Health & Medicine
Visualizing Goals: Abstract Ideas Easier for Those with Depression
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Jul 08, 2013 01:02 PM EDT
A new study shows that people with depression may pursue more generalized goals than those who are not depressed.
According to researchers at the University's Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, they analyzed the lists of personal goals made by those who suffered with depression and those who didn't. The results are a bit more specific in those who are not clinically depressed, according to the researchers.
Lead study author Dr. Joanne Dickson asked participants to list goals they would like to achieve at any time in short, medium and long-term periods. The goals were also categorized based on more abstract information, including statements such as "I would like to be happy," to more specific ideas, such as running a 5-mile marathon within a certain time frame.
The study showed that while both groups generated the same number of goals, people with depression listed goals that were more general and more abstract than others. The study also found that depressed people were far more likely to give non-specific reasons for achieving and not achieving their goals.
Having very broad and abstract goals may maintain and exacerbate depression, background information from the study notes. Goals that are not specific are more ambiguous and therefore harder to visualize. If they are hard to visualize, this can result in reduced expectation of realizing the goal and there may be a lower motivation to achieve this goal.
"We know that depression is associated with negative thoughts and a tendency to overgeneralise, particularly in reference to how people think about themselves and their past memories," Dr. Joanne Dickson said, according to a press release. "This study, for the first time, examined whether this trait also encompasses personal goals. We found that the goals that people with clinical depression listed lacked a specific focus, making it more difficult to achieve them and therefore creating a downward cycle of negative thoughts."
Researchers are hopeful that further studies may provide new developments for effective ways of treating clinical depression.
What do you think?
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First Posted: Jul 08, 2013 01:02 PM EDT
A new study shows that people with depression may pursue more generalized goals than those who are not depressed.
According to researchers at the University's Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, they analyzed the lists of personal goals made by those who suffered with depression and those who didn't. The results are a bit more specific in those who are not clinically depressed, according to the researchers.
Lead study author Dr. Joanne Dickson asked participants to list goals they would like to achieve at any time in short, medium and long-term periods. The goals were also categorized based on more abstract information, including statements such as "I would like to be happy," to more specific ideas, such as running a 5-mile marathon within a certain time frame.
The study showed that while both groups generated the same number of goals, people with depression listed goals that were more general and more abstract than others. The study also found that depressed people were far more likely to give non-specific reasons for achieving and not achieving their goals.
Having very broad and abstract goals may maintain and exacerbate depression, background information from the study notes. Goals that are not specific are more ambiguous and therefore harder to visualize. If they are hard to visualize, this can result in reduced expectation of realizing the goal and there may be a lower motivation to achieve this goal.
"We know that depression is associated with negative thoughts and a tendency to overgeneralise, particularly in reference to how people think about themselves and their past memories," Dr. Joanne Dickson said, according to a press release. "This study, for the first time, examined whether this trait also encompasses personal goals. We found that the goals that people with clinical depression listed lacked a specific focus, making it more difficult to achieve them and therefore creating a downward cycle of negative thoughts."
Researchers are hopeful that further studies may provide new developments for effective ways of treating clinical depression.
What do you think?
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone