Objective: The aim of this study was to test the metacognitive model
of depression in individuals diagnosed with major depressive disorder
(MDD) and to investigate the relative contributions of cognitions and
metacognitions about rumination to the explanation of depressive
symptoms.
Method: The participants of the study consisted of 180 MDD patients
not meeting the diagnostic criteria for other psychiatric disorders. The
obtained data were analyzed through structural equation modelling
(SEM) and hierarchical regression analyses.
Results: SEM results showed that positive beliefs about rumination
increased the rumination level, and the higher levels of rumination
significantly predicted the increase in depressive symptoms partly
through the mediating effect of negative metacognitive beliefs about
rumination regarding interpersonal and social consequences. However,
negative metacognitive beliefs about the uncontrollability and danger
of rumination were not found to be associated with symptoms of
depression in the participants of this study. The power of dysfunctional
attitudes for predicting depression was lost when hierarchical regression
analysis was carried out by controlling the metacognitions about
negative interpersonal and social consequences of rumination.
Conclusion: The results are consistent with the metacognitive model of
depression, which was originally developed for better understanding of
MDD, and point to the usefulness of considering positive and negative
metacognitions about rumination in the processes of clinical evaluation
and intervention for MDD.
Keywords: Major depressive disorder, depression, rumination,
metacognition, metacognitive theory, cognition, cognitive behavioral
theory, dysfunctional attitudes