Hypermentalization as Predictor of Childhood Anxiety and Depression

Abstract

The present study investigated if impaired mentalization- specifically hypermentalization- predicted the onset of anxiety and depression in children one and three years later. A narrative story-telling task was used to measure children's propensity to hypermentalize, and was administered to children when they were 8-years-old. The Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS) was used to measure children's anxiety and depression scores when they were nine and eleven years old. Results revealed that cognitive hypermentalization predicted higher total anxiety, separation anxiety, and generalized anxiety one and three years later, and predicted higher depression one year later. It is proposed that these findings reveal hypermentalization as a possible cause for the symptoms seen in anxiety and depression. Specifically, in anxiety, it is posited that hypermentalization lead to: a tendency to interpret ambiguous situations as threats; the development of paranoid worries; and the forming of inaccurate conceptions regarding the relation between intention and behaviour (eg. 'I must worry to do well'). In depression, hypermentalization is speculated to have caused a tendency to retrieve overgeneral memories, which is associated with depression.