Repeated negative thinking as a mediator of refraining from catastrophic thinking and neurotic responses

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Repeated Negative Thinking as a Mediator of Refraining from Catastrophic Thinking and Neurotic Responses

Dr. Basim Aldahadha Mutah University, Department of Counseling and Special Education

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between repeated negative thinking (PTQ) and refraining from catastrophic thinking (RCT) on the neurotic responses (NR) due to gender and cumulative average (CA) variables. The study sample consisted of 692 students of Mutah University. The study results showed that the prevalence of PTQ was 20.5%, while it was 23.7% for the NR. The results revealed a significant positive relationship between NR and PTQ and a significant negative relationship between NR and RCT in all factors of NR: anxiety, phobia, psychosomatic disorders, obsession, depression, and hysteria, as well as for the gender and the CA variables. The results showed that repeated negative thinking mediate a partial relationship between catastrophic thinking and prevention of the neurotic responses.

Keywords: refraining from catastrophic thinking, repeated negative thinking and neurotic responses.

Резюме

Целью данного исследования было изучение взаимосвязи между повторным негативным мышлением (PTQ) и воздержанием от катастрофического мышления ШСТ) при невротических реакциях ^) в зависимости от пола и совокупных средних (ЗД) переменных. Группа исследования состояла из 692 студентов Университета Мутах. Результаты исследования показали, что распространенность (PTQ) составляла 20,5%, тогда как для NR была 23,7%. Результаты выявили значительную положительную связь между NR и PTQ и значительную отрицательную связь между NR и RCT при всех факторах ^) тревожности, фобии, психосоматики, одержимости, депрессии и истерии, а также зависимость показателей пола и (ЗД) переменных. Результаты показали, что повторяющееся негативное мышление опосредует частичную связь между катастрофическим мышлением и предотвращением невротических реакций.

Ключевые слова: воздержание от катастрофического мышления, повторное негативное мышление и невротические реакции.

Cognitive behavioral therapy today is the main leader of psychotherapy methods, as demonstrated by empirical studies in the treatment of various disorders, including anxiety, stress and depression. Cognitive behavioral therapy plays a role in speeding up the skills of dealing with PTQ in a way that contradicts the reduction of negative thinking itself. There is an abundance of cognitive measures and strategies for dealing with a person's ideas, but few have focused on adaptive strategies (Wegner & Zanakos, 1994). For example, non-adaptive ideas and skill measures derived from therapeutic models are few N This study has focused on measures that depend on the therapeutic methods that have social roots and focus on treatment through problem-solving method (Sugiura & Sugiura, 2016).

The cessation of catastrophic thinking is manifested by how a person spontaneously responds to PTQ, especially when interpreted in the context of emotional disorders (Wells, 2000). When symptoms are clear and prominent, the concept of cessation of catastrophic thinking has been derived from the norms and standards of cognitive behavioral therapy (Wells, 2005). The importance of its therapeutic applications in mental disorders, since there is an adaptive state called emotional alertness, which is almost the same concept of cessation of catastrophic thinking, but the measurement directly is still unpublished scientifically. However, the measure of cessation of catastrophic thinking is linked to cognitive ideas, For example, the meta-knowledge model is originally supposed to measure both disturbance and general anxiety (Sugiura & Sugiura, 2016; Wells, 1995). Disturbance is essentially the root of all emotional disorders and discomfort can be defined as being subject to PTQ (Borkovec, Robinson, Pruzinsky & Depree, 1983).

That annoyance appears and is supported and show its symptoms to individuals through the laws of positive thought. For example, the individual said to himself that the inconvenience will help me in solving problems as supported and shown through the negative thinking about the seriousness and lack of control, worrying such as this annoyance makes me act mad or when disturbed, I cannot overcome it, that these ideas are often measured through a metacognitive questionnaire (Sugiura & Sugiura, 2016).

