Carson, Ri. C., Hollon, S. D., Shelton, R. C. (2009). Depressive realism and clinical depression. Behaviour Research and Therapy, in press.

Correspondence Address:
Steven D. Hollon. Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, 306 Wilson Hall, Nashville, Tennessee 37240 USA steven.d.hollon@vanderbilt.edu.

Abstract
Depressive realism suggests that depressed individuals make more accurate judgments of control than their nondepressed counterparts. However, most studies demonstrating this phenomenon were conducted in nonclinical samples. In this study, psychiatric patients who met criteria for major depressive disorder underestimated control in a contingent situation and were consistently more negative in their judgments than were nondepressed controls. Depressed patients were less likely than their nondepressed counterparts to overestimate control in a noncontingent situation, but largely because they perceived receiving less reinforcement. Depressed patients were no more likely to use the appropriate logical heuristic to generate their judgments of control than their nondepressed counterparts and each appeared to rely on different primitive heuristics. Depressed patients were consistently more negative than their nondepressed counterparts and when they did appear to be more “accurate” in their judgments of control (as in the noncontingent situation) it was largely because they applied the wrong heuristic to less accurate information. These findings do not support the notion of depressive realism and suggest that depressed patients distort their judgments in a characteristically negative fashion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

Ahmed, M., Westra, H. A. (2009). Impact of a treatment rationale on expectancy and engagement in cognitive behavioral therapy for social anxiety. Cognitive Therapy and Research , 33(3), 314-322.

Correspondence Address:
Mariyam Ahmed, Department of Psychology, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Behavioral Sciences Building, Toronto, ON, Canada, M3J 1P3. ahmedmar@yorku.ca.

Abstract
Although presentation of a treatment rationale is posited to enhance expectations for change, this contention has not been directly evaluated. In this analogue study, the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) rationale for social anxiety was presented via videotape by an experienced CBT therapist, to 77 undergraduate students with high fear of negative evaluation. Results indicated significant increases in self-efficacy for anxiety change, confidence in conducting interpersonal exposures, and perceived helpfulness of exposure, pre- to post-rationale presentation. A positive response to the treatment rationale was related to increased frequency of interpersonal exposure at one-month follow-up. Furthermore, individual differences in self-efficacy for anxiety change at baseline moderated the impact of rationale response on exposure frequency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).