Depression: A Failure to Suppress the Self-Conscious ‘Monitoring’ of Dismal Cognitions

Abstract

In the current research, when normal subjects briefly perceived a word that was death-related, they were less likely to express any self-awareness that they were perceiving a meaningful word. Moreover, when they subsequently remembered such a death word, they were more likely to confuse it with a mentally imaged word. In contrast, when mildly depressed subjects briefly perceived a death-related word, they failed to attentuate their self-awareness that they were perceiving, and subsequently, they failed to mistake the death-related word for a previously imaged word. These results suggest that normal people successfully ‘repress’ the grim realities of death, whereas depressed people fail to suppress the self-conscious ‘monitoring’ of such dismal realities.

Terror Management and Meaning: Evidence That the Opportunity to Defend the Worldview in Response to Mortality Salience Increases the Meaningfulness of Life in the Mildly Depressed

“…In related research, the belief in the just world, which may be construed as a component of the individual's cultural worldview (see Greenberg et al, 1997), is associated with lower levels of depression (Lipkus, Dalbert, & Siegler, 1996). Additionally, depressed individuals are characterized by morbid thoughts (DSM-IV) and appear less able to repress the dismal cognitions associated with thoughts of death (Kunzendorf & McLaughlin, 1988). Consistent with the terror management perspective on depression, mildly depressed individuals appear to have a less meaningful conception of life than their nondepressed counterparts.…”

Sampling Inner Experience in Disturbed Affect

“…Kunzendorf and McLaughlin's (1988-89, Experiment 1) results can be interpreted to provide a tentative "Yes" answer.…”

Death can be hazardous to your health: Adaptive and ironic consequences of defenses against the terror of death.

“…In related research, a belief in the "just" world (specifically, the belief that one lives in a world where justice prevails and therefore good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people; Lerner, 1980), which may be construed as a component of the individual's cultural worldview (see Greenberg et al, 1997), is also associated with lower levels of depression (Lipkus, Dalbert, & Siegler, 1996). Finally, many depressed individuals report morbid thoughts and appear less able to repress the dismal cognitions associated with thoughts of death (Kunzendorf & McLaughlin, 1988). Taken together, these studies suggest that depressed individuals do indeed suffer from a lack of perceived meaning in life as well as from a preoccupation with death.…”