The Association of Core Psychological Processes with Common Mental Health Syndromes: A Cross-Sectional Network Analysis

Purpose

The network theory assumes that mental disorders are an emergent property of the dynamic interaction between variables such as symptoms of mental disorder. Most studies of the network theory have focused on these symptom interactions. Here, we examine the association of common mental health syndromes and core psychological processes.

Methods

An explorative network analysis was performed on the data of 87 patients currently treated with psychotherapy. A cross-sectional partial correlation network with four syndromes (depression, anxiety, somatization, and disordered eating) and six processes (activation, self-functioning, valuing, repression/denial, avoidance, and rumination) was estimated and strength centrality was calculated for all nodes. The six processes were selected out of twelve processes by empirical criteria.

Results

A network with 24 edges, i.e., adjusted partial correlations between the ten variables was estimated. Particularly strong edges emerged connecting valuing and activation, repression/denial and self-functioning, and rumination and self-functioning. The process of self-functioning was the node with the highest strength centrality, followed by the process of valuing and the depressive syndrome.

Conclusions

We have found connections within processes and syndromes as well as between them. This suggests that they might interact in the maintenance of psychopathology. Idiographic analysis of longitudinal data is needed to assess if these connections are causal in nature.

Rights

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