The mediating role of self-compassion and forgiveness in the effect of negative metacognitive beliefs on repetitive negative thinking in those with PTSD symptoms.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64074/jorma000Keywords:
Repetitive negative thinking, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Forgiveness, Self-CompassionAbstract
The experience of traumatic events such as extreme violence, sexual abuse, war, or natural disasters can cause heightened anxiety and the development of a variety of mental health disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The study aimed to investigate the mediating role of self-compassion and forgiveness in the effect of negative metacognitive beliefs on repetitive negative thinking in those with PTSD symptoms. There was a total of 74 participants consisting of males (n = 43), females (n = 28), and gender neutral (n = 3) aged 18 and over (Age; males, M = 30.63, SD = 7.027, females, M = 30.14, SD = 9.671, and gender neutral, M = 46.00, SD = 0.000) who were clinical patients receiving treatments for posttraumatic stress disorders. Participants completed a short demographic questionnaire, the self-compassion scale - Short Form (SCS-SF), Metacognitive Questionnaire (MCQ-30), Bolton Forgiveness Scale (BFS), and Repetitive Thinking Questionnaire-10 (RTQ-10). The results revealed that negative metacognitive beliefs predicted RNT with a positive correlation (p<.001), forgiveness predicted RNT with an inverse relationship (p<.001), and self-compassion was a negative correlate of RNT (p<.001). Furthermore, forgiveness mediated the effect of negative metacognitive beliefs on RNT (p<.001). This study has provided insight that becoming more forgiving may weaken the impact of negative metacognitive beliefs on RNT in individuals with PTSD or posttraumatic stress symptoms, and self-compassion may well have a reductive effect on RNT.
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