Purpose: Perseverative thinking has been defined as a repetitive style of negative thinking that is at least partly intrusive and is difficult to disengage from. In the form of cognitive irritation, worry or rumination perseverative thinking is of importance for a variety of mental disorders including depression and generalized-anxiety-disorder. There is some promising but still limited evidence for the beneficial effects of gratitude interventions such as gratitude diary, gratitude letter or gratitude visit. Based on a newly developed model of gratitude and mental health we developed a gratitude internet intervention including a smartphone app. The latter included a text and picture-based gratitude diary and daily assessments.
Methods: Individuals owning a smartphone and with an elevated repetitive style of negative thinking were randomized either to the gratitude intervention or a waitlist control group (N=72). The intervention comprised daily gratitude diary via smartphone and 4 weekly online sessions and was guided by a personal e-coach. The control group got access to the training after 3 month. The primary outcome was measured with the Cognitive Irritation Scale.
Results: ANCOVAs were conducted based on an intention-to-treat approach. For cognitive irritation medium to large effects were observed at post-training and 3-month follow-up (Cohen's d=0.70; d=0.60). Effects remained stable after 6-month. Small to medium effects were found for secondary outcomes such as depression, worry or resilience. No effects were found for personality traits or changes in the work environment.
Discussion: To the best of our knowledge this is the first study demonstrating a gratitude intervention to be efficacious in reducing cognitive irritation. Learning to draw attention towards positive events seems to be an effective way to disengage from work related problems.

weitere Autoren: Hanna Heckendorf, Dirk Lehr, David Daniel Ebert, Heleen Riper