Dysphoric Subjects Research Articles

Negative expectations and self-evaluations in dysphoria

In a sample of female college students, dysphoric and "intermittently' dysphoric subjects, in comparison to nondysphoric subjects, were expected to perform more poorly on a game requiring eye-hand coordination. Actual performance showed no differences between these three groups. Following performance, relative to nondysphoric subjects, dysphoric and intermittently dysphoric subjects evaluated their performance more negatively. Results are discussed in terms of cognitive theories of depression and recent research. Implications for future research are suggested.

Self-control deficits in depression: A process investigation

Previous studies on self-evaluation and self-reinforcement processes in depression have studied these processes independently of each other and have used operational definitions that have not clearly separated these constructs. We conducted this study in order to explicitly examine the components of self-evaluation and self-reinforcement as they occur in relation to each other. Self-control deficits associated with dysphoria were not observed in performance expectations or in standard setting. Dysphoric subjects evidenced lower levels of self-evaluation and self-reinforcement than nondysphoric subjects. Dysphoric subjects, however, evaluated themselves consistently with their performances and administered consequences to themselves in a contingent manner. Variation in self-evaluation could not be accounted for by differential standard setting, but differences in the level of self-reward between dysphoric and nondysphoric subjects were no longer present when self-evaluation ratings were statistically controlled. Future research on self-management in depression should attempt to assess cognitive and behavioral functions in a process fashion.

Self-efficacy and depressive affect in college students

In an attempt to extend Bandura's theory of self-efficacy, we investigated the hypothesis that increases in self-efficacy, based on mastery experiences, would lead to improvements in mood and problem solving among dysphoric subjects. College students (N=79), classified as dysphoric or nondysphoric by the Beck Depression Inventory, were randomly assigned to anagram training groups that received bogus bar graphs suggesting either task ease or difficulty. Before and after training, subjects rated themselves on depressive affect (DACL) and self-efficacy. A difficult anagram task and a final DACL rating completed the procedure. Anagram training conditions did not lead to differential self-efficacy. However, multiple regression analyses showed that self-efficacy was related to depressive symptoms. Greater DACL decreases after training were seen in dysphoric subjects who reported higher posttraining self-efficacy. This improved mood is consistent with Bandura's theory. An unexpected finding among dysphoric subjects was that the higher their self-efficacy was, the lower was their final anagram performance. It appears that dysphoric/high self-efficacy subjects may have become more demoralized than dysphoric/low self-efficacy subjects when they encountered a need for much greater effort expenditure on the difficult anagram task. The findings suggest that skills training interventions which raise self-efficacy may be most effective in reducing depressive symptoms. The relevance of effort expenditure to the development of competine in depressed undiriduals appears to merit further investigation.

A semantic differential analysis of the relation between bulimia and depression

Cognitive-behavioral assessment of response covariation of binge eating and depression in bulimics was investigated using a schema paradigm. Consistent with the hypothesis in the psychiatric literature that bulimia is "closely related to" affective disorder, similar sematic structures were expected to underlying ratings of conceptions of binge eating and depression. The assessment of schemata involved 10 bulimic, 10 dysphoric control, and 10 normal control females rating the the concepts "BINGE EATING" and "DEPRESSION" on nine semantic differential scales. The semantic differential ratings for each concept were subjected to multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and discriminant function analysis. MANOVA results in conjunction with Duncan's multiple range test indicated that dysphoric subjects rated "DEPRESSION" as being stronger and less unpleasant than the other two groups. Classification of subjects based on the discriminant function from the semantic ratings of "BINGE EATING" achieved 57% accuracy, whereas the semantic ratings of "DEPRESSION" yielded 100% accuracy in classifying subjects. Canonical correlations revealed that the overall sematic structure underlying subjects' conceptions of binge eating versus depression were different. The results failed to support the hypothesis that similar semantic structures underlying conceptions of binge eating and depression.

Dysphoria and the perception of incongruent communications

Dysphoric, other-psychological-problems control subjects, and normal controls were presented a videotaped counseling vignette that portrayed a counselor behaving in either a genuine (congruent) or a nongenuine (incongruent) manner. Ratings of genuineness by dysphoric subjects did not discriminate between the counselor portrayals, whereas the ratings by control subjects did. In addition, in the congruent counselor condition, dysphoric subjects saw less genuineness than did normal subjects. In the incongruent condition, dysphoric subjects perceived the counselor as more genuine than did normal subjects. The results are discussed in relation to interpersonal and cognitive models of depression.

