IMPACT OF MINDFULNESS ON TRANSDIAGNOSTIC COGNITIVE CORE FACTOR AND INTERNALISING SYMPTOMS AND DISORDERS IN THE PRESENCE OF LIFE STRESSORS

Abstract

The observation of high comorbidity among psychological disorders indicates a possible transdiagnostic approach in the conceptualisation of their etiology and maintenance. To date, while there exists burgeoning interest in the importance of transdiagnostic cognitive factors in the etiology of emotional disorders and mindfulness practice as an effective transdiagnostic intervention, no study has conceptualised the relationship between the two within its design. The current study aims to investigate the presence of a transdiagnostic cognitive core factor in predicting internalising symptoms and disorders in the presence of stressful life events over a six-month period, and further explore the potential impact of respective facets of dispositional mindfulness on this relationship. Data was collected from 307 participants from the NUS student population. It is hypothesised that the examined cognitive vulnerabilities would load onto a common transdiagnostic cognitive core factor, which would then mediate the relationship between dependent stressful life events and internalising symptoms, as well as the relationship between dependent stress life events and internalising disorders. Dispositional mindfulness is predicted to moderate the mediating effect of a common transdiagnostic cognitive core factor on internalising symptoms and disorders, where individuals predisposed with higher levels of specific facets of mindfulness (i.e. acting with awareness, non-judgment, and non-reactivity) are predicted to experience lesser emotional symptoms and not meet the criteria for emotional disorders. Significant findings from this moderated mediation model have the prospect of informing clinical intervention; with a focus on the distinct facets of mindfulness as a unified intervention on the transdiagnostic core cognitive vulnerability for emotional symptoms and its disorders.