Promoting Mental Health in Young Adults: A Brief Gratitude-Writing Intervention Reduced Brooding in People Who Ruminate

Positive psychology interventions (PPIs) have the potential to bypass barriers to seeking mental health services by promoting well-being without the cost and stigma. Research on PPIs thus far has focused on depressed individuals as well individuals who sought out PPIs on their own. It is less clear, however, whether the promising findings on PPIs could extend to PPIs effectively reducing levels of vulnerability factors in individuals at risk for depression. Rumination is a perseverative cognitive process and named as a transdiagnostic risk factor for psychopathology. The current study tested the efficacy of a gratitude-writing intervention in college students who had high scores of rumination. Participants completed either the gratitude-writing or distraction task for 4 days. The gratitude-writing exercise was significantly more effective than the distraction exercise in reducing the brooding subtype of rumination and in increasing positive affect. Implications for the use of this intervention include its potential to increase confidence in PPIs and to serve as a stepping stone for young adults to seek mental health resources.