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It’s All About Me: Self-Focused Attention and Depressed Mood

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Abstract

The present study examined self-focused attention in dysphoria under various mood conditions. Participants were randomly assigned to either a positive, negative, or neutral writing condition. Results indicated that dysphoric participants displayed significantly greater self-focused attention across all conditions relative to the non-dysphoric participants. Taken together, these findings indicate that heightened self-focused attention is a pervasive pattern in dysphoric persons that may contribute to maintenance of a dysphoric mood state.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Temple University, Weiss Hall, Philadelphia, 19122

    Denise M. Sloan

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  1. Denise M. Sloan
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Correspondence to Denise M. Sloan.

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Sloan, D.M. It’s All About Me: Self-Focused Attention and Depressed Mood. Cogn Ther Res 29, 279–288 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-005-0511-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-005-0511-1

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