Differential cognitive response to a mood challenge following successful cognitive therapy or pharmacotherapy for unipolar depression

This study examined the nature of cognitive reactivity to mood changes in f ormerly depressed patients. Patients who recovered either through cognitive -behavior therapy (CBT; N = 25) or through pharmacotherapy (PT; N = 29) com pleted self-reported ratings of dysfunctional attitudes before and after a negative mood induction procedure. In response to similar levels of induced sad mood, PT patients showed a significant increase in dysfunctional cogni tions compared with patients in the CBT group. To evaluate the effects of s uch cognitive reactivity on the subsequent course of depression, follow-up analyses reassessed 30 patients several years after initial testing. Result s indicated that patients' reactions to the mood induction procedure were p redictive of depressive relapse. These findings argue for differential effe cts of treatment on cognitive reactivity to mood induction and for the link between such reactivity and risk for later depressive relapse.