The nature of negative thoughts in depression

Investigating the role of action-contingent expectancy biases in dysphoria-linked activity engagement behavioural choice

Reduced tendency to engage in potentially rewarding activities is a hallmark of depression. The present study investigated the role of future expectancy biases in depression-linked behavioural choice, in participants varying in self-reported depression symptoms (dysphoria). A novel laboratory paradigm was developed to test the hypotheses that the degree to which higher dysphoria is associated with reduced tendency to engage in a potentially rewarding activity is dependent on the presence of negative biases in the expected outcomes of activity engagement. Specifically, two types of expectancy biases were distinguished: a) the expected likelihood of a negative rather than positive outcome, and b) the expected emotional impact of either outcome. N = 176 undergraduate students with varied levels of dysphoria were given the opportunity to choose to engage in a coin-tossing game that could result in a win or loss monetary outcome in terms of charity donations, and then rated both types of expectancies. Results indicated that higher dysphoria was associated with more negative expectations concerning the likelihood of objective outcomes and the emotional impact of such outcomes, and as hypothesised, such negative expectancy biases mediated indirect associations between dysphoria and behavioural choice.

Does Baseline Mental Health Influence Outcomes among Workers' Compensation Claimants Undergoing Minimally Invasive Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion?

STUDY DESIGN

This was a retrospective cohort study.

PURPOSE

This study investigated the influence of preoperative mental health on patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) and minimal clinically important difference (MCID) among workers' compensation (WC) recipients undergoing minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (MIS TLIF).

OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE

No studies have evaluated the impact of preoperative mental functioning on outcomes following MIS TLIF among WC claimants.

METHODS

WC recipients undergoing single-level MIS TLIF were identified. PROMs of Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for back and leg pain, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), 12-item Short Form Physical and Mental Composite Scale (SF-12 PCS/MCS), and Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Physical Function evaluated subjects preoperatively/postoperatively. Subjects were grouped according to preoperative SF-12 MCS: <41 vs. ≥41. Demographic/perioperative variables, PROMs, and MCID were compared using inferential statistics. Multiple regression was used to account for differences in spinal pathology.

RESULTS

The SF-12 MCS <41 and SF-12 MCS ≥41 groups included 48 and 45 patients, respectively. Significant differences in ΔPROMs were observed at SF-12 MCS at all timepoints, except at 6 months (p≤0.041, all). The SF-12 MCS <41 group had worse preoperative to 6-months SF-12 MCS, 12-weeks/6-months VAS back, 12-week VAS leg, and preoperative to 6-months ODI (p≤0.029, all). The SF-12 MCS <41 group had greater MCID achievement for overall ODI and 6-weeks/1-year/overall SF-12 MCS (p≤0.043, all); the SF-12 MCS ≥41 group had greater attainment for 6-month VAS back (p=0.004).

CONCLUSIONS

Poorer mental functioning adversely affected the baseline and intermediate postoperative quality-of-life outcomes pertaining to mental health, back pain, and disability among WC recipients undergoing lumbar fusion. However, outcomes did not differ 1-2 years after surgery. While MCID achievement for pain and physical function was largely unaffected by preoperative mental health score, WC recipients with poorer baseline mental health demonstrated higher rates of overall clinically meaningful improvements for disability and mental health.

Antecedents of COVID ‐19 rumination: A three‐wave study

The COVID‐19 pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of our lives and has caused a considerable rise in psychological complaints such as anxieties and depression. The majority of studies so far has focused on outcomes of the COVID‐19 pandemic. To augment current knowledge, we focus on the antecedents of COVID‐19 rumination. Specially, we examine how negative and positive work events prior to the outbreak influence individuals' coping capacity with regard to COVID‐19 (i.e., the extent to which individuals have recurrent negative thoughts about COVID‐19). Drawing on Conservation of Resources Theory (COR), we maintain that positive and negative work events prior to the pandemic can affect one's self‐efficacy experiences and in turn can impact recurrent negative thoughts about COVID‐19. Alongside exploring the proposed theoretical mediation model, we test one of the key assumptions of the COR theory: the notion of primacy of negative over positive affect that results from negative (vs. positive) work events. Three‐waved data was collected among Dutch employees (T1 = 302; T2 = 199; T3 = 171); two prior to the pandemic and one at the onset of the outbreak. Results showed that positive work events increased self‐efficacy, which in turn reduced COVID‐19 rumination. Contrary to the expectation of primacy of the effects of negative work events, we found no significant impact of negative work events on individuals' COVID‐19 rumination.

