Negative thoughts of women with depression

Abstract

Background: For women with depression, negative thinking is a difficult symptom to overcome and may maintain the depressed mood. Not reflected in the literature are women's descriptions of negative thoughts that accompany the illness of depression or strategies to decrease negative thoughts. Objectives: The purposes of this research were to describe negative thoughts experienced by women with major depression, examine their origins, and identify strategies to manage them. Design: A descriptive and exploratory study guided by Peplau's process of practice-based theory development. Six women with a diagnosis of major depression who experienced negative thinking participated in a series of six audiotaped group interviews. Results: Negative thoughts originated in childhood. The women described interpersonal patterns that resulted from negative thinking and identified strategies to manage them. Conclusions: Negative thinking has a tremendous impact on depressed women and contributes to interpersonal patterns that perpetuate depression.