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Mood Regulation and Cognitive Reactivity in Depression Vulnerability

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Abstract

There is substantial evidence supporting the hypothesis that cognitive reactivity is an important variable in the etiology of depression. However, there is a lack of studies examining possible mechanisms that underlie cognitive reactivity. The present study tested whether two specific mood regulation processes differentially appear in vulnerable and non-vulnerable individuals, and whether they can account for differences in cognitive reactivity. In a cross-sectional experimental design, 20 formerly-depressed individuals (FD) were compared with 20 never-depressed individuals (ND). In an autobiographical memory task both groups differed concerning the use of positively and negatively toned emotion words: FD retrieved fewer positive emotion words than ND in the second phase of this task. Furthermore, FD with a high cognitive reactivity retrieved more negatively toned emotion words. In the ND group there was a different pattern: Subjects with a high cognitive reactivity retrieved less positively toned emotion words. Two different cognitive processes seem to account for cognitive reactivity in individuals who are at high versus low risk for depression.

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Acknowledgments

The first author was supported by a doctoral grant from the Centre for Psychological Psychotherapy of the University of Heidelberg. The third author was supported by a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, Centre for Psychosocial Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 410, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Timo Brockmeyer & Hans-Christoph Friederich

  2. Schön Klinik Roseneck, Am Roseneck 6, 83209, Prien am Chiemsee, Germany

    Nils Pfeiffer

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Binzmühlestrasse 14/Box 19, 8050, Zürich, Switzerland

    Martin Grosse Holtforth

  4. Department of Psychology, University of Kassel, Holländische Straße 36-38, 34127, Kassel, Germany

    Johannes Zimmermann

  5. Centre for Psychological Psychotherapy, University of Heidelberg, Hauptstrasse 47-51, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany

    Timo Brockmeyer & Hinrich Bents

  6. Department of Psychology, University of Heidelberg, Hauptstrasse 47-51, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany

    Annette Kämmerer

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  1. Timo Brockmeyer
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  2. Nils Pfeiffer
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  3. Martin Grosse Holtforth
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  4. Johannes Zimmermann
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  5. Annette Kämmerer
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  6. Hans-Christoph Friederich
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  7. Hinrich Bents
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Correspondence to Timo Brockmeyer.

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Timo Brockmeyer and Nils Pfeiffer contributed equally to the study.

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Brockmeyer, T., Pfeiffer, N., Grosse Holtforth, M. et al. Mood Regulation and Cognitive Reactivity in Depression Vulnerability. Cogn Ther Res 36, 634–642 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-011-9406-7

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