Understanding the Mechanisms Driving the Reduction of Repetitive Negative Thought
University of California, Los Angeles
Summary
The goal of this study is to understand why certain treatments help people reduce repetitive negative thinking (RNT), which is common in many mental health problems. We want to: 1. Figure out what actually causes repetitive negative thinking to decrease when people use cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). 2. Find out which parts of RNT-focused CBT are the most important - the parts that truly make a difference in reducing RNT. The main result we will look at is how much a person's repetitive negative thought patterns change from the start of the study to the end of treatment (16 weeks). We will measure this using the Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire at baseline and week 16.
Description
Participants in this study will be randomly assigned to one of 16 different treatment groups. Each group will get a different mix of 1-5 tools or strategies taken from Rumination-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (RF-CBT). All participants, regardless of their treatment assignment, will get a basic set of lessons about repetitive negative thinking (RNT) and how CBT can help. This means every participant gets therapeutic support. Participants will use a digital therapy program through the MyDataHelps app. The CBT lessons are available in English or Spanish, according to the participant's p…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18+ years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: * Aged 18+ years * Able to provide a valid Imperial Valley College email address * Access to a suitable smartphone/device (iPhone 8+ running iOS 16.4 or higher, or Android version 8 or higher) * Access to internet * Elevated repetitive negative thought (RNT) based on scores from Ruminative Response Scale Brood subscale (RSS-brood) and Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) Exclusion Criteria: * Concurrent psychotherapy * Self-reported current or past diagnosis or treatment for Psychosis * Self-reported current or past diagnosis or treatment for Bipolar disorder * Self-rep…
Interventions
- BehavioralBe Specific
Digital therapy lessons and coaching that emphasize skills in shifting from unhelpful abstract to helpful concrete processing style. Helping participants make changes to processing style to improve problem-solving and reduce emotional reactivity. Training concrete thinking to reduce RNT by increasing specific contextualized detail in description of events and plans.
- BehavioralBe Kind
Digital therapy lessons and coaching that emphasize skills for replacing self-criticism with self-compassion. Helping participants shift toward a kinder, more validating way of relating to themselves to reduce the emotional patterns that sustain RNT. Training self-compassion skills to counter harsh self-evaluation and support emotional regulation.
- BehavioralBe Present
Digital therapy lessons and coaching that emphasize skills for improving attention to present-moment experience. Helping participants redirect attention away from unhelpful mental ruminations by strengthening mindfulness and task absorption. Training present-moment awareness to interrupt the cognitive processes that maintain RNT by cultivating absorption in direct sensory experience.
- BehavioralBreak Habit
Digital therapy lessons and coaching that emphasize skills for disrupting repetitive negative thinking as a habitual mental behavior. Helping participants identify early warning signs, use stimulus-control strategies, form implementation intentions, and practice alternative responses to build more adaptive habits. Training new behavioral and cognitive routines to replace automatic RNT patterns.
Location
- Imperial Valley CollegeImperial, California