title: Why is it that dysphoric patients do not realize their dysphoric mood?
abstract: In contrast to the clinical psychopathological approach to emotion, we used aspects of the cognitive emotion theories formulated by Lazarus [1966] and Folkman and Lazarus [1985]. According to these theories, emotion is a product of cognitive appraisal and coping a mechanism regulating emotion. We put into operation four coping types in a two-dimensional way (using the amount of anxiety and social desirability and the repressor-sensitizer concept of Byrne [1961] in the extended version of Krohne [1974]) in order to differentiate 30 patients labeled as 'dysphoric' (n = 15) or 'depressed' (n = 15) from a clinical point of view. It was possible to distinguish subpopulations of dysphoric patients as well as depressed patients (discriminant analysis, analysis of variance), which served as a basis for answering our questions to the effect that a clearly defined group of dysphoric patients - all diagnosed as bipolar manic depressives - predominantly employs rigid repressive coping strategies, i.e. defensively denying anxiety. Thus, rigid defensive reactions (i.e. perceptual defense) prevent a change in the direction of distressing emotions but leave the person in a state of high arousal. This psychological theory of coping disposition agrees very well with the clinical view of dysphoric state.
authors.affiliation: Psychologisches Labor der Psychiatrischen Universitätsklinik, Wien, Osterreich.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Baldaszti
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Naske
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Opgenoorth
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D001143:Arousal; D001364:Awareness; D003071:Cognition; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D003717:Denial, Psychological; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006791:Hostility; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010556:Personality Tests; D012649:Self Concept