A test of the dsm‐III‐R'S implicit assumption that fetishistic arousal and gender dysphoria are mutually exclusive

This study sought to determine the proportion of adult, male, heterosexual cross‐dressers who acknowledge both gender dysphoria and at least occasional fetishistic response to cross‐dressing. Subjects were 193 outpatients of the gender identity clinic or behavioral sexology department of a psychiatric teaching hospital. Questionnaire items were used to assess subjects' current level of gender dysphoria and their recent history of sexual response to cross‐dressing. Subjects who reported higher levels of gender dysphoria tended to report lower frequencies of sexual arousal with cross‐dressing (r = ‐.56, p < .0001) and lower frequencies of masturbation with cross‐dressing (r = ‐.62, p < .0001). About half of even the most strongly gender dysphoric subjects, however, acknowledged that they still become sexually aroused or masturbate at least occasionally when cross‐dressing. These findings indicate a need for revision in the DSM‐III‐R's diagnostic criteria for transvestism and gender identity disorders, which presuppose that gender dysphoria and fetishistic reactions are mutually exclusive.

Dysphoric deficits in interpersonal standards, self-efficacy, and social comparison

This study examined the role of personal standards, self-efficacy expectations, and social comparison in depression. Nondepressed and dysphoric subjects estimated their own interpersonal standards and efficacy, as well as the standards and efficacy of their peers. Contrary to common theory, dysphoric subjects set lower —not higher — goals than did nondepressed subjects. As expected, nondepressed subjects made more favorable social comparisons than did dysphoric subjects. Nondepressed subjects made more positive judgments for themselves than for their peers, whereas dysphoric subjects made similar judgments for self and other. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for the role of goals and social comparison processes in depression. In particular, it is suggested that, in response to a gap between standards and performance expectations, one might raise expectations, lower standards, or maintain both standards and expectations. The latter two are likely to be associated with depression. Not only are evaluations made in absolute terms, but they are also made by social comparison, especially when evaluation concerns one's goals. This study suggests that dysphoric people no longer judge that they are superior to their peers, which might hinder them in mobilizing their efforts.

Dysphoric College Students and Roommates

Subjects in this study were 22 dysphoric individuals who initially scored in the mild to moderate range of the Beck Depression Inventory and their nondysphoric college roommates. Twenty-two additional roommate pairs who were nondysphoric served as controls. On a post hoc basis the initially dysphoric subjects were divided into those who remained dysphoric for the duration of the 3-month study (unremitted) and those who had remitted. Roommates' interpersonal behaviors toward one another were assessed by the Interpersonal Checklist, on which they reported their own behaviors and their perceptions of roommate behaviors after they had been living together for 1, 5, and 1I weeks. The results indicated that unremitted subjects initiated the roommate relationship with relatively dependent, distrustful, and self-devaluating behaviors; and, further, that their dependent behaviors increased over time. The roommates of unremitted subjects showed some evidence of progressive increases in caretaking behaviors over the measurement periods. There was also suggestive evidence that unremitted subjects perceived their roommates as being relatively distrustful and competitive after 3 months of living together.

The processing of social information by mildly and moderately dysphoric college students

Two experiments are reported in which dysphoric and nondysphoric subjects were presented (in an acquaintanceship paradigm) with a standardized social communication that contained positive, negative, and neutral information about the speaker, and positive and negative impressions that the speaker had presumably formed about the subject. Groups differed in their recall of evaluative information about themselves, with moderately dysphoric subjects displaying poorer recall. Groups did not differ in their recall of information about the speaker. Moderately dysphoric subjects also displayed relatively negative appraisals of how they thought the speaker perceived them. The results are discussed as being partially inconsistent with cognitive theories of depression, and paradigmatic differences with prior studies are reviewed.

Performance on two cognitive tasks by dysphoric and nondysphoric students

Mildly and moderately dysphoric undergraduates and normal controls participated in two tasks: estimating the percentage of reinforcements they had received on an ambiguous laboratory task and recognition of negative and positive adjectives after a 2-week presentation-test interval. The results indicated that moderately dysphoric subjects responded in a more negative direction than normals on both tasks; however, they displayed “distorted” processing on only one measure (underestimation of reinforcement rate in a low reinforcement condition). In contrast, the nondysphoric group displayed a positive, self-enhancing bias on virtually all the measures. The results are discussed in relation to theories of depression, and with regard to problems in assessing cognitive processes.

The psychophysiology of affective verbal and visual information processing in dysphoria

Skin resistance, corrugator muscle tension, and self-report were used to assess the effect of visually and verbally processing depressive, neutral, and pleasant scenes in 10 dysphoric and 10 nondysphoric college students. The dysphoric students scored above 10 on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Data were analyzed in a 2 ×2 ×3 (dysphoria group ×type of processing ×scene affect) analysis of variance design. Verbal processing increased autonomic and skeletal arousal more than did visual imaging. Verbal processing was rated more depressing than, and generated more related, visual imaging. Depressive stimuli were rated more vivid and stronger when verbally processed, whereas neutral and pleasant stimuli were rated more vivid when visually imaged. Dysphoric subjects showed low resting autonomic arousal, and less muscular but more autonomic arousal to stimulation than nondysphoric subjects. The BDI correlated .75 with the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (hence “dysphoria”). The relationship of these findings to current issues in psychopathology, assessment, cognitive-behavior therapy, and cognitive theory was discussed.