Topic modelling online depression forums: beyond narratives of self-objectification and self-blaming

BACKGROUND

Depression raises a double challenge: besides the negative mood and the intrusive thoughts, the relation to the self also becomes difficult. Online forums are analysed as communicative platforms enabling the interactive reconstruction of the self.

AIMS

The discourses of online depression forums are explored. Firstly, narrative patterns are identified according to their thematic focus (e.g. dysfunctional body, challenges of intimacy) and discursive logic (e.g. information exchange, support). Secondly, narratives are analysed in order to describe various ways of grounding a depressed self.

METHODS

∼70.000 depression-related posts from the biggest English-speaking online forums (e.g. www.reddit.com/r/depression, www.healthunlocked.com) were analysed. Quantitative (LDA topic modelling) and qualitative (deep reading) approaches were used simultaneously to determine the optimal number of topics and their interpretation.

RESULTS

13 topics were identified and interpreted according to their content and communicative function. Based on the inter-topic distances four clusters were identified (medicalized, intimacy-oriented, critical and uninhabitable self-narratives).

CONCLUSIONS

The clusters of the 13 topics highlight various ways of narrating depression and the depressed self. Based on a comparison with a systematic review of mental illness recovery narratives, depression forums cover most narrative genres and emotional tones, thus create a unique opportunity for integrating the depressing experiences in the self.

The asymmetries of the biopsychosocial model of depression in lay discourses - Topic modelling online depression forums

BACKGROUND

One of the most comprehensive approaches to depression is the biopsychosocial model. From this wider perspective, social sciences have criticized the reductionist biomedical discourse, which has been dominating expert discourses for a long time. As these discourses determine the horizon of attributions and interventions, their lay interpretation plays a central role in the coping with depression.

METHODS

In order to map these patterns, online depression forums are analyzed with natural language processing methods, where computational tools are complemented with a qualitative approach. Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic model of depression-related posts from the most popular English-speaking online health discussion forums (N = ~70 000) reveals the monolog (attributions and self-disclosures) and interactive (consultations and quasi-therapeutic interactions) patterns.

RESULTS

Following the evaluation of various models 18 topics were differentiated: attributions referring to health, family, partnership and work issues; self-disclosures referring to contemplations, introducing the experience of suffering and well-being, along with diaries of everyday activities and hardships; consultations about psychotherapies, classifications, drugs and the experience; and quasi-therapeutic interactions relying on unconditional positive regards, recovery helpers experience or spirituality. These topics were evaluated from the perspective of the biopsychosocial model: the weight of each dimension was measured along with the discursive function.

CONCLUSIONS

Biomedical discourse is underrepresented in lay discussions, while psychological discourse plays an overall dominant role. Even if actors are initially aware of the social mechanisms contributing to depression, they neglect these factors when it comes to considering the countermeasures.

The influence of identity on the prevalence and persistence of disordered eating and weight control behaviors in Mexican American college women

Disordered eating behaviors are prevalent in Mexican-American college-enrolled women and contribute to compromised physical and psychological health. Although disordered eating behaviors are multi-determined, few studies have examined individual difference factors that contribute to disordered eating behaviors in Mexican women beyond acculturation. Evidence suggests that individual differences in the constellation of identities may be an important factor influencing the disordered eating behaviors. We hypothesized that individual differences in the collection of identities (self-schemas) increases susceptibility to defining oneself as fat (fat self-schema) and contribute to disordered eating behaviors over time in Mexican American college women. A 12-month longitudinal design was used to measure the level of disordered eating behaviors at 5 points over 12 months in 477 Mexican American women. Identity properties (i.e., positive self-schemas, negative self-schemas, fat self-schema) were measured at baseline. Controlling for relevant covariates, latent growth curve models showed that Mexican American women with few positive and many negative self-schemas were more likely to define themselves as fat, which in turn, predicted purging and fasting/restricting behaviors across the year. However, identity properties were not predictive of binge eating and excessive exercise episodes. Interventions focused on development of positive self-schemas that reflect areas of interest and competence and the revision of negative self-schemas may protect against purging and fasting/restricting in Mexican American college-enrolled women.

