The death of influential psychologist Susan Nolen-Hoeksema in 2013 resonated throughout the psychology community. A deep thinker, prolific writer, and tireless teacher and researcher, Nolen-Hoeksema espoused a transdiagnostic approach to psychopathology and emotional disorders, especially taking into consideration the roles that risk factors such as rumination and gender differences played. Further, her new way of thinking about the sources of psychopathology and emotional disorders inspired changes and improvements in prevention and intervention efforts.
In the February issue of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, a special section titled "Honoring Dr. Susan Nolen-Hoeksema: Emotion Regulation as a Transdiagnostic Process in Psychopathology" and edited by Jutta Joormann and Sherryl H. Goodman recognizes Nolen-Hoeksema's legacy.
Martin E. P. Seligman, Kristin Layous, Joseph Chancellor, Sonja Lyubomirsky, Katie A. McLaughlin, Amelia Aldao, Blair Wisco, Lori M. Hilt, Edward R. Watkins, Darcy Mandell, Greg J. Siegle, Luann Shutt, Josh Feldmiller, Michael Thase, Jutta Joormann, and Sherryl H. Goodman all contributed to the special section.
In "The Real Mental Illnesses: Susan Nolen-Hoeksema (1959–2013) in Memoriam," Martin E. P. Seligman's introduction to the section, he recognizes the importance of Nolen-Hoeksema's work and, simultaneously, underlines the tragedy of her premature death by showing how her main line of inquiry foreshadowed future paradigm shifts.
In the first article, "Positive Activities as Protective Factors Against Mental Health Conditions," Kristin Layous, Joseph Chancellor, and Sonja Lyubomirsky appropriate Nolen-Hoeksema's transdiagnostic risk factor heuristic for positive psychology by focusing on mitigating known risk factors and counteracting environmental triggers before they lead to psychopathology. They advocate teaching youths how to create positive patterns in their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors so that they will be metaphorically inoculated against depression and other mental health conditions.
Katie A. McLaughlin, Amelia Aldao, Blair E. Wisco, and Lori M. Hilt, in "Rumination as a Transdiagnostic Factor Underlying Transitions Between Internalizing Symptoms and Aggressive Behavior in Early Adolescents," put rumination, a main focus of Nolen-Hoeksema's work, under the microscope. Rumination has been associated with many different mental health issues (e.g., depression, anxiety, self-injurious behavior), but whether it could account for the co-occurrence of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology had not been tested before. When early adolescents were assessed for rumination as it related to aggressive behavior, depression, and anxiety symptoms, rumination was found to predict increases in aggressive behavior and aggression was associated with more rumination over time, but in boys only. Interventions that reduce rumination may be helpful in reducing both internalizing and externalizing forms of psychopathology, at least in boys.
The work of Susan Nolen-Hoeksema also appears in this special section, in an article coauthored by Edward R. Watkins, "A Habit–Goal Framework of Depressive Rumination." In it, rumination is framed as a mental habit that becomes associated with the circumstances in which it occurs. In the case of depressive rumination, analyzing one's problems, concerns, and depressed mood creates a downward spiral, sharpening the brain's focus on the negative circumstances to the exclusion of other, more constructive thoughts or positive circumstances. Understanding this phenomenon is the first step to finding interventions to counteract it.
In "Neural Substrates of Trait Ruminations in Depression," Darcy Mandell, Greg Siegle, Luann Shutt, Josh Feldmiller, and Michael E. Thase take a closer look at Nolen-Hoeksema's construct of rumination. Specifically, the authors investigated whether several different types of depressive rumination could be correlated with activity in different areas of the brains of clinically depressed individuals. If rumination is traced back to the part or parts of the brain in which it originates (and this article identifies the amygdala as a significant player, along with the hippocampus), researchers will have a better idea of what strategies to test in the effort to find a way to reverse depressive rumination or, even better, head off rumination before it leads individuals into depression.
In the final commentary, "Transdiagnostic Processes in Psychopathology: In Memory of Susan Nolen-Hoeksema," co-editors Jutta Joormann and Sherryl H. Goodman summarize Nolen-Hoeksema's contributions to and impact on psychology as well as the articles within the section that build on her work.
Psychology's loss in the death of Dr. Nolen-Hoeksema, through the tribute of Joormann and Goodman, is clearly seen and keenly felt.
For more information on this special section, please contact Jutta Joormann or Sherryl H. Goodman.
Note: This article is in the Clinical Psychology topic area. View more articles in the Clinical Psychology topic area.