Cognitive styles and life events interact to predict bipolar and unipolar symptomatology.
This study examined the interaction of cognitive style (as assessed self-report and information-processing battery) and stressful life events in predicting the clinician-rated depressive and manic symptomatology of participants with Research Diagnostic Criteria lifetime diagnoses of bipolar disorder (n = 49), unipolar depression (n = 97), or no lifetime diagnosis (n = 23). Bipolar and unipolar participants' attributional styles, dysfunctional attitudes, and negative self-referent information processing as assessed at Time 1 interacted significantly with the number of negative life events that occurred between Times 1 and 2 to predict increases in depressive symptoms from Time 1 to Time 2. Within the bipolar group, participants' Time 1 attributional styles and dysfunctional attitudes interacted significantly, and their self-referent information processing interacted marginally, with intervening life events to predict increases in manic symptoms from Time 1 to Time 2. These findings provide support for the applicability of cognitive vulnerability-stress theories of depression to bipolar spectrum disorders.
Reilly-Harrington
N A
NA
Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. nhreilly@partners.org
Alloy
L B
LB
Fresco
D M
DM
Whitehouse
W G
WG
D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012647:Self-Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires