DYSFUNCTIONAL ATTITUDES IN DEPRESSED AND RECOVERED DEPRESSED-PATIENTSAND THEIR FIRST-DEGREE RELATIVES

A series of depressed probands and their first-degree relatives were c ategorized as follows: (a) currently depressed; (b) recovered depresse d; and (c) never-ill relatives. Their scores on a subscaled version of the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (the DAS-24) were compared. The DAS total scores mirrored previous findings in that the total scores for r ecovered individuals returned to normal or near-normal levels. However , the dependency subscale scores remained elevated for the recovered d epressed group. It is proposed that these results support the conclusi on that self-report measures of cognitive vulnerability should focus o n specific rather than global effects, if progress is to be made in th e search for true vulnerability factors.