Self-complexity and the persistence of depression

Self-complexity, a measure of the structure of cognition involving the self , was used to predict the persistence of depression in patients diagnosed w ith major depression. Self-descriptions offered by depressed patients were analyzed using a clustering algorithm to model cognitive structure. Indices of positive and negative self-complexity, derived from the resulting model s, were used to predict depressive symptomatology 9 months after the onset of a major depression. Negative self-complexity uniquely predicted subseque nt levels of depression even after the effects of initial levels of depress ion, self-evaluation, and dysfunctional attitudes were statistically remove d. Highly complex negative self-representation appears to be associated wit h poor recovery from a major depressive episode. Future studies examining t he relationship between cognition and psychopathology should investigate, i n addition to its content, the formal and structural properties of cognitio n.