This questionnaire consists of five dimensions: positive thoughts about anxiety, PTQ about discomfort, lack of cognitive trust, for example, my memory cannot help me when I need it; the fourth dimension is the need to control thinking. For example, I must always be in control of my thoughts all the time and finally unconscious cognitive self. For example, I am always alert and conscious of my thoughts. PTQ appear to be the strongest predictors of anxiety and generalized anxiety disorder, while we find that the positive thoughts less likely and weaker than that (Wells & Papageorgiou, 1998).

In order to overcome the weakness and impotence of positive thinking in the prediction, Sugiura (2007) assumed the responsibility construct for repeated negative thinkingwhich indicates that a person needs to engage in a long time to understand the pain cause. For example, you have to keep thinking until you find the best solutions, and that it is not the responsibility to stop thinking. These ideas are related to the positive thoughts towards the discomfort. Responsibility is a sign of continued focus in thinking. Positive thoughts are related to serving the problem of discomfort and dealing with it, struggling or perseverance in finding solutions or continuity (Hasan, 1997; Mokdadi & Samour, 2008).

Sugiura (2007) focused on the gradual validity of the principle of responsibility for continuing to think of disturbing prediction in comparison with greater forms with many other forms of prediction, such as neurotic symptoms, positive and negative thoughts of knowledge, inability to solve problems, and cognitive avoidance.

At present, pathology has focused on the importance of specific factors in reducing many forms of mental disorders such as anxiety, depression and other related disorders. The models focus on general factors, leading to shallow results in the treatment of mental disorders compared with the emphasis on the separate and specific factors related to mental disorders (Harvey, Watkins, Mansell & Shafran, 2004; Newby, McKinnon, Kuyken, Gilbody & Dalgleish, 2015; Sugiura & Sugiura, 2016). Cognitive behavioral therapy aims to focus on psychological disorders that are effective in reducing anxiety and depression. This study focuses on the skills of refraining from catastrophic thinking as a predictable and prior reason for repeating negative thinking. At the same time, it is the same as the expected cause of neurotic responses. As is evident later these two factors have the ability and competence to provide logical explanations of mental disorders even when compared with other similar disorders (Aldahadha, 2010; Sugiura & Sugiura, 2016).

Sugiura (2014) reported a number of studies that found that there were negative correlations between refraining from catastrophic thinking, depression, pain and symptoms of eating disorders; also, he found in a longitudinal study that there was a negative relationship between refraining from catastrophic thinking and depression. Therefore, we can expect that refraining from catastrophic thinking is correlated with a wide range of mental disorders (Sugiura, Sugiura, & Tanno, 2013; Sugiura, & Sugiura, 2015)

The term repetition of catastrophic thinking is defined as the repetition of uncontrolled negative thinking characterized by repetition, introspection and difficulty of elimination, which appears to be unproductive and inhibitory of mental efficiency (Ehring et al., 2011). Both Harvey and his colleagues (Harvey et al., 2004) have reported that uncontrolled negative thinking is scientifically linked to a range of symptoms related to different dimensions of neurotic responses, which are due to general reasons. The most prominent or negative types of negative thinking are feelings of discomfort and rumination, It has been found to be positively correlated with various forms of mental disorders, so that symptoms of depression and negative thoughts correlated with it can be traced, such as anxiety, fear, and depression (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991). Worring is an uncontrolled disturbance, including content that focuses on an unspecified and mysterious future (Borkovec et al. al., 1983).

Rumination is often correlated positively with anxiety and depression on a longitudinal study of 1,060 adolescents and 1317 adults (McLaughlin & Nolen-Hoeksema, 2011).

The disturbance is also positively correlated with depression and bipolar mood disorder, according to a cross-sectional study of 568 patients (Kertz, Bigda-Peyton, Rosmarin & Bjorgvinsson, 2012). Short and Mazmanian (2013) found that discomfort and rumination were correlated with a very high negative effect on anxiety, depression and stress on a sample of 213 students. Most studies have found that both rumination and worrying are correlated with anxiety, depression and other forms of neurotic responses.

