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Updated: Aug 7, 2026
08:42
Design and Implementation of an fMRI Study Examining Thought Suppression in Young Women with, and At-risk, for Depression
Published on: May 19, 2015
Ordination and cognitive complexity as related to clinical depression
The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
|September 1, 1985
Summary
Personal construct psychology reveals differences in how depressed individuals structure their thoughts. Depressed patients use more ambiguous constructs and show less complex thinking compared to healthy individuals.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Personal construct psychology offers insights into psychopathology.
- Previous research on depression and personal construct psychology focused on self-constructs and cognitive complexity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the construct system in depressed patients.
- To examine the relationship between depressive symptoms, constructs about others, cognitive complexity, and ordination.
Main Methods:
- Compared three groups: 25 depressed patients, 25 psychiatric controls, and 25 normal controls.
- Assessed cognitive complexity, construct content (ambiguous/undesirable), and ordination.
Main Results:
- No significant differences in cognitive complexity were found between groups.
- Normal controls demonstrated higher ordination than patient groups.
- Depressed and psychiatric controls used more ambiguous constructs than normal controls.
- Symptom severity in depressed patients correlated with the use of ambiguous and undesirable constructs.
Conclusions:
- A "two-level" personal construct explanation for depression is proposed.
- Ordination and ambiguous constructs relate to general psychological adaptation.
- Negative and ambiguous self-construing may be directly linked to depression.
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