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Dysfunctional attitudes and vulnerability to persistent depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

J. M. G. Williams ,
D. Healy ,
J. D. Teasdale ,
W. White  and
E. S. Paykel
J. M. G. Williams*
Affiliation:
MRC Applied Psychology Unit and Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge
D. Healy
Affiliation:
MRC Applied Psychology Unit and Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge
J. D. Teasdale
Affiliation:
MRC Applied Psychology Unit and Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge
W. White
Affiliation:
MRC Applied Psychology Unit and Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge
E. S. Paykel
Affiliation:
MRC Applied Psychology Unit and Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Mark Williams, MRC Applied Psychology Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge, CB2 2EF.
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Synopsis

Forty-four patients who met criteria for major depressive disorder were assessed for presence of dysfunctional attitudes and negative self-schema on admission. After six weeks, of sixteen patients who had shown high dysfunctional attitudes, six (35%) had not recovered. By contrast, of seventeen patients who had been equally severely depressed at the outset, but had low dysfunctional attitudes, only one (6%) had not recovered. The rating by the patients of themselves, as opposed to their attitudes, did not however predict. Thirty-one patients were tested six months later. Twenty-one (68%) remained asymptomatic, ten patients had relapsed or not responded to treatment, but neither type of admission measure predicted the state at this point. This is consistent with previous evidence which suggests that vulnerable attitudes assessed when symptomatic predict recovery, but that for prediction of relapse, cognitive measures need to be used when the patient is asymptomatic.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , May 1990 , pp. 375 - 381
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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