The Relationship of Rumination and Experiential Avoidance with Depression and Social Anxiety: The Mediating Role of Worry

The trans-diagnostic approach is a therapeutic approach focusing on the comorbidity of disorders so that it goes beyond just focusing on symptoms and diagnoses and targets common underlying components in disorders. The present research aims to investigate the relationship of the two trans-diagnostic components of rumination and experiential avoidance with depression symptoms and social anxiety mediated by worry. The method used in this research is correlational-descriptive, which has also been assessed using the path analysis of the mediating role of worry. The statistical population consisted of the students of Mashhad universities, among which 420 people were selected. The Rumination Response Scale (RRS), the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ), the Pennsylvania State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ), the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition (BDI-II), and Connor’s Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) were used to collect data, and path analysis method was used for data analysis. The results revealed that the model had a good fit. The direct effects of rumination and experiential avoidance on depression symptoms and social anxiety were significant (P ≤ 0.01), and worry played a mediating role in the relationship of rumination and experiential avoidance with depression symptoms and social anxiety (P ≤ 0.01). Thus, worry plays a mediating role in the relationship of rumination and experiential avoidance with depression symptoms and social anxiety. Hence, targeting these three components in extra-diagnostic treatments to improve depression symptoms and social anxiety is very important and effective in the treatment of these individuals.