In a study conducted by Thorpe & Salkovskis (1995), negative thoughts were found in 25 participants with fears, and repeated negative thoughts were expected to be positively correlated with some phobias. In any case, one of the most important determinants and limitations of previous studies is the use of measuring the specific content of uncontrolled negative thinking, which involves rumination and worrying.

In another study, Watkins (2008) discussed the subject of rumination and noted that discomfort correlated with anxiety and negative future events, while the rumination focuses on past events and related symptoms. Segerstrom, Tsao, Alden & Craske (2000) found that discomfort and rumination occur as a result of the same uncontrolled factors in both patients and students, suggesting a common factors between them. McEvoy, Mahoney & Moulds (2010), developed the measure of repetitive thinking by taking advantage of some of the measures of discomfort, negative thinking, and post-traumatic thinking. Results showed that there was one dimension on a sample of 284 students.

In Oman Aldahadha (2010) and in Jordan Hasan (1997) the results of their studies showed a significant relationship in favor of excellent average at total scale, while there was a correlation between all factors of (NB) and automatic thoughts. Additionally, there is a negative relationship between numbers of hours for access to internet and phobia, which means that more access to internet less feel of phobia. This is some of correlations and there were other correlations. Ehring et al. (2011) developed the repeated negative thinking scale, which consists of the original items of the repeated negative thinking scale, which is also called loss of control, exaggeration of repetition, lack of productivity, and mental control. All of which indicate that the same ideas are repeated and repeated several times so that the individual cannot stop thinking about it. The measure of repeated negative thinking consists of the three dimensions mentioned above where the results were extracted through a study on the sample of 1338 people who reside in the hospital and normal people.

Few studies have indicated the relationship between independent components in the scale of repeated negative thinking and the refraining from catastrophic thinking with a wide range of mental disorders. The measure of repeated negative thinking with depression, generalized anxiety, social anxiety, panic attacks, and anxiety were correlated among a sample of students (McEvoy et al., 2010), and a group of patients with anxiety and depression (Mahoney, McEvoy & Moulds, 2012). On the other hand, the PTQ for repeated negative thinking is positively correlated with depression and anxiety (Ehring et al., 2011; Macedo et al., 2015; Raes, 2012), as well as obsessive-compulsive disorder among students (Nota Schubert & Coles, 2016) To date, many studies have suggested that there is a link between repeated negative thinking and a wide range of mental disorders. Spinhoven, Drost, van Hemert, & Penninx (2015) conducted a study of 2,143 adults; all of them completed the repeated negative thinking and diagnostic methods through the criteria of the Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-V; American Psychiatric Association, 2012).

The general and implicit factor in the repeated negative thinking scale of anxiety appears in symptoms of discomfort as well as with the measure of repeated thinking. It also has the ability to predict generalized depressive disorder, panic attacks, phobia of open spaces, social anxiety, and generalized anxiety. In addition, the hidden factor of the repeated negative thinking scale predicts depression and anxiety disorder factors along with six groups of mental disorders (Sugiura & Sugiura, 2016).

According to the Spinhoven et al. (2015) study, two factors are likely to show general and total disorder, with the first being generalized disorder, the other being generalized anxiety and depression along with fear, social anxiety, obsession, and phobia. In addition, to assess the importance of refraining from catastrophic thinking and repetitive thinking as general factors for five forms of mental disorders, the explanation of the variance of these factors through these two dimensions has been tested and explored (Kotov Perlman, Gamez Watson, 2015).

In a study by Sugiura et al., (2013), they discussed the relationship between refraining from catastrophic thinking, worrying, and meta- cognitive beliefs in a sample of 470 students at the Wells Center for Emotional Disorders. The results showed that there was a negative correlation between with metacognitive beliefs and all the discomfort and catastrophic thinking.

