'I Am Worthless and Kind'; the specificity of positive and negative self-evaluation in adolescent depression.

CONCLUSIONS: Although depressed adolescents endorsed more negative descriptions of themselves than community adolescents, positive self-endorsements related to their relationships with other people were not impaired. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Most highly endorsed self-descriptive negative words by depressed adolescents were 'worthless' and 'useless' Positive prosocial self-descriptive adjectives (i.e., trustworthy, friendly, and kind) were highly endorsed by all young people and were not associated with depression Assessment and treatment should consider the content of adolescent self-evaluation The present study is unable to identify whether young people would produce the same themes of positive and negative words in a free response measure Diagnostic information was only available on the clinical group. PMID: 30556150 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30556150?dopt=Abstract

Source: The British Journal of Clinical Psychology - December 16, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Orchard F, Pass L, Reynolds S Tags: Br J Clin Psychol Source Type: research