Hypothesized that encouraging depressed Ss to attend to nondepressive daydreams could reduce their level of depression. Ss were selected on the basis of their scores on the Beck Depression Inventory from a pool of 350 Ss administered the Inventory. Ss were assigned to one of four groups: A no treatment control group, neutral daydreams, positive daydreams, and daydreams developed by the individual and the E. Each S in the treatment groups met with the E once a week for 3 weeks. Ss were instructed to practice each daydream at least twice daily. All measures were readministered the week following the last session. The change toward decreased depression was significant (p < 0.01) for the three treatment groups, and the control group was not significant (p > 0.01). Level of depression can be decreased by diverting depressed Ss' attention from depressed themes to alternative daydreams.

Examined the relationship between clarity of imagery and depression reduction and determined whether Ss who elaborated on positive fantasies were more successful in therapy than those Ss who merely practiced positive daydreams. Thirty depressed college females were pretested with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), randomly assigned to one of three groups for a 3‐week period, and then were posttested with the BDI. The groups were a no treatment control, a positive imagery group, and a positive imagery group who elaborated on their daydreams. Ss were asked to rate the clarity of imagery on a scale from 1 to 10. Analysis of covariance found no significant treatment effect, but vividness of imagery was correlated significantly with depression reduction.