Sugiura & Sugiura (2016) recently investigated the relationship between refraining from catastrophic thinking, repetition of negative thinking and a number of mental disorders. The study sample consisted of 125 non-patient volunteers; all of them applied measures of depression, social anxiety, phobia, generalized anxiety, compulsive and obsessions. The results showed that recovery from catastrophic thinking is negatively correlated with the repetition of negative thinking and all mental disorders. Result recommended that repetitive negative thinking mediated the negative relationship between refraining from catastrophic thinking and latent factors.

In this study, repeated negative thinking will be presented as an intermediary of the relationship between refraining from catastrophic thinking and neurotic responses. Reducing repeated negative thinking will mediate the causal relationship between refraining from catastrophic thinking and neurotic responses, and refraining from catastrophic thinking is negatively correlated with discomfort. These results are expected to be an extension of independent studies of recurrent negative thinking or even repeated thinking. The importance of this study will extend to more knowledge about the relationship between refraining from catastrophic thinking and social anxiety, fear, generalized anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. These disorders have been chosen because thoughts that are more negative are expected to be developed. The study also aims to explore the hidden factors of psychological symptoms. This study will expand the knowledge of the relationship between refraining from catastrophic thinking and NR such as anxiety, phobia, psychosomatic, depression, and hysteria.

Objectives and Questions

The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between the refraining from catastrophic thinking and repeated negative thinking as a process of control of the neurotic responses and the ability to control them later. The cognitive aspect of the relationship between refraining from catastrophic thinking and NR factors, Anxiety, Phobia, Psychosomatic, Obsession, Depression, and Hysteria. This study tried to answer the following questions:

1. What are the percentage and the most common indicators of PTQ in the study sample?

2. What are the percentage and the most common indicators of NR in the study sample?

3. Is there a statistical significant relationship between the PTQ and the NR on the overall scale?

4. Is there a statistical significant relationship between the RCT, PTQ and the NR due to the gender variable?

5. Is there a statistical significant relationship between the RCT, PTQ and the NR due to the CA variable?

Study Limitations

This search was conducted under the following parameters:

1. This study was limited to three instruments are the repeated negative thinking, the refraining from catastrophic thinking, and the neurotic responses. Therefore, the results of this study is determined by the characteristics of the measurements and their ability to measure what was prepared to measure.

2. The results of this study are determined by the sample that was selected and they are students of Mutah University, representing them from different levels, as well as the extent of the validity of the assessments of the sample members on the parameters of the study.

3. The results of this study accurately determine the cumulative average used as a variable in this study, which was based on tests designed by the professor at the university and not on standardized tests.

Definition of terms

The reader in this study finds a number of terms need to clarify the operational definitions, and these terms are:

Participants

The study population is composed of students from Mutah University during the spring semester of the academic year 2017/2018. Therefore, the target sample for this study consisted of all students from the 15 colleges. The total number of the study sample was (692) students (340 males and 352 females). The average age for the entire sample was 19.14 years (ranging from 18 to 20 years), and they comprised Jordanian students only. All students participated voluntarily in this study.

Instruments

Refraining from Catastrophic Thinking. The (PTQ) (Sugiura et al., 2013) has five items (e.g. "Even if bad consequences of a problem come to mind, I can reassure myself that they are nothing more than my imagination", "When I start thinking about the situation seriously, I can stop it for a while"). It is a face-valid measure of the voluntary use of skills in daily life, with items based on a cognitive behavioral therapy manual (Freeman, Pretzer, Fleming, & Simon, 1990). It was developed in Japanese. Participants were asked to rate the extent to which they thought they could do the things described in each item when they are anxious on a four-point scale from 1 (I absolutely cannot) to 4 (I definitely can). A series of studies has examined the reliability and validity of the measure (Sugiura & Sugiura, 2015; Sugiura & Sugiura, 2014; Sugiura et al., 2013).

