SynthesisPsychological medicine2023
The effect of psychological treatment on repetitive negative thinking in youth depression and anxiety: a meta-analysis and meta-regression.
Synthesis in Psychological medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy in treating repetitive negative thinking, rumination, and worry - a transdiagnostic meta-analysis.Psychological medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Worry and rumination as a transdiagnostic target in young people: a co-produced systematic review and meta-analysis.Cognitive behaviour therapy · 2025Pooled it
- Does physical activity-based intervention decrease repetitive negative thinking? A systematic review.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- A Personalized, Transdiagnostic Smartphone Intervention (Mello) Targeting Repetitive Negative Thinking in Young People With Depression and Anxiety: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Trial
- Mapping the Symptom Networks of Depression, Anxiety, and Their Comorbidity Among Chinese Individuals Under Community Correction.Psychiatry investigation · 2026Article
- Executive Functioning Is Linked to Internalizing Symptoms in Autistic Adults With Higher Support Needs.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2026Article
- Mapping Multilevel Correlates of Adolescent Mental Health: Evidence from an Ecological Network Study.Child psychiatry and human development · 2026Article
- Perceived Causes of Sleep Problems in Higher Education Students: An Exploratory Study.Psychological reports · 2026Article
- Maternal Depressive Symptomology and Small-for-Gestational-Age: Do Coping Efforts Moderate the Relationship?Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- EcoHIV Infection Disrupts Dopamine and Serotonin Transporter Function, Altering Release Dynamics in C57BL/6J Mice.Journal of neuroimmune pharmacology : the official journal of the Society on NeuroImmune Pharmacology · 2026Article
- Characteristics of Mobile Health Interventions for Repetitive Negative Thinking: Protocol for a Scoping Review.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Interpersonal cognitive distortions and automatic negative thoughts as predictors of depression among college students: Insights from the structural equation model.Journal of education and health promotion · 2026Article
- Academic stress and employment anxiety among graduating students: intolerance of uncertainty and future-oriented repetitive negative thinking as sequential cognitive-affective pathways.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Repetitive negative thinking in adolescence: a mixed methods study.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2025Article
- State-dependent reactivity of anterior cingulate cortex neurochemistry and downstream autonomic arousal in intrusive thinking.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2025Article
- Insights from fifteen years of real-world development, testing and implementation of youth digital mental health interventions.Internet interventions · 2025Review
- Exploring the role of repetitive negative thinking in the transdiagnostic context of depression and anxiety in children.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Psychometric properties of the repetitive thinking questionnaire among Iranian patients with heart disease: validity and reliability assessment.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Resources used by young people to overcome mental distress in deprived settings in Latin America: a qualitative study.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Heritability of generalized anxiety stability: a longitudinal twin study among young adults.Psychological medicine · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDepression and anxiety are prevalent in youth populations and typically emerge during adolescence. Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) is a putative transdiagnostic mechanism with consistent associations with depression and anxiety. Targeting transdiagnostic processes like RNT for youth depression and anxiety may offer more targeted, personalised and effective treatment.
methodsA meta-analysis was conducted to examine the effect of psychological treatments on RNT, depression and anxiety symptoms in young people with depression or anxiety, and a meta-regression to examine relationships between outcomes.
resultsTwenty-eight randomised controlled trials examining 17 different psychological interventions were included. Effect sizes were small to moderate across all outcomes (Hedge's g depression = -0.47, CI -0.77 to -0.17; anxiety = -0.42, CI -0.65 to -0.20; RNT = -0.45, CI -0.67 to -0.23). RNT-focused and non-RNT focused approaches had comparable effects; however, those focusing on modifying the process of RNT had significantly larger effects on RNT than those focusing on modifying negative thought content. Meta-regression revealed a significant relationship between RNT and depression outcomes only across all intervention types and with both depression and anxiety for RNT focused interventions only.
conclusionConsistent with findings in adults, this review provides evidence that reducing RNT with psychological treatment is associated with improvements in depression and anxiety in youth. Targeting RNT specifically may not lead to better outcomes compared to general approaches; however, focusing on modifying the process of RNT may be more effective than targeting content. Further research is needed to determine causal pathways.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.