Do Moderators of the Optimistic Bias Affect Personal or Target Risk Estimates? A Review of the Literature

The optimistic bias is defined as judging one's own risk as less than the risk of others. Researchers have identified numerous personal and situational factors that moderate the extent to which people display the bias. It is unclear, however, whether these moderators affect the bias by influencing people's personal risk estimates or their risk estimates for a target. A review of moderators of the optimistic bias reveals evidence for both influences. Moderators associated with negative affect (negative mood, dysphoria, trait and state anxiety, event severity, and proximity of feedback) and control related moderators (perceived control and prior experience) appear primarily to affect personal risk estimates. Positive mood affects target risk estimates. Finally, moderators that surround the comparison process appear to have different effects. Specifically, the type of comparison target appears to affect target risk estimates, whereas attention to personal risk-related behaviors affects personal risk estimates.

Depressive Experiences of Nonreferred Adolescents and Young Adults

The cognitive theory of depression proposed by Beck and the cognitive developmental theory proposed by Piaget provided the theoreticalframeworks for an exploratory and developmentally based investigation of the depressive experiences of nonreferred adolescents and young adults. Specifically, the students'experiences of depressive symptomatology and expressions of hopelessness were examined as a function of their stage of cognitive development (i.e., concrete operations vs. formal operational thought). Participating in the present study were 107 high school, community college, and university students. The students completed several self-report measures designed to assess their levels of depressive symptomatology, hopelessness, and cognitive development. Contrary to theoretical expectations, students classified as functioning within the concrete operational stage were found to report a greater frequency and severity of depressive symptomatology, as well as higher levels of hopelessness, than were those classified within the formal operational stage. The implications and limitations of the study are discussed.

Evaluatively Integrative Thinking about Characteristics of the Self

A process of evaluatively integrative thinking may limit the impact of negative self-knowledge by strengthening associative links between negative and positive items of knowledge about the self. Subjects generated lists of items to describe themselves in social situations and in academic situations. Subjects whose lists were evaluatively integrated (i.e., positive and negative items were intermixed) reported higher self-esteem or less negative affect than subjects who clustered items of similar valence. In paragraph descriptions of their most negative characteristic, subjects who used evaluatively integrative statements had higher self-esteem even when the importance and negativity of the characteristics were held constant. These findings may hold only for evaluative integration with respect to negative characteristics. They suggest that there are important individual differences in the organization of the self-concept, not just in content.

Religious Belief and the Self-Concept: Evaluating the Implications for Psychological Adjustment

It was proposed that (a) religious belief has implications for properties of the self-concept and that (b) the relationship between religious belief and psychological adjustment can be understood in self-theoretical terms. In two studies ( Ns = 145, 52) religious belief strength was associated with more positive and certain self-conceptions, and the influence of religiousness on the self-concept was evident in multiple self-knowledge domains. The results also demonstrated that self-concept positivity partially mediated the relationship between religious belief and psychological adjustment. In addition, self-concept and coping models of the association of religiousness and adjustment were compared. The results indicated that religious belief had a small, positive indirect effect on adjustment through self-concept positivity and a larger but negative indirect effect through a measure of God-related control attributions. Theoretical links between religious belief and the self-concept are discussed.

Self-Referent Versus Other-Referent Information Processing in Dysphoric, Clinically Depressed, and Remitted Depressed Subjects

Two studies examined the processing of responses directed toward the self versus others by dysphoric, clinically depressed, and remitted depressed subjects. Study 1 showed that dysphoric subjects found positive and negative responses toward the self equally informative. Nondysphoric subjects found positive responses toward the self more informative than negative responses. When responses were directed toward others, dysphoric subjects found positive responses more informative than negative responses. In contrast, nondysphoric subjects found positive and negative responses directed toward others equally informative. Study 2 replicated these results with clinically depressed versus nondysphoric subjects. Study 2 also showed that remitted depressed subjects found positive responses more informative than negative responses, regardless of whether they were directed toward the self or toward others. Results suggest that positive and negative constructs are differentially accessible for dysphoric, clinically depressed, remitted depressed, and nondysphoric subjects when processing information directed toward the self versus others.

Depressive Symptoms and Accuracy in the Prediction of Future Events

In two studies, the authors examined the accuracy of dysphoric and nondysphoric individuals' predictions about their future behavior. Participants predicted the occurrence of a variety of everyday events and reported on their occurrence over a period of either 4 (Study 1) or 8 (Study 2) weeks. As expected, dysphoria was unrelated to overall accuracy, but nondysphorics tended to be more accurate in making optimistic predictions and dysphorics tended to be more accurate in making pessimistic predictions. These differences were related to differences between the two dysphoric groups in base rates of reported outcome occurrence and certainty of judgments. The findings did not support depressive realism, the negative biasing effect of dysphoria on future predictions, or the contention that dysphorics are less accurate because they predict either more atypical or overly optimistic outcomes.

