How specific are negative automatic thoughts to a depressed population? An exploratory study.
This paper is concerned with the relationship between negative or dysfunctional automatic thoughts and dysphoric mood in a non-clinical population. It addresses the question of how specific are these automatic thoughts to a depressed population. Negative automatic thoughts were obtained from 27 normal subjects via a thought-sampling method using the Daily Record of Dysfunctional Thoughts Form (Beck, Rush, Shaw & Emery, 1979) over a two-week period. A thought-content analysis was conducted. The resultant data were compared using X2 with Blackburn & Eunson's (1989) data from depressed patients. The results presented in this paper indicate that basic cognitive distortions occur in a normal population, but differ qualitatively and quantitatively from those found in depressed patients.
Kumari
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Division of Primary Health Care, Medical School, The University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Blackburn
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D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D012718:Set, Psychology; D013850:Thinking