Self-regulatory perseveration and the depressive self-focusing style: A self-awareness theory of reactive depression.

Abstract

In this article, we apply theory and research on self-focused attention and self-regulatory processes to the problem of depression and use this framework to integrate the roles played by a variety of psychological processes emphasized by other theories of the development and maintenance of depression. We propose that depression occurs after the loss of an important source of self-worth when an individual becomes stuck in a self-regulatory cycle in which no responses to reduce the discrepancy between actual and desired states are available. Consequently, the individual falls into a pattern of virtually constant self-focus, resulting in intensified negative affect, self-derogation, further negative outcomes, and a depressive self-focusing style in which he or she self-focuses a great deal after negative outcomes but very little after positive outcomes. Eventually, these factors lead to a negative self-image, which may take on value by providing an explanation for the individual's plight and by helping the individual avoid further disappointments. The depressive self-focusing style then maintains and exacerbates the depressive disorder. We review findings from laboratory studies of mild to moderately depressed people, correlational studies of more severely depressed people, and clinical observations with respect to consistency with the theory. Recent empirical research on depression has yielded a wide array of cognitive, social, and motivational dimensions on which depressed and nondepressed individuals differ from one another. (For reviews, see Blaney, 1977; Coyne & Gotlib, 1983; Miller, 1975.) Over the years, a variety of theoretical frameworks have evolved to attempt to account for these differences. These theories have often been viewed as antagonistic to each other, competing to offer the most comprehensive explanation of depression. In the present article, we review the central concepts used in psychological theories of depression and outline a theoretical framework that attempts to integrate a variety of processes emphasized by these theories. The theory is an attempt to specify relations among a wide range of characteristics commonly associated with unipolar reactive depression and a sequence through which they emerge. To this end, we apply contemporary theory and research on self-focused attention and self-regulation (Carver & Scheier, 1981; Duval & Wicklund,