For the purpose of this study, the researcher has verified the validity of the content and the validity of the building. To verify the validity of the content, the scale has been presented to (12) arbitrators with experience and specialization in the fields of education, psychology, measurement and evaluation, in order to express their opinions on the scale in terms of clarity of items, A number of amendments were made to some of the items. Most of the amendments were accurate in Arabization, and more than 20% of the arbitrators were amended. The number of items after the arbitration settled to (5) items as it is at the origin of the scale. The researcher verified the validity of the construct by measuring the relationship between the scales and the scale as a whole. The values were between 0.68 and 0.91. The researcher adopted a statistically significant correlation (0.20) between the item and the scale as a whole. In addition, internal consistencies ranged from acceptable to good (as = .78 to .90). The test-retest reliability ranging from .69 to .88, which is suitable for the stability of the scale.

To correct the scale, the cut point has been adopted in the staging to identify those who have RCT from those who do not have a RCT. This method is based on logic and the specialists in the field of measurement and evaluation were also consulted, the student who obtain a degree above the center has a RCT, through the sum of the four categories scale (1 + 2 + 3 + 4) divided by the number of categories which is (4) multiplied (2.5) by (5), the number of items of the scale is the result (10), where this is the degree of RCT. While (10) and above is considered to have a recurring RCT highly. Instead of that, everyone who gets a degree less than (10) is considered to have recurrent RCT low degree.

Neurotic responses

Crown & Crisp (1979) design this scale, which is called the index of neurobiological experiences. The measure of NR is the final form of (37) items measuring six factors of anxiety, Phobia, psychosomatic, obsession, depression and hysteria. Each of the six factors includes a characteristic of one of the areas of NR. The degree of NR of the students of the study sample was estimated to be detrimental to the elements of the instrument according to the three-level scale (1-3): (agree = 3 points) (not sure = 2 points) (not agree = 1 points). Accordingly, the highest score that can be obtained is (111); the lowest score is (37). The items of the scale were divided into NR factors as the following: Anxiety: It contains six items (1, 7, 13, 19, 24, and 28). Phobia: It contains six items (2, 8, 14, 22, 32, and 37). Psychosomatic: It contains six items (4, 10, 16, 25, 29, and 34). Obsession: It contains four items (3, 9, 15, and 33). Depression: It contains eight items (5, 11, 17, 20, 23, 26, 30, and 35). Hysteria: It contains seven items (6, 12, 18, 21,27, 31, and 36).

Hasan (1997) verified the validity and stability of the NR scale. Moreover, the researcher obtained the validity of the scale by verifying the veracity of the content by presenting the scale to (12) experienced and competent reviewers in order to express their opinions on the measure in terms of clarity of the items of linguistic formulation, the extent of the belonging of the items to the scale as a whole, and what the scale intended to measure. More than 80% of the arbitrators agreed on the items of the scale after rephrasing of three of them, to become the total number consists of (37) items.

The construct validity was verified by measuring the relationship between items of the scale and the factors and between items of the scale and the scale as a whole. The exploratory sample from outside the study sample of 66 students showed values that ranged between .53 and .89 between the items and the scale as a whole; all items were statistically significant at the .01 significance level. As calculated, the correlation coefficients between the factors of the scale and the total score ranged between .47 and .90; all items were statistically significant at the .05 and .01 significance levels.

Furthermore, the internal consistency of the NR was computed using Cronbach's alpha, and the alpha coefficient ranged between .89 and .83 for the NR factors, while reliability was .91 for the total scale. This result indicated that the scale had excellent internal consistency for use in the present study. Finally the results indicated that the correlation coefficients of the test-retest was r = 0.86 for the scale as a whole and ranged between .88 and .90 for the NR factors

Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire. The PTQ (Ehring et al., 2011) is a 15-item questionnaire of repetitive negative thinking (e.g., "The same thoughts keep going through my mind again and again," "I can't stop dwelling on them"). The scale captures repetitive negative thinking, namely the aspects of repetitiveness, uncontrollability, unproductiveness, and mental capture. It has good internal and retest reliability and was shown to be positively related to specific indices of repetitive negative thinking (worry and rumination) and depression/anxiety.

