Perception of neutral personality descriptions by depressed and nondepressed subjects

Abstract

Cognitive distortion in depression was evaluated by giving depressed and nondepressed subjects feedback about “their personality” using a set of neutral descriptive statements. Depressed subjects (n = 17) were defined by Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, 1967) scores of 9 or greater; the nondepressed comparison group (n =18) had BDI scores of 3 or less. The groups did not differ with respect to their “acceptance” of the descriptions; they did differ, however, on their interpretations of the descriptions. Depressed subjects considered their personality description to be less positive, on a global positive-negative scale, but were more accurate in their evaluation than nondepressed subjects; they also considered their description to be more indicative of specific maladjustment areas than did the nondepressed subjects.