Perseverative cognition: Difference between revisions

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{{independent sources|date=April 2015}}

'''Perseverative cognition'''<ref name="BPT2005">{{cite journal | last1 = Brosschot | first1 = J.F. | last2 = Pieper | first2 = S. | last3 = Thayer | first3 = J.F. | year = 2005 | title = Expanding Stress Theory: Prolonged Activation And Perseverative Cognition | url = https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/60fcdd4312e7c5d5c72a47e3de528de8b4c38493| journal = Psychoneuroendocrinology | volume = 30 | issue = 10| pages = 1043–9 | doi = 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2005.04.008 | pmid=15939546}}</ref><ref name="BGT2006">{{cite journal | last1 = Brosschot | first1 = J.F | last2 = Gerin | first2 = W. | last3 = Thayer | first3 = J.F. | year = 2006 | title = Worry and health: the perseverative cognition hypothesis | url = | journal = Journal of Psychosomatic Research | volume = 60 | issue = 2| pages = 113–12 | doi = 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2005.06.074 | pmid = 16439263 }}</ref> is a collective term in [[psychology]] for continuous thinking about negative events<ref name= "W2008">{{cite journal | last1 = Watkins | first1 = E. R. | year = 2008 | title = Constructive and unconstructive repetitive thought | url = | journal = Psychological Bulletin | volume = 134 | issue = 2| pages = 163–206 | doi = 10.1037/0033-2909.134.2.163 | pmid = 18298268 | pmc = 2672052 }}</ref> in the past or in the future (e.g. [[worry]], [[rumination (psychology)|rumination]] and brooding, but also [[mind wandering]] about negative topics<ref name= "OSC2013">{{cite journal | last1 = Ottaviani | first1 = C. | last2 = Shapiro | first2 = D. | last3 = Couyoumdjian | first3 = A. | year = 2013 | title = Flexibility as the key for somatic health: From mind wandering to perseverative cognition | url = https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b8f11f05d0e1759d2fe2df8dffca5355408a42e9| journal = Biological Psychology | volume = 94 | issue = 1| pages = 38–43 | doi = 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2013.05.003 | pmid = 23680439 }}</ref><ref name= "OC2013">{{cite journal | last1 = Ottaviani | first1 = C | last2 = Couyoumdjian | first2 = A | year = 2013 | title = Pros and cons of a wandering mind: a prospective study | url = | journal = Frontiers in Psychology | volume = 4| issue = | pages = 524 | doi = 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00524 | pmid = 23966964 | pmc = 3743222 }}</ref>).

It has been shown to have [[physiological]] effects, such as increased heart rate, blood pressure and cortisol, in daily life as well as under controlled laboratory conditions.<ref name="ZD2011">{{cite journal | last1 = Zoccola | first1 = P.M. | last2 = Dickerson | first2 = S.D. | last3 = Yim | first3 = I. S. | year = 2011 | title = Trait and state perseverative cognition and the cortisol awakening response | url = https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/d5f68b9126c3293265544c520fab3ca93f3daa83| journal = Psychoneuroendocrinology | volume = 36 | issue = 4| pages = 592–595 | doi = 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2010.10.004 | pmid=21050668}}</ref><ref name="OLMCTVB2015">{{cite journal | last1 = Ottaviani | first1 = C. | last2 = Lonigro | first2 = A. | last3 = Medea | first3 = B. | last4 = Couyoumdjian | first4 = A. | last5 = Thayer | first5 = J.F. | last6 = Verkuil | first6 = B. | last7 = Brosschot | first7 = J.F. | year = 2015 | title = Physiological Concomitants of Perseverative Cognition: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis | url = | journal = Psychological Bulletin | volume = 142| issue = 3| pages = 231–259| doi = 10.1037/bul0000036 | pmid = 26689087 }}</ref> Because of these physiological effects, the psychological concept of perseverative cognition helps to explain how [[psychological stress]], such as [[work stress]] and marital stress, leads to disease, such as [[cardiovascular disease]].

==Definition==

The definition of perseverative cognition is: "the repeated or chronic activation of the cognitive representation of one or more psychological stressors".<ref name="BGT2006"/><ref name = "VBGT2010">{{cite journal | last1 = Verkuil | first1 = B. | last2 = Brosschot | first2 = J.F. | last3 = Gebhardt | first3 = W.A. | last4 = Thayer | first4 = J.F. | year = 2010 | title = When worries make you sick: A review of perseverative cognition, the default stress response and somatic health | url = | journal = Journal of Experimental Psychopathology | volume = 1 | issue = | pages = 87–118 | doi = 10.5127/jep.009110 | doi-access = free }}</ref> [[Worry]], [[rumination (psychology)|rumination]] and all other forms of thought ([[cognition]]) involving stressful events, in the past or in the future, fall under the definition of perseverative cognition. 'Just thinking about your problems, without calling it worrying or rumination', is also perseverative cognition, as is [[mind wandering]] when it concerns negative topics.<ref name="OSC2013"/><ref name="OC2013"/> Importantly, there is a large body of knowledge about the typical constituents of perseverative cognition, such as worry, rumination, repetitive thinking and (negative) mind wandering (reviewed in Watkins, 2008<ref name="W2008"/>).

