).(Two weeks after the end of the intervention)
- Experiential avoidance - Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire (MEAQ ; Gamez, Chmielewski, Ruggero, Kotov, & Watson, 2011).(For the recruitment, i.e. until the number of 6 participants is reached for the second wave of the study (approximately two months after the beginning of the study))
- Experiential avoidance - Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire (MEAQ ; Gamez, Chmielewski, Ruggero, Kotov, & Watson, 2011).(The day before the beginning of the intervention)
- Experiential avoidance - Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire (MEAQ ; Gamez, Chmielewski, Ruggero, Kotov, & Watson, 2011).(Once participants have completed 4 sessions of the intervention, about a week and a half after the beginning of the intervention)
- Self-Discrepancy - Self-Discrepancies Scale (S-DS; Philippot, Dethier, Baeyens, & Bouvard, 2017).(For the recruitment, i.e. until the number of 6 participants is reached for the second wave of the study (approximately two months after the beginning of the study))
- Self-Discrepancy - Self-Discrepancies Scale (S-DS; Philippot, Dethier, Baeyens, & Bouvard, 2017).(The day before the beginning of the intervention)
- Self-Discrepancy - Self-Discrepancies Scale (S-DS; Philippot, Dethier, Baeyens, & Bouvard, 2017).(Once participants have completed 4 sessions of the intervention, about a week and a half after the beginning of the intervention)
- Self-Discrepancy - Self-Discrepancies Scale (S-DS; Philippot, Dethier, Baeyens, & Bouvard, 2017).(Two weeks after the end of the intervention)