Concreteness training reduces dysphoria: proof-of-principle for repeated cognitive bias modification in depression

A tendency toward abstract and overgeneral processing is a cognitive bias hypothesized to causally contribute to symptoms of depression. This hypothesis predicts that training dysphoric individuals to become more concrete and specific in their thinking would reduce depressive symptoms. To test this prediction, 60 participants with dysphoria were randomly allocated either to (a) concreteness training; (b) bogus concreteness training, matched with concreteness training for treatment rationale, experimenter contact, and treatment duration but without active engagement in concrete thinking; (c) a waiting-list, no training control. Concreteness training resulted in significantly greater decreases in depressive symptoms and significantly greater increases in concrete thinking than the waiting-list and the bogus training control, and significantly greater decreases in rumination than the waiting-list control. These findings suggest that concreteness training has potential as a guided self-help intervention for mild-to-moderate depressive symptoms.