In this study, the scale was translated into Arabic with permission from the original author. In a later step, the translated Arabic items were translated into English to ensure that the meaning of the object was identical. Principal factor analysis of the PTQ indicated that one factor explained 56% of the total variance, supporting the highly unidimensional structure. The scale showed excellent internal consistency (r=92). The original items of the scale and translations were presented to the eleven faculties of the departments of English language at Jordan universities. Therefore, use of the PTQ total score is justified.

As for the scale in general, it may be in the final form of (15) items, which have been referred to in many studies and measurements as indicators of PTQ. The scale items are rated on a five-point scale from 0 (Never) to 4 (Almost always). The range of response to this scale ranges from 0 to 60. As for the correction method, the cut point has been adopted to identify those who have PTQ from those who do not have. This method is based on logic and the specialists in the field of measurement and evaluation were consulted. The student who obtain a degree above the center has a PTQ, through the sum of the five-category scale (0 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4) divided by the number of categories of gradation, which is (5) multiplied (2) by (15), the number of items of the scale is the result (30). This is the cut point degree of PTQ. Therefore, (30) and above is considered to have a recurring PTQ highly, and contrast, everyone who gets a degree less than (30) is considered to have recurrent PTQ low degree.

Procedures

After the verification of the validity and reliability of the instruments, the scales were applied to the students of Mutah University. Random samples were chosen, which are often found in the public places, which include the presence of all the students of the university. The call is general, as are the courses that have compulsory university requirements, in addition to other random samples. It was applied in multiple periods of the day, and on all days of the week, (a number of graduate students were employed in terms of applying scales, and printing them). The answer instructions are explained so that each respondent is specifically identified, and it may take between 20-25 minutes to complete the scale. The measurements were applied smoothly and did not mention any problem with the application procedures.

Research Design

The statistical design of this study was a descriptive analysis and correlation. In this design, the researcher used the following variables: The repeated negative thinking, the refraining from catastrophic thinking, neurotic responses, gender which has two levels (male, female), and the cumulative average level, which has four levels (less than 65(weak), more than 65-73 (good), more than 73- 84 (very good), and more than 84 (excellent))

Statistical Analysis

After the study scale was applied, the resulting data were processed using Pearson correlation coefficient, means, standard deviations, observed frequencies, and percentages.

Results and discussion

Question 1. What are the percentage and the most common indicators of PTQ in the study sample? To answer this question, the cut-point method was used to identify those who had PTQ from others. Result shows that the number of individuals with PTQ was 142 students (83 males and 59 females) out of the total number of (692) students. This constitutes 20.5 % of the sample (11.7 males and 8.8 females). To find the most common indications of PTQ, the means, standard deviations and the rank of the PTQ items were calculated, see table 1.

Table (1) shows that items (4, 2, 7, 3, 13 and 8 respectively) were the most prominent manifestations or indicators of negative thoughts in the sample. These are: I think about many problems without solving any of them, average (3.766) and a standard deviation (1.622). Thoughts intrude into my mind, mean (3.532), standard deviation (1.337), Thoughts come to my mind without me wanting them to, an average of (3.521), and a standard deviation of (1.412) and I cannot stop dwelling on them (3.260) and by standard deviation (1.845).

Question 2. What are the percentage and the most common indicators of NR in the study sample?

To answer this question, the cut-point method was used to identify those who had NR from others. Result shows that the number of individuals with NR was 164 students (94 males and 70 females) out of the total number of (692) students. This constitutes 23.7% of the sample (13.3 males and 10.4 females). To find the most common indications of NR, the means, standard deviations and the rank of the NR items were calculated see table 2.

It is clear from the table that items (19, 13, 24, 27, 35, 7, 26, 22, 18 and 5 respectively) were the most prominent manifestations of NR in the study sample. Above, while the average values of the remaining items were less than (2).

Table 1 Means, standard deviations and items rank of the PTQ scale