Cognitive organization of self-schematic content in nondysphoric, mildly dysphoric, and moderately-severely dysphoric individuals

This study investigated the frequency of automatic thoughts and the organization of adjective content in nondysphoric (n = 30), mildly dysphoric (n = 29), and moderately to severely dysphoric (n = 19) undergraduate females. Participants completed measures of depressive symptomatology, hopelessness, positive and negative automatic thoughts, and dysfunctional attitudes. They were subsequently administered a computer-based task, designed to assess the cognitive organization among positive and negative self-referent adjectives. The cognitive organizational task correlated in expected directions with the self-report measures, thus supporting the validity of this task. Significant differences were found across all groups on both positive and negative automatic thoughts. There was also evidence of a deterioration of positive interconnectedness, on the cognitive organizational task, beginning in mild dysphoria and worsening in moderate to severe dysphoria. The severely dysphoric group also demonstrated significantly greater interconnectedness of negative content than did nondysphoric persons, but no notable differences were found between the dysphoric groups. The relationship of these findings to the information processing literature is addressed, and recommendations for future research highlighted.