A Comparison of Interpersonal Scripts in Clinically Depressed versus Nondepressed Individuals

This study examined the role of interpersonal scripts in differentiating between clinically depressed and nondepressed individuals. Subjects were 21 individuals diagnosed as having major depression and 21 matched controls. Narratives about interpersonal interactions were coded for interpersonal scripts by rating multiple components of a script (wishes, behaviors, and feelings of self; behaviors and feelings of other) for multiple contents (based on an interpersonal circumplex model). The depressed group was characterized by two antithetical scripts: in one script the self wishes to be and acts relying while feeling trusting and the other acts nurturing while feeling interested; in the other script the self wishes to be and acts distancing while feeling sad and the other acts neglecting while feeling apathetic. Implications of the findings for cognitive and interpersonal models of depression are discussed.