Depression and Identity: Are Self-Constructions Negative or Conflictual?

Adrián Montesano,Guillem Feixas,David Winter,Franz Caspar

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00877

Abstract

Negative self-views have proved to be a consistent marker of vulnerability for depression. However, recent research has shown that a particular kind of cognitive conflict, implicative dilemma, is highly prevalent in depression. In this study, the relevance of these conflicts is assessed as compared to the cognitive model of depression of a negative view of the self. In so doing, 161 patients with major depression and 110 controls were assessed to explore negative self-construing (self-ideal discrepancy) and conflicts (implicative dilemmas), as well as severity of symptoms. Results showed specificity for the clinical group indicating a pattern of mixed positive and negative self-descriptions with a high rate of conflict. Regression analysis lent support to the conflict hypothesis in relation to clinically relevant indicators such as symptom severity, global functioning. However, self-ideal discrepancy was a stronger predictor of group membership. The findings showed the relevance of cognitive conflicts to compliment the well-consolidated theory of negative self-views. Clinical implications for designing interventions are discussed.

Highlights

Cognitive models describe depression as involving pervasive negative views of the self, the world and the future generated and maintained by deficits and biases in information processing (e.g., Beck et al, 1979; Ingram et al, 1998)
In order to determine which kind of self-construing pattern prevailed in both samples, a Chi-squared test was performed to compare four different conditions: (a) participants presenting only congruent constructs, (b) only discrepant constructs, (c) both congruent and discrepant constructs without implicative dilemmas (IDs), and (d) at least one ID
A noteworthy outcome is that only two participants (1.2%) from the clinical sample showed a grid configuration with only discrepant constructs, meaning that a completely negative self-construing pattern was very rare

Summary

Introduction

Cognitive models describe depression as involving pervasive negative views of the self, the world and the future generated and maintained by deficits and biases in information processing (e.g., Beck et al, 1979; Ingram et al, 1998). These negative beliefs are thought to be rooted in a negative self-schema which gives rise to negative thoughts that depressed patients experience in everyday life. One of the main limitations of the model is that it is focused almost exclusively on patient’s negative patterns of thinking, whereas perceived positive self-attributes and, the relation between positive and negative selfconstructions remains virtually unexplored.

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Conclusion