What Leads to Wellness?

An expanding literature reveals that personality traits and psychological resources (PRs) are important in human well-being. In this article, the author reviews the literature regarding four PRs (positive thoughts, hardiness, generalized self-efficacy, and optimism), discusses the relationships among PRs and between PRs and personality characteristics, and proposes a theory that helps to account for current findings. Specific hypotheses are proposed, and implications for the practice of counseling psychology are discussed.

Comparative Pessimism or Optimism: Depressed Mood, Risk-Taking, Social Utility and Desirability

Comparative optimism can be defined as a self-serving, asymmetric judgment of the future. It is often thought to be beneficial and socially accepted, whereas comparative pessimism is correlated with depression and socially rejected. Our goal was to examine the social acceptance of comparative optimism and the social rejection of comparative pessimism in two dimensions of social judgment, social desirability and social utility, considering the attributions of dysphoria and risk-taking potential (studies 2 and 3) on outlooks on the future. In three experiments, the participants assessed either one (study 1) or several (studies 2 and 3) fictional targets in two dimensions, social utility and social desirability. Targets exhibiting comparatively optimistic or pessimistic outlooks on the future were presented as non-depressed, depressed, or neither (control condition) (study 1); non-depressed or depressed (study 2); and non-depressed or in control condition (study 3). Two significant results were obtained: (1) social rejection of comparative pessimism in the social desirability dimension, which can be explained by its depressive feature; and (2) comparative optimism was socially accepted on the social utility dimension, which can be explained by the perception that comparatively optimistic individuals are potential risk-takers.

Does mood really influence comparative optimism? Tracking an elusive effect

Methodological limitations call into question prior evidence that positive moods are associated with greater comparative optimism. Experiments 1-4 tested if mood affects comparative optimism using a mood manipulation that minimized experimenter demand. While the procedure was successful in inducing mood, we found no evidence for a mood effect on comparative optimism. The absence of a mood effect was not due to participants correcting their judgments in response to a presumed mood bias (Experiments 2, 3 and 4) or to participants proactively regulating their mood (Experiments 3 and 4). Experiment 5 compared the mood manipulation of Experiments 1-4 with an autobiographical recall procedure. Although the two methods were equally effective in inducing mood, only autobiographical recall influenced participants' comparative optimism. Study 6 provides preliminary evidence that experimenter demand may be responsible for the effects of autobiographical recall on comparative judgments.

[Memory bias and depression: a critical commentary]

The purpose of this paper is to describe experiments or theoretical studies which are interested in the depressive mood effect on the emotional information processing. More precisely, our goal is to determine which factors govern the emergence of a memory bias in depression.

LITERATURE FINDINGS

Numerous authors revealed a phenomenon called "mood congruence memory" by which congruent information is better memorized than non-congruent information. Hence, this phenomenon means that memory efficiency is biased by the congruence of the material to memorize and the emotional state. The corpus of research in this area is considerable and our purpose is not to describe it exhaustively but to indicate the different methodological approaches. The first part of this paper deals with the presentation of the studies written by the late 1980s. Mood-congruent bias seems to be a reliable phenomenon in depressed subjects especially in explicit memory tasks (ie tasks where subjects are consciously trying to retrieve information in carrying out the tasks) such as free recall or recognition. By the 1990s, several authors developed an alternative cognitive view of depression, using Graf and Mandler's distinction between integration (ie activation or priming) and elaboration. According to these authors, integration is demonstrated when a past experience facilitates performance on a task which does not require deliberate recollection of that experience. In contrast, elaboration is a strategic process, comprising the linking of a word to other material in memory to form new relationships. Elaboration can be assessed by an explicit memory task such as free or cued recall. Taken together, a part of the results confirmed the presence of an explicit but not an implicit memory bias in depression. However, as Roediger and McDermott pointed out, the interpretation of non-significant findings in implicit memory tends to be uncertain. Watkins et al. themselves advocated a hint of a mood-congruity effect in the implicit task. Obviously, their implicit memory results required corroboration of other implicit memory measures. Recently, several others recent studies, using the same kind of tasks, have found evidence of an implicit memory bias in depression. So, it is apparent that the above studies have yielded variable findings. Thus, there is evidence indicating that several different memory processes may contribute to implicit memory tasks performance. Given this discrepant evidence of implicit memory bias, few authors decided to investigate the issue further and used a primed lexical decision task with both sub- and suprathreshold priming as a measure of implicit memory. Indeed, unlike the word completion task, it permits the separate the contributions of automatic and strategic processes. If priming occurs due to subthreshold presentation, when subject's awareness of the primes is restricted, then this would indicate that the priming effect is automatic and independent of conscious, strategic processes. On the other hand, if priming occurs with suprathreshold presentation (ie when primes are within awareness), then the priming effect may involve both automatic and strategic processes. In this view, Bradley et al. are the first who used a primed lexical decision task with both sub and suprathreshold priming to investigate the memory bias in depression. Results from these three studies indicate that non-clinical depressed individuals showed a depression-congruent implicit memory bias in the subthreshold but not in the suprathreshold priming condition, while clinically depressed individuals showed such a bias in both priming conditions. The study of Colombel et al., using a non-clinical sample, confirmed these results suggesting that the lack of depression-congruent effect in suprathreshold priming for non-clinical subjects might be due to the use of strategic processes which counteract the negative bias in automatic priming found in the subthreshold condition.

