METACOGNITION AND RUMINATIVE THOUGHT IN DEPRESSED INDIVIDUALS

Abstract

It is known that the repetitive and persistent ruminative thought style in depression is closely related to metacognition. In Türkiye, studies on this subject in depressed patients are relatively limited.This study aimed to examine the relationships between metacognitions and ruminative thought style in individuals diagnosed with depression.The data was collected between 01.05.2021 and 31.12.2022 from 210 depression patients who applied to psychiatric clinics of a state hospital in the Black Sea Region. Introductory Information Form, Ruminative Thought Style Scale and Metacognition-30 Scale were used to collect data. The Spearman correlation test was used to determine the correlations. Path analysis was used to test how metacognitions predicted ruminative thought in depressive individuals. It was determined that there was a statistically significant and moderately positive correlation between the mean scores of ruminative thought style and psychopathological metacognitive activity (r=0.477; p<0.01). In addition, according to the established path model, 36.5% of the variance changes in the ruminative t thought style are explained by this model. It was determined that the effect of psychopathological metacognitive activities on variance changes in ruminative thought was 60.7%. It is seen that there is a relationship between problematic metacognitions and ruminative thought. Studies in the literature support this result. This study, which determined that metacognition and sub-dimensions are related to rumination in individuals diagnosed with depression in a Turkish sample, will serve as a reference for therapy approaches to be applied to individuals with depressive symptoms.