Background: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on anxiety and depression may have been exacerbated by the spread of fake news. Low cognitive reflection has been linked to belief in fake news and poor discernment between true and fake news. However, biases in cognitive processes are also correlates of depressive episodes. Thus, mental health factors that either exacerbate or alleviate depressive symptoms may also be linked to belief in fake news. Purpose: The current study sought to examine the relationship between risk (rumination and intolerance of uncertainty) and protective mental health factors (self-compassion and dispositional mindfulness) with belief and discernment of true versus fake COVID-19 news headlines. Method: A total of 200 participants judged the accuracy of 20 true and fake COVID-19 news headlines categorized into high-anxiety and low-anxiety news items. They also filled out self-report measures, such as FFMQ-15 (mindfulness), SCS-SF (self-compassion), IUC-12 (intolerance of uncertainty), RRS (rumination), DASS-21 (depression, anxiety, stress), FC-19 (fear of COVID-19), and completed the CRT (cognitive reflection). Results: The mental health factors were weakly associated with belief in both true and fake news (regardless of how anxiety-provoking they were), but not with discernment. Consistent with previous studies, only the CRT was correlated with discernment of true versus fake COVID-19 news headlines. Limitations: Prior exposure to the headlines on social media may have impacted discernment. Implications: This research adds to the body of knowledge that analytical thinking increases discernment and susceptibility to fake news.