Responses to depressed interpersonal behavior: Mixed reactions in a helping role.

We placed 144 female subjects in a helping role and randomly assigned them to interact with a confederate in a 3?×?3?×?2?×?2 (Psychopathology?×?Blaming?×?Advice Seeking?×?Sex of Confederate) factorial design. In order to study behaviors that mediate interpersonal responses to depression, male and female confederates enacted depressed, anxious, or normal roles and blamed themselves, others, or no one for their problems. The confederates requested advice in half of the conditions. Results indicated that depressed confederates were rejected more on questionnaire measures; however, depressed confederates received more conversational advice and support from subjects than did the equally disturbed anxious confederates. The self-blaming and advice-seeking manipulations did not interact with depression to produce more negative reactions in subjects. There was no evidence of a negative mood induction in subjects, nor did the sex of the confederate have important interpersonal consequences. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical and methodological issues in studies of interpersonal factors in depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluating the continuity of symptomatology between depressed and nondepressed individuals.

Debate is contentious concerning whether depression should be viewed as a distinct category or as a continuum including overlapping normal and clinical phenomena. A nonparametric item response model was used to evaluate whether the probability of expressing individual symptoms differed between nondepressed and clinically depressed adults experiencing similar levels of overall severity. Even though depressed and nondepressed individuals were equated in terms of overall severity, differences on specific symptoms emerged. Depressed mood, anhedonia, and suicidality were more likely to be expressed in depressed than in nondepressed individuals, whereas hypochondriasis and middle insomnia were more likely to be expressed in nondepressed individuals at similar levels of severity. Such differences are inconsistent with the view of depression as a simple continuum. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of changing contingencies on the behavior of depressed and nondepressed individuals.

The effects of rules vs shaping on the behavior of depressed and nondepressed individuals were compared. Extending the findings in the depressive realism literature to a learning paradigm, the behavior of depressed individuals was more sensitive to changing contingencies than was the behavior of nondepressed individuals. Contrary to hypotheses, however, this effect appeared due primarily to the nondepressive Ss' strategy of continuing to follow an experimenter's inaccurate rules. Results suggest the relative absence of self-presentational concerns may lead depressed individuals to be more accurate in judging environmental contingencies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differences between depressed and nondepressed individuals in the recognition of and response to facial emotional cues.

Investigated the recognition of, and responses to, facial expressions of emotion. Ss were all women and consisted of the following groups: (1) 16 depressed college students, (2) 16 nondepressed college students, (3) 16 depressed psychiatric patients, and (4) 11 nondepressed psychiatric patients. Results suggest that both depressed groups, relative to the nondepressed college group, made more errors in recognizing the facial expressions and reported more freezing or tensing, higher fear and depression reactions, and less comfort with their own emotional reactions to these expressions and a stronger desire to change these reactions. Few differences were found between the depressed psychiatric patients and the psychiatric control Ss. It is concluded that inappropriate reactions to others' emotions may maintain or increase depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Sensitivity" of depressed individuals to aversive stimuli.

Conducted 2 studies to test the hypothesis that depressed individuals are more sensitive to aversive stimuli than nondepressed individuals. Undergraduates were classified into depressed, psychiatric control, and normal control groups (n = 24) on the basis of therapist ratings, interview techniques, and MMPI subscale scores. Autonomic response (skin resistance) to aversive stimulation was studied both before, during, and after Ss were given a mild electric shock. Adaptation over repeated presentations of the same aversive situation was also studied. It was found that depressed Ss showed a significantly greater autonomic response during, but not before or after, the presentation of the aversive stimulus. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Status dynamic psychotherapy with depressed individuals.

Describes depression in terms of pathological states and as a loss of status and suggests that this conceptualization has implications for what clients can and want to do to change in therapy. It is argued, as P. Ossorio (1985) suggests, that sadness, retardation of behavior and thought, motivational loss, anhedonia, and other symptoms of depression are best understood as restrictions on clients' abilities rather than as universal behaviors of depressed persons. Case examples illustrate the goal of status enhancement in therapy with depressed patients and the use of compensatory statuses with patients who cannot recover lost statuses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional suppression: Physiology, self-report, and expressive behavior.

Examined the effects of emotional suppression, a form of emotion regulation defined as the conscious inhibition of emotional expressive behavior while emotionally aroused. Ss (43 men and 42 women) watched a short disgust-eliciting film while their behavioral, physiological, and subjective responses were recorded. Ss were told to watch the film (no suppression conditions) or to watch the film while behaving "in such a way that a person watching you would not know you were feeling anything" (suppression condition). Suppression reduced expressive behavior and produced a mixed physiological state characterized by decreased somatic activity and decreased heart rate, along with increased blinking and indications of increased sympathetic nervous system activity (in other cardiovascular measures and in electrodermal responding). Suppression had no impact on the subjective experience of emotion. There were no sex differences in the effects of suppression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal consequences of depression: Responses to men and women enacting a depressed role.

