ArticleClinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science2016
Spontaneous Thought and Vulnerability to Mood Disorders: The Dark Side of the Wandering Mind.
Article in Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 74 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
74 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Can't get it out of my mind: A systematic review of predictors of intrusive memories of distressing events.Psychological bulletin · 2018Pooled it
- Functional activity and connectivity signatures of ketamine and lamotrigine during negative emotional processing: a double-blind randomized controlled fMRI study.Translational psychiatry · 2024Trial
- Lapses of attention.Psychonomic bulletin & review · 2026Review
- Ongoing thoughts at rest reflect functional brain organization and behaviour.Nature human behaviour · 2026Article
- The Role of Worry and Emotional Intelligence in Depression in a Non-Clinical and Subclinical Sample.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2026Article
- Not all task-unrelated thoughts (TUT) are created equal - TUT characteristics as predictors of affective states and heart-rate variability.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Dynamic coactivation patterns during repetitive negative thinking: A cross-sectional fMRI study.Psychological medicine · 2026Article
- Disorganisation and depression: a re-examination of how we think and speak when depressed.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Review
- Executive Dysfunction and Depression Risk in Adolescence: Functional-MRI Analysis of Transient Network States During a Working Memory Task.Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2026Article
- Aberrant dynamic functional architecture in major depressive disorder: Vertex-Wise large-sample fMRI analyses reveal network-specific alterations and symptom associations.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- The default mode network: where spontaneous thought meets memory consolidation.Current opinion in behavioral sciences · 2026Article
- Low mood, worry and mind wandering in children.The British journal of developmental psychology · 2025Article
- Cognitive disengagement syndrome and depressive symptoms in early adolescents: Examining the moderating role of a negative interpretation bias.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2025Article
- Investigating the Relationship Between Hopelessness, Alexithymia, Mind Wandering, Rumination, and Clinical Features in Patients with Bipolar Disorder.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Spontaneous thought separates into clusters of negative, positive, and flexible thinking.Communications psychology · 2025Article
- An investigation of the interaction of trait repetitive negative thinking and neuroticism on brain activity during negative self-referential processing: a cross-sectional fMRI study.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2025Article
- Assessing daydreaming frequency and control with the Polish version of the Daydreaming Frequency Scale - validation using ecological momentary assessment.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Can transcranial direct current stimulation aimed at reducing mind wandering alleviate depression?Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Brain-based predictive modeling of mind-wandering and involuntary thought: the idiographic approach.Technology, mind, and behavior · 2025Article
- The mind wanders to dark places: Mind-wandering catalyzes rumination in the context of negative affect and impulsivity.Emotion (Washington, D.C.) · 2024Article
14 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
There is increasing interest in spontaneous thought, namely task-unrelated or rest-related mental activity. Spontaneous thought is an umbrella term for processes like mindwandering, involuntary autobiographical memory, and daydreaming, with evidence elucidating adaptive and maladaptive consequences. In this theoretical framework, we propose that, apart from its positive functions, spontaneous thought is a precursor for cognitive vulnerability in individuals who are at-risk for mood disorders. Importantly, spontaneous thought mostly focuses on unattained goals and evaluates the discrepancy between current and desired status (Klinger, 1971, 2013a). In individuals who stably (i.e., trait negative affectivity) or transitorily (i.e., stress) experience negative emotions in reaction to goal-discrepancy, spontaneous thought fosters major cognitive vulnerabilities (e.g., rumination, hopelessness, low self-esteem, and cognitive reactivity) which, in turn, enhance depression. Furthermore, we also highlight preliminary links between spontaneous thought and bipolar disorder. The evidence for this framework is reviewed and we discuss theoretical and clinical implications of our proposal.
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Registered trials
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