Getting “Stuck” in the Future or the Past: Relationships between Dimensions of Time Perspective, Executive Functions, and Repetitive Negative Thinking in Anxiety

Abstract

Background/Aim: Anxiety disorders are associated with impairments in several aspects of cognitive processing. In this study we investigated three such aspects, i.e., time perspective, repetitive negative thinking (worry and rumination), and executive functioning, in persons with anxiety disorders compared to healthy controls and examined the influence of negative past and negative future time perspective and executive functioning on worry and rumination. Method: Thirty-six psychiatric outpatients with anxiety disorders (mean age = 30.83, SD = 11.74; 30 females and 6 males) and 44 healthy controls (mean age = 28.89, SD = 9.54; 24 females and 20 males) completed inventories of time perspective and repetitive negative thinking, and tasks measuring executive functioning (shifting and inhibition). Results: The groups (patient vs. control) differed significantly on all time perspective dimensions (past, present, and future), with largest effect sizes observed for negative past and negative future. Regression analyses with executive functioning, negative past, and negative future time perspectives as predictors, and worry and rumination as outcomes, showed that negative past time perspective was the best predictor for rumination, whereas negative future time perspective more strongly predicted worry. Executive functioning was not a significant predictor of either worry or rumination. Conclusions: Individuals with anxiety disorders demonstrated systematic biases in all time perspective dimensions, particularly negative past and negative future time perspective, which was further related to worry and rumination. Thus, interventions targeting temporal focus may be one way of reducing repetitive negative thinking. A major limitation of this study was the use of a cross-section design.

Psychological Flexibility and Self-Compassion as Predictors of Well-Being: Mediating Role of a Balanced Time Perspective

“…The association with Past Negative was the strongest in magnitude though, in particular for psychological flexibility for which a negative association with Past Negative was evident regardless of whether self-compassion was entered as a simultaneous predictor. This pattern is much in line with the concept of psychological rigidity and fusion, exemplified by ruminations ( Åström et al, 2018 ), being stuck in the negative perception of the past ( Ge et al, 2019 ) and the lack of acceptance of one’s suffering, including negative events in the past ( Hayes et al, 1999 ). As there are no prior reports regarding relationships between psychological flexibility and time perspective to date, it can be only speculated that psychological inflexibility, characterized by strong fusion with one’s views and attitudes toward oneself and the world as well as small acceptance of one’s suffering can be strongly associated with negative thoughts and the feeling of “being stuck” in a negatively perceived past (cf.…”

“…A basic tenet in the framework underlying ZTPI is that biases, in the form of overuse of one, or several, of the dimensions (time perspective biases), may predispose the individual to mental health problems and problematic behaviors. A wealth of studies are in line with this prediction, and specific time perspective biases were are, for example, linked to stress ( Papastamatelou et al, 2015 ; Rönnlund et al, 2018 ), anxiety ( Åström et al, 2018 ), and depression ( Desmyter and De Raedt, 2012 ; Åström et al, 2019 ).…”

“…As there are no prior reports regarding relationships between psychological flexibility and time perspective to date, it can be only speculated that psychological inflexibility, characterized by strong fusion with one's views and attitudes toward oneself and the world as well as small acceptance of one's suffering can be strongly associated with negative thoughts and the feeling of "being stuck" in a negatively perceived past (cf. Harris, 2009;Åström et al, 2018).…”

“…Another means by which self-compassion might alter perception of the past and improve well-being is by reducing negatively toned repetitive thinking in form of rumination. Rumination tends to be directed toward the past ( Nolen-Hoeksema et al, 2008 ) and, as demonstrated by Åström et al (2018) , positively associated with scores on the ZTPI Past Negative dimension. Consistent with the hypothesis that self-compassion may block rumination, Odou and Brinker (2015) demonstrated short-term benefits of a simple self-compassionate writing task to approach an induced negative mood state, with greater effect for individuals identified as high ruminators.…”

Predictores psicológicos de la re-ganancia del peso en pacientes bariátricos

“…Perspectivas futuras: Para avanzar en la comprensión de las variables que se encuentran implicadas en la recuperación del peso, podría aportar la inclusión de otros constructos relacionados, como por ejemplo, regulación emocional. Otra área que puede colaborar en la comprensión del complejo proceso de la re-ganancia del peso, y que se ha planteado que teóricamente esta relacionada con la perspectiva temporal (Aström, Seif, Wiberg & Carelli, 2018;Alfonsson et al, 2017), son las funciones ejecutivas. Por ejemplo, tanto la perspectiva temporal como las funciones ejecutivas se asocian a planificación, flexibilidad cognitiva y al comportamiento dirigido a objetivos.…”