To investigate interpersonal consequences of depressed behavior, telephone interactions were conducted between same- and opposite-sex pairs of 62 male and 64 female undergraduates. In each pair, one person enacted a depressed or nondepressed role. The content of the 2 roles differed only in the presence or absence of characteristically depressive affect and attitudes. Ratings of interest in further contact, personal rejection, and perceived impairment of role functioning all revealed a similar pattern: Depressed persons were more strongly rejected than nondepressed persons, especially by persons of the opposite sex. Interactions with depressed persons elicited significantly more depression in the listener than did interactions with nondepressed persons. Moreover, significantly more feminine traits were attributed to depressed than nondepressed persons. The responses of others to depressed individuals are discussed with respect to their implications for conceptualizing and treating depression. The results also have implications for the understanding of sex differences in the epidemiology of depression. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selection of depressed and nondepressed subjects on the basis of self-report data.

Investigated whether an increase in accurate classifications could be obtained by using 2 simultaneously administered self-report measures or by several successive administrations of 1 self-report measure. 568 Ss (mean age 39.5 yrs) participated in the study. This hypothesis was supported, but the obtained increase was only moderate. A 2-stage procedure for selecting depressed Ss is recommended. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distinguishing depressed from nondepressed individuals using energy and psychosocial variables.

This study was conducted to determine whether energy level can be used to distinguish depressed from nondepressed individuals and to assess the relative importance of energy level and psychosocial variables in making this distinction. Fifty-seven participants experiencing a current episode of major depression and a matched sample of nondepressed participants completed a self-report questionnaire containing measures of energy level and psychosocial variables. Discriminant analysis revealed that energy level correctly classified 93% as depressed or nondepressed, whereas psychosocial variables correctly classified 87%. Combining the energy and psychosocial variables did not increase the accuracy of classification over that achieved by using only the energy measures. The measure of exhaustion provided the greatest relative contribution to the overall discriminant function. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coital position and sex roles: Responses to cross-sex behavior in bed.

Explored the impact of changes in sex-role norms regarding heterosexual interaction in 119 undergraduates by varying both the coital position used by a couple in stimulus slides and the extent to which observers identified with stereotypic sex role norms. Females were more negative toward the couple having intercourse in the woman-above position than they were toward the couple in the woman-below position. Observers' degree of sex typing was unrelated to their reactions to the woman-above couple, suggesting that gender may still be more important than sex typing in determining responses to roles in the context of heterosexual interaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivational effects on neuropsychological functioning: Comparison of depressed versus nondepressed individuals.

The neuropsychology of depression was examined in terms of organic and motivational hypotheses. Thirty medication-free depressed outpatients (selected according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [American Psychiatric Association, 1980] criteria for major depression) and 30 nondepressed normal controls were evaluated with a variety of neuropsychology measures. Prior to testing, subjects were assigned randomly to either a motivated or nonmotivated condition. A task measuring level of motivation demonstrated efficacy of the two motivation conditions. A 2?×?2 (Diagnosis?×?Motivational Level) multivariate analysis of variance of all the dependent measures revealed a significant main effect for depression, but no effect for motivation and no interaction. Univariate analyses demonstrated that the depressed group was impaired on visuospatial short-term memory and learning and on verbal learning. The finding of neuropsychological deficit in depressed subjects was not attributable to motivational factors. The problems with conceptualizing depression as a right-hemisphere dysfunction are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Discrepancies between explicit and implicit self-concepts: Consequences for information processing.

Individuals with discrepancies among their explicit beliefs often engage in greater elaboration of discrepancy-related information in a presumed attempt to reduce the discrepancy. The authors predicted that individuals with discrepancies between explicit and implicit self-conceptions might similarly be motivated to engage in processing of discrepancy-related information, even though they might not be aware of the discrepancy. Four studies were conducted in which various self-dimensions were assessed with explicit and implicit measures. Across several different self-dimensions (e.g., need to evaluate, self-esteem), the authors found that as the discrepancy between the explicit and implicit measure increased (regardless of direction), people engaged in more thinking about information framed as related to the self-dimension on which the discrepancy existed. This research suggests that individuals might be motivated to examine relevant information as a strategy to minimize the implicit doubt that accompanies an inconsistency between explicit and implicit self-conceptions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evidence of latent depressive schemas in formerly depressed individuals.

