Self-esteem consistency predicts the course of therapy in depressed patients

PLoS One. 2018 Jul 25;13(7):e0199957. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0199957. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Previous studies on self-esteem and depression demonstrated the usefulness of both implicit and explicit self-esteem as well as their congruence (also known as self-esteem consistency) to predict future depressive symptoms. High self-esteem consistency describes when implicit and explicit self-esteem match (e.g., both high or both low). In the current study, we investigated if implicit and explicit self-esteem and self-esteem consistency predict the course of treatment efficacy of a cognitive behavioral depression therapy. Explicit self-esteem was assessed by the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, implicit self-esteem by a priming task. Participants were 31 patients with a major depressive or recurrent depressive disorder receiving cognitive behavioral therapy treatment in an inpatient setting. Self-esteem measures were administered before treatment. The development of depression symptoms during treatment and at the 4-month follow-up was measured on the Beck Depression Inventory. Implicit and explicit self-esteem did not predict the course of the therapy. Patients with congruent self-esteem, however, improved faster and showed lower severity of symptoms throughout treatment. In contrast, neither explicit nor implicit self-esteem nor self-esteem consistency predicted the stability of effects after treatment. Practical implications such as targeting discrepancies in self-esteem during treatment are discussed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Depression / psychology*
  • Depression / therapy*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Self Concept*
  • Treatment Outcome

Grants and funding

The publication costs of this article were funded by the German Research Foundation/DFG and the Technische Universität Chemnitz in the funding programme Open Access Publishing. Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund (http://www.deutsche-rentenversicherung.de/Allgemein/de/Navigation/0_Home/home_node.html); Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen (http://www.ru.nl/bsi/). The funders provided support in the form of salaries for authors SP and JL, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.