Personality, Emotionality, and Risk Prediction

We suggest a new approach for measuring individual differences in optimistic bias that adjusts risk estimates for oneself for: (1) risk estimates for other persons to control for response tendencies, and (2) risk estimates by knowledgeable informants to control for differences in actual risk. In two studies, we measured Positive and Negative Emotionality by self-reports and reports by knowledgeable informants. Moreover, likelihood estimates that pleasant and unpleasant events will occur to oneself and to an average other person were collected, and the knowledgeable informants provided risk estimates for the research participants. Risk estimates by knowledgeable informants were even more optimistic than self-estimates, and optimistic bias was related directly to Positive Emotionality and inversely to Negative Emotionality. These effects of personality on optimistic bias were not mediated by current mood.

The association of depression and perceptions of interpersonal relationships in patients with diabetes

OBJECTIVE

Using an instrument assessing interpersonal relationships in patients with diabetes, we hypothesized that a change in depression would be associated with a change in patients' perceptions of themselves and others in relationships.

METHODS

Instruments assessing attachment, depression, and demographics were administered twice to 367 patients with diabetes in an HMO primary care setting, 10 months apart. We assessed change in capacity to rely on others (model of other) and to feel worthy of attention (model of self) according to depression change categories (unchanged, decreased, and increased depression).

RESULTS

The degree to which patients reported being able to rely on others increased with a reduction in depressive symptoms (P = .02). The degree to which patients endorsed a sense that they were not worthy of attention in relationships increased with an increase in depressive symptoms (P = .02).

CONCLUSION

A change in depressive symptoms is associated with a change in perception of interpersonal relationships in patients with diabetes.

Cognitive variables in alcohol dependent patients with elevated depressive symptoms: changes and predictive utility as a function of treatment modality

The aim of the current study was to examine, through posthoc analyses, changes in and predictive utility of mood-related cognitive variables as a function of treatment modality in a group of alcohol dependent patients with elevated depressive symptoms. In addition to the background partial hospital treatment for alcoholism which lasted a mean of 21.2 days, study patients (n = 35) received cognitive-behavioral treatment for depression (CBT-D) or a control treatment consisting of relaxation training (RTC). While both groups showed improvement on dysfunctional attitudes during treatment, only the CBT-D group improved on measures of alcohol-related expectancies. Changes in cognitive variables during treatment predicted drinking outcomes, and the predictors of drinking outcomes varied across the two treatments. Among the RTC patients, changes in positive alcohol-related expectancies were negatively correlated with drinking frequency and quantity at follow-up. However, for the CBT-D patients, changes in self-efficacy concerning negative mood situations and negative alcohol-related expectancies were negatively correlated with drinking at longer-term follow-up. The results of this study provide evidence concerning the mechanisms by which the treatment modalities examined may affect patient outcome. Although these results are preliminary in nature, they do suggest that future research might examine efforts to capitalize on these mechanisms through the facilitation of changes found to predict better drinking outcomes in this study.

Psychopathy and depression: mutually exclusive constructs?

The present study was designed to evaluate the nature of the differences between psychopathy and depression. Based on previously articulated theoretical models, we hypothesized an inverse relationship between the two clinical constructs. Archival data were retrieved from 231 outpatient clients who had completed measures of depression and psychopathy. Correlational analyses and ANOVA's based on extreme groups supported the hypothesis. Implications for assessment, treatment, and research methodology are discussed.

The accuracy of dysphoric and nondepressed groups' predictions of life events

The phenomenon of depressive realism was examined in relation to the future prediction of positive and negative life events. A group of dysphoric (n = 20) and nondepressed (n = 38) British undergraduates participated in a prospective study lasting 3 months. Partly consistent with the depressive realism hypotheses, dysphoric participants were more realistic concerning the negative life events they would experience, but they were less realistic concerning the negative life events they would not experience. Although no difference was found for predicting the occurrence of positive life events, dysphoric participants were found to be more realistic concerning positive life events that they would not experience.

Analysis of eyeblink activity during self-referent information processing in mild depression

This study was designed to assess characteristics of self-referent information processing in mildly depressed persons using the eyeblink response measured in a discrete-trial paradigm. 7 mildly depressed and 9 nondepressed subjects (classified by scores on Beck's inventory) performed a self-reference task for positive and negative trait adjectives. The eyeblink was suppressed before and during presentation of stimuli and a burst pattern of the eyeblink was observed just after exposure. The pattern of the eyeblink burst after trait adjectives could be interpreted to reflect cognitive effort, cognitive load, or amount of attentional resource. Present results suggested that depressed individuals should have less cognitive load or allocate less attentional resource to negative stimuli than to positive ones during self-referent information processing.

Depression, elaboration, and mood congruence: differences between natural and induced mood

The results of two experiments examining the effects of depressed mood on recall of target words and recall of descriptor words are reported. Descriptors were either negatively valenced or neutral and were not related semantically to target adjectives. There was no overall difference in the recall of targets by naturally depressed and nondepressed subjects. There was a mood x descriptor interaction on target recall, and depressed subjects recalled more negative descriptors than did nondepressed subjects. In contrast, when a depressed mood was induced through a Velten Mood Induction Procedure, induced-depressed subjects recalled fewer target words than did nondepressed subjects, and there was no differential recall of descriptor words by induced-depressed and nondepressed subjects. The results of these experiments indicate clear differences in the recall patterns of naturally depressed and induced-depressed subjects in a single cognitive task.

Changes concurrent with initiation of abstinence from cocaine abuse

In an exploration of changes that occur with initiation of cocaine abstinence, this study examined treatment outcomes in four domains--behavior (cocaine use), affect (depression), cognition (schematic self-representations), and psychophysiology (reactivity to drug cues). Nineteen patients initially entered this 8-week outpatient psychopharmacotherapy trial for the treatment of cocaine dependence. Thirteen completed treatment, and eleven maintained abstinence during the last four weeks of the study. In addition to a demonstrated change in their cocaine-using behavior, these "abstainers" reported reduced depression, increased congruency with "ideal" self-schemas, increased discrepancy with "addict" self-schemas, and generally more positive self-representations. In addition, "abstainers" reported reduced posttreatment craving in the presence of cocaine cues, but evidenced no change in physiological reactivity. Implications of these findings for research and treatment are discussed.

Depression, problem-solving ability, and problem-solving appraisals

Behavioral analytic methods were used to create a college student version of the Means Ends Problem Solving Procedure (MEPS). This instrument then was administered with measures of perceived problem-solving ability to depressed and nondepressed students to determine whether differences exist in both problem-solving ability and problem-solving appraisal. Analyses revealed that depressed subjects had more negative expectations and lower appraisals of their problem-solving ability. However, the groups did not differ in terms of the actual quality of their behavioral solutions to interpersonal, intrapersonal, and emotional problem situations. The results are interpreted as support for the role of cognitive factors in depression and problem-solving across a range of problem-solving situations.

Effects of communication content on speech behavior of depressives

Depressed patients were interviewed at two different severity levels in the course of their illness about both problematic and neutral topics, and their speech behavior was analyzed in terms of speech activity and silences. Lowered speech activity and increased silences occurred at higher severity levels and also during problematic communication content, suggesting the mediation of cognitive factors as postulated by Beck's cognitive model of depression.

The Depression Coping Questionnaire

Factor analysis of the Depression Coping Questionnaire (DCQ; Kleinke, Staneski, & Mason, 1982) identified 11 coping responses: Social support, problem solving, self-blame/escape, aggression, indulgence, activities, medication, stimulation, eating, TV, and ignoring. Multiple regression analyses indicated that the DCQ contributed significant variance in predicting Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores of men (R = .705) and women (R = .568) from three population samples. Both men's and women's BDI scores were correlated positively with age, self-blame/escape, medication, and TV and correlated negatively with social support, problem solving, and indulgence. Four significant functions were identified in a discriminant analysis that compared nine groups made up of schizophrenic male veterans, depressed and nondepressed male and female college students, and depressed and nondepressed male and female chronic pain patients.