Detecting the effects of latent depressive schemas constitutes an important step toward validating A. T. Beck's (1967) tenet of the depressive cognitive style as a causal factor in the onset and relapse of major depression. The authors examined whether a sample of formerly clinically depressed individuals continued to exhibit a negatively biased information-processing style in the absence of concurrent depressed mood. As predicted, the scores of formerly depressed individuals on 2 questionnaires tapping dysfunctional thinking did not differ from those of never depressed individuals, but responses of formerly depressed individuals were negatively biased on 2 of 3 information-processing measures administered following a self-focus manipulation. These results provide evidence for the persistence of a depressive schema in individuals who have recovered from major depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Error detection and posterror behavior in depressed undergraduates.

This study examined the influence of depression on error-monitoring and behavioral compensation after errors, two important aspects of cognitive control. Undergraduates differing in self-reported depression levels completed a modified Stroop task while error-related scalp potentials were recorded. Behaviorally, participants with higher depression scores were disproportionately slower and less accurate after errors in a task condition that included negative emotional words. Physiological results indicated that the amplitudes of the error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe), two indices of error detection, were not correlated with depression score. ERN amplitudes predicted behavioral slowdown after errors, but only among more depressed participants in the negative-word condition. Together, the results imply that depression is associated not with an error detection deficit, but rather with alterations in subsequent performance changes, once errors have been identified. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in the sensitivity of two self-report depression scales in older depressed inpatients.

Both the Geriatric Depression Scale (J. A. Yesavage et al; see record 1984-02939-001) and the Beck Depression Inventory were less effective in identifying depressed men than women in a sample of 191 geriatric psychiatric inpatients with major unipolar depression. From one quarter to one half of the men were missed cases, depending on the cutoff score used. Separate cutoff scores for older men and women on depression screening instruments may be appropriate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relations between observer-rating and self-report of depressive symptomatology.

Sources of discrepancy between the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were investigated in 114 depressed inpatients treated with ECT. Three previously reported observations were found to occur within the same sample: (1) There was only a moderate baseline correlation between the measures; (2) this correlation improved markedly at later assessment; (3) the HRSD had a greater effect size for change. The modest baseline correlation was largely due to patients who rated themselves as substantially less depressed than clinicians had rated them. Improvement in the correlation with repeated assessment was due to the representation of clinical responders. The larger effect size with the HRSD was mainly attributable to a small subgroup that showed marked deterioration on the BDI, a phenomenon not observed with clinical evaluation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Laboratory and self-report assessments of impulsive behavior in adolescent daily smokers and nonsmokers.

This research compared adolescent daily smokers (n = 25) and nonsmokers (n = 26) on different measures of impulsivity. Assessments included question-based measures of delay (DDQ) and probability (PDQ) discounting, a measure of behavioral disinhibition (go-stop task), and a self-report measure of impulsivity (Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-Adolescent). Adolescent smokers were more impulsive on the DDQ and Barratt Impulsiveness Scale--Adolescent but not on the PDQ or the go-stop task. However, there was a significant interaction between smoking status and gender on the go-stop task, with male smokers performing less impulsively on this measure than male nonsmokers--an effect not observed with the female adolescents. These findings indicate that adolescents who smoke cigarettes are more impulsive with respect to some, but not all, types of impulsivity than are adolescents who do not smoke. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correspondence between self-report and interview-based assessments of antisocial personality disorder.

Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is associated with suicide, violence, and risk-taking behavior and can slow response to first-line treatment for Axis I disorders. ASPD may be assessed infrequently because few efficient diagnostic tools are available. This study evaluated 2 promising self-report measures for assessing ASPD--the ASPD scale of the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4 (PDQ-4; S. E. Hyler, 1994) and the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; L. Morey, 1991, 2007)--as well as the ASPD module of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II (SCID-II; M. B. First, R. L. Spitzer, M. Gibbon, J. B. W. Williams, & L. S. Benjamin, 1997). The measures were administered to 1,345 offenders in court-mandated residential substance abuse treatment programs and prisons. PDQ-4 and PAI scores related strongly to SCID-II symptom counts (rs = .67 and .51, respectively), indicating these measures convey useful clinical information about the severity of offenders' ASPD pathology. The dimensional association between the measures was relatively invariant across gender, race, and site, although differences in mean scores were observed. Levels of agreement of the SCID-II with the PDQ-4 (κ = .31) and PAI (κ = .32) in classifying participants as ASPD was limited. Alternative thresholds for both self-report measures were identified and cross-validated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concept of social skill with special reference to the behavior of depressed persons.

Tested the general hypothesis that depressed persons, as a group, are less socially skillful than nondepressed individuals. Social skill was defined as the complex ability both to emit behaviors that are positively reinforced and not to emit behaviors that are punished by others. The interpersonal behaviors of 8 depressed and 11 nondepressed undergraduates in 2 groups were compared. All verbal interchanges among group members were coded. Results were cross-validated in both groups and were generally consistent in showing depressed Ss to be lower than controls on a number of operational measures of social skill (i.e., activity level, interpersonal range, rate of positive reactions emitted, and action latency). (32 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)