SCHEMA SPECIFICITY IN SUBCLINICAL SYNDROME DEPRESSION - DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN AUTOMATICALLY VERSUS EFFORTFULLY ENCODED STATE AND TRAIT DEPRESSIVE INFORMATION

Previous research examining information processing in subclinical depr ession has typically not sought to differentiate between depressive in formation processing structures. To examine this issue, an incidental recall paradigm was used to assess whether subclinically depressed ind ividuals have self-schemas that facilitate the diffuse processing of a ny depressive information, or whether such structures are specific to state-relevant versus trait-relevant depressive information. In additi on to the automatic information processing that is usually assessed in depression, effortful information processing was examined to determin e if depressive cognitive dysfunctions were limited to automatic proce ssing mechanisms. Results for subclinically depressed subjects showed a sensitivity to state depressive information processed automatically, and to trait depressive information processed effortfully. These data are consistent with the presence of a relatively specific, state self -referent depressive schema in subclinical depression, and suggest tha t, when presented with unfavorable information, subclinically depresse d individuals will focus more attention on information that is qualita tively more negative.