Depressed Patients Have As Many Goals As Healthy People, But Describe Them In Vague Terms

Depressed Patients Have As Many Goals As Healthy People, But Describe Them In Vague Terms

People sufferance from clinical depression express personal goals and reasons in spite of their attainment or failure in in a degree specific terms than people without the sickness. This lack of specificity in representing material goals may be partially responsible in spite of the motivational deficits seen in these patients, according to investigation published in the open access diary PLOS ONE by Joanne Dickson from the University of Liverpool, UK and Nicholas Moberly from the University of Exeter, UK.

Participants in the study were asked to please specific personally meaningful goals that they supposition would characterize them in the futurity, and were given prompts such during the time that, 'In the future it will have ing important for me to...'. In a encourage task, they were asked to think best reasons why they would, and would not, bring to consummation their goals.

Compared to non-depressed superintend participants, depressed individuals' goals tended to subsist less specific and more abstract, instead of example 'to be happy', rather than 'to improve my time running the limited 10 km race'.. A similar reduced of the same rank of specificity was found when reasons toward achieving or not reaching personal goals were analyzed. There were in degree significant differences in the number of goals and reasons, or the kinds of goals provided by depressed and non-depressed participants. The authors remind of that these results may help to improve psychotherapeutic approaches used to banquet depression.