ATTRIBUTIONS AND ACCESSIBILITY OF EXPLANATIONS FOR FUTURE EVENTS IN ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION

Objectives. The research examined qualitative and quantitative aspects of future thinking in mood-disturbed participants. Design. A cross-se ctional, mixed design compared three groups of participants on measure s of future thinking using an adapted fluency paradigm. Methods. Parti cipants who were either anxious (N = 25), anxious and depressed (mixed ; N = 25), or neither anxious nor depressed (control; N = 25) were pre sented with a range of future positive and negative events and asked t o provide explanations as to why those events would (pro reasons) or w ould not (con reasons) happen to them. Number of reasons given of each type was measured. The reasons were further analysed in terms of a nu mber of attributional dimensions. Results. Mood-disturbed participants (anxious and mixed) provided more pro relative to con reasons for neg ative events and more con relative to pro reasons for positive events. Compared to the control group, mood-disturbed participants also provi ded more internal and more global reasons for why negative events woul d happen and for why positive events would not happen. Conclusion. Moo d-disturbed participants differ from controls on qualitative as well a s quantitative aspects of future thinking.