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Introduction
The Response Styles Theory (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991, 2004) addresses the role of two coping styles, namely perseverative self-focused rumination and distraction, for the exacerbation, maintenance and discontinuation of depressed states. Ruminative responses to depressed mood comprise passively focusing one's attention on one's dysphoric symptoms and aspects of the self and repetitively thinking about possible causes and consequences of one's symptoms and negative self aspects. Distractive coping is defined as actively turning one's attention away from one's symptoms on to pleasant or neutral thoughts and actions. The theory postulates that ruminative coping amplifies and prolongs depressed mood by increasing the likelihood of recalling negative memories, by interfering with attention and instrumental behaviour, and by impairing problem solving (cf. Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991, 2004). There is evidence from observational studies for the proposed prediction of response styles regarding onset, severity and duration of depressed moods in non-clinical (e.g. Nolen-Hoeksema et al. 1994, 2007; Nolen-Hoeksema, 2000; Abela et al. 2002; Sarin et al. 2005; Smith et al. 2006; Hong, 2007) and clinical samples (Kuehner & Weber, 1999; Raes et al. 2006), whereas others failed to confirm the predictive validity of response styles (Lara et al. 2000; Goodyear et al. 2003) or reported ambiguous results (Bagby et al. 2004).
Other studies assessed effects of experimentally induced rumination on various outcomes. Compared to induced distraction, rumination prolonged depressed moods, enhanced negatively biased memories and negative future thinking, and impaired problem solving, executive functioning, and specificity of autobiographic memory in dysphoric subjects (e.g. Watkins & Teasdale, 2001, 2004; Donaldson & Lam, 2004; Joormann & Siemer, 2004; Lavender & Watkins, 2004; Lyubomirsky & Tkach, 2004; Rimes & Watkins, 2005; Kuehner et al. 2007a). Some studies report enhancing effects of trait rumination on the impact of induced rumination for the course of dysphoric mood (Hertel & Gerstle, 2003; Donaldson & Lam, 2004; Kuehner et al. 2007a).
Recent research suggests that negative mood induction may activate or amplify dysfunctional attitudes (Fresco et al. 2006; Segal et al. 2006). Furthermore, cognitive reactivity to negative mood induction predicted future relapses in depressed patients (Segal et al. 2006). If rumination can be shown to affect the course of dysfunctional attitudes, this may explain one possible mechanism for...