When Worries Make you Sick: A Review of Perseverative Cognition, the Default Stress Response and Somatic Health
Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: Perseverative cognition, such as worry and rumination, is a common reaction to stressful events. In this review, we present a self-regulation perspective on perseverative cognition and propose that it forms part of the default response to threat, novelty and ambiguity. This default response is enhanced in chronic worriers who show difficulties in recognizing signals of safety, due to excessive goal commitment and the use of perseverative cognition as a strategy to cope with perceived threats to goal attainment. It is proposed that worrying about stressful events increases the total amount of time that stress has a ‘wear and tear’ effect on the human body. Studies supporting this perseverative cognition hypothesis are reviewed. Moreover, we provide preliminary evidence that unconscious forms of perseverative cognition have substantial somatic health effects as well. In conclusion, a focus on perseverative cognition is warranted when investigating links between stressful events and somatic health.
DOI: 10.5127/jep.009110
Institutions: Leiden University, The Ohio State University
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2070911503