Do I Like Me Now? An Analysis of Everyday Sudden Gains and Sudden Losses in Self-Esteem and Nervousness

Abstract

Although rapid changes in symptom severity, or sudden gains and losses, are well known in psychotherapeutic research, much about the underlying processes that lead to them is still unclear. The revised theory of sudden gains and the complexity theory of psychopathology offer explanations of why sudden gains and sudden losses occur and how they can be predicted. To test the implications of these two theories, we investigated sudden gains and losses in a daily diary study focusing on their frequency, stability, and association with certain statistical indicators. To this end, we examined the daily self-esteem and nervousness ratings of 98 young adults over 82 consecutive days. Generally supporting the theoretical frameworks above, our findings suggest that everyday sudden gains and losses seem to be a common but unstable phenomenon associated with increased within-person variance.