Reduced positive future-thinking in depression: Cognitive and affective factors

Abstract

A pessimistic view of the future is an important feature of depressive thinking, and appears to be influenced at least as strongly by reduced positive expectancies as it is by increased negative expectancies. The present study examined whether reduced positive future-thinking in depression could be accounted for by a reduced capacity to anticipate experiencing pleasure. Depressed and nondepressed participants were asked to generate positive future expectancies using a future-thinking task, and their capacity to anticipate experiencing pleasure in such events was also assessed. Depressed participants provided fewer anticipated positive experiences, a finding which was not accountable for by their reduced pleasure ratings. This reduced positive anticipation was related to levels of depression but not to levels of anxiety. The results are consistent with the view that the lack of anticipated positive experiences in depression arises from a difficulty in accessing mental representations of such experiences.