Perseverative cognition may partly be [[Unconsciousness|unconscious]].<ref name="B2010">{{cite journal | last1 = Brosschot | first1 = J.F. | year = 2010 | title = Markers of chronic stress: Prolonged physiological activation and (un)conscious perseverative cognition | url = https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b78516fb305d378d1793b158a5bc96666239febd| journal = Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews | volume = 35 | issue = 1| pages = 46–50 | doi = 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2010.01.004 | pmid = 20096302 }}</ref><ref name="BVT2010">{{cite journal | last1 = Brosschot | first1 = J.F. | last2 = Verkuil | first2 = B. | last3 = Thayer | first3 = J.F. | year = 2010 | title = Conscious and unconscious perseverative cognition: Is a large part of prolonged physiological activity due to unconscious stress? | url = | journal = Journal of Psychosomatic Research | volume = 69 | issue = 4| pages = 407–16 | doi = 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2010.02.002 | pmid = 20846542 }}</ref> Just as people are not aware of the larger part of their thoughts (cognition),<ref name="BM2008">{{cite journal | last1 = Bargh | first1 = J.A. | last2 = Morsella | first2 = E. | year = 2008 | title = The unconscious mind | journal = Perspectives on Psychological Science | volume = 3 | issue = 1| pages = 73–9 | doi = 10.1111/j.1745-6916.2008.00064.x | pmid=18584056 | pmc=2440575}}</ref><ref name="DN2006">{{cite journal | last1 = Dijksterhuis | first1 = A. | last2 = Nordgren | first2 = L.F. | year = 2006 | title = A theory of unconscious thought | url = | journal = Perspectives on Psychological Science | volume = 1 | issue = 2| pages = 95–109 | doi = 10.1111/j.1745-6916.2006.00007.x | pmid = 26151465 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.513.2448 }}</ref> they may also not be aware of the cognitive representation of stressors.

== Perseverative cognition hypothesis ==

The ''perseverative cognition hypothesis''<ref name="BGT2006" /> holds that stressful events begin to affect people's [[health]] when they think about them repetitively or continuously (that is, '[[wiktionary:perseveration|perseverate]] [[Cognition|cognitively]]').

Stressful events themselves are often too short, as are the physiological responses to them. Therefore the physiological responses during these stressors are unlikely to cause bodily harm. More importantly, many stressful events are merely worried about, or feared in the future, while they often do not happen or do not have the feared consequences. Nevertheless, the body reacts with prolonged physiological responses to continuous thoughts (perseverative cognition) about these stressors. Therefore it is the perseverative cognition, and not the stressors that can eventually lead to disease. In scientific terms, it is said that perseverative cognition is a [[wikt:Special:Search/mediator|mediator]] of the detrimental effects of [[stress (psychological)|stress]] on one's health. Since its publication scientific evidence for this hypothesis has been accumulating.<ref name="VBGT2010" /><ref name="GS2006">{{cite journal | last1 = Geurts | first1 = S.A. | last2 = Sonnentag | first2 = S. | year = 2006 | title = Recovery as an explanatory mechanism in the relation between acute stress reactions and chronic health impairment | url = | journal = Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health| volume = 32 | issue = 6| pages = 482–92 | doi = 10.5271/sjweh.1053 | pmid = 17173204 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name="LC2009">{{cite journal | last1 = Larsen | first1 = B.A | last2 = Christenfeld | first2 = N.J.S. | year = 2009 | title = Cardiovascular Disease and Psychiatric Comorbidity: The Potential Role of Perseverative Cognition | url = | journal = Cardiovascular Psychiatry and Neurology | volume = 2009| issue = | pages = 1–8| doi = 10.1155/2009/791017 | pmid = 20029626 | pmc = 2790803 }}</ref><ref name="FMBK2012">{{cite journal | last1 = Flaxman | first1 = P. E. | last2 = Ménard | first2 = J. | last3 = Bond | first3 = F. W. | last4 = Kinman | first4 = G. | year = 2012 | title = Academics' experiences of a respite from work: Effects of self-critical perfectionism and perseverative cognition on postrespite well-being | url = http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/6323/1/Flaxman%20et%20al%20%282012%29%20JAP.pdf| journal = Journal of Applied Psychology | volume = 97 | issue = 4| pages = 854–865 | doi = 10.1037/a0028055 | pmid=22545621}}</ref>

== Physiological effects and disease ==