Comparison of Brooding and Reflection Rumination Between People With Depression and Obsessive-compulsive Disorder

Rumination is one of the most significant symptoms of several mental illnesses. Rumination is classified into two brooding and reflection categories. Notwithstanding the prevalence of rumination, the discrimination between its subtypes among various clinical populations has been overlooked.

In this comparative study, our sample size included 95 patients who were interviewed at a specialized health clinic in Sari City, Iran. For diagnosis, we applied structured clinical interviews, the Yale-Brown obsessive-compulsive scale, and the second version of the Beck depression inventory (BDI). To test our hypothesis, we used the ruminative response scale (RRS) which enabled us to divide ruminations into brooding and reflection. In the first step, the descriptive statistics of the research, including mean, standard deviation, and standard error of the mean were determined. An independent samples t test was conducted to determine whether people with major depressive disorder (MDD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) significantly differed in rumination subtypes.

Out of 95 participants, who entered the study, 50 people suffered from MDD, and 45 participants were diagnosed with OCD. For people with MDD, the mean±SD of the age of the participants was 31.62±6.94 years, while the age of the people with OCD was 32.11±6.37. Our independent samples t test analysis determined a significant difference in brooding between the groups (P<0.05). Nonetheless, the two groups did not show any difference in reflection.

Considering the higher mean for brooding scores in people with MDD, it is concluded that this population is more likely to adopt this type of passive and maladaptive rumination as a regulatory strategy, which in turn prone depressed people to lower mood.