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Adaptive Inferential Feedback, Depressogenic Inferences, and Depressed Mood: A Laboratory Study of the Expanded Hopelessness Theory of Depression

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Abstract

Cross-sectional and prospective research indicates that inferential feedback, a subtype of social support that addresses the cause, meaning, and consequences of negative life events, impacts depressed mood, depressogenic inferences, and depressive disorders. However, inferential feedback has not been manipulated in any prior study making it difficult to determine if it plays a causal role in depression. The current study represents the first controlled test of the role of adaptive inferential feedback in the reduction of depressive symptoms and depressogenic cognitive inferences. Individuals who received adaptive inferential feedback following a stressful life event demonstrated the greatest decreases in dysphoria and depressogenic inferences following the receipt of feedback compared to individuals who received other types of social support. Moreover, decreases in dysphoria were partially mediated by decreases in depressogenic inferences. The role of adaptive inferential feedback as a clinical tool in prevention and intervention programs is emphasized.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, UMDNJ/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, New Jersey

    Roseanne DeFronzo Dobkin

  2. City of Philadelphia, Office of Behavioral Health, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    Catherine Panzarella

  3. Department of Psychology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    Jennifer Fernandez

  4. Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    Lauren B. Alloy & Michele Cascardi (Independent Consultant)

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  1. Roseanne DeFronzo Dobkin
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  2. Catherine Panzarella
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  3. Jennifer Fernandez
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  4. Lauren B. Alloy
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  5. Michele Cascardi
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Dobkin, R.D., Panzarella, C., Fernandez, J. et al. Adaptive Inferential Feedback, Depressogenic Inferences, and Depressed Mood: A Laboratory Study of the Expanded Hopelessness Theory of Depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research 28, 487–509 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:COTR.0000045560.71692.88

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:COTR.0000045560.71692.88

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