DYSFUNCTIONAL THINKING IS ACTIVATED BY STRESSFUL LIFE EVENTS

This study tests the hypothesis that dysfunctional thinking is activated by stressful life events for those who are vulnerable to depression. Asymptomatic individuals who are vulnerable to depression were predicted to report disproportionately high levels of dysfunctional thinking following stressful life events as compared with those who are less vulnerable to depression. As predicted, reports of negative thinking increased as stressful life events increased for those with a history of depression (n = 14) but not for those who had never been depressed (n = 197). These findings support the cognitive theory of depression, which proposes that dysfunctional beliefs remain latent until activated by stressful life events.