Self-discrepancies in clinically anxious and depressed university students

Self-discrepancy theory proposes that anxiety and depression are the result of different types of conflicting self-beliefs. This study examined self-discrepancies in four groups of university students who completed a questionnaire assessing levels of self-discrepancy and were characterized by the following disorders: (a) depression, (b) anxiety, (c) both anxiety and depression, or (d) no psychiatric disorder. As predicted, subjects with anxiety or depressive disorders had higher levels of self-discrepancy than normal subjects. Depressive subjects had higher levels of actual:ideal discrepancies than nondepressive subjects. Anxious subjects (with or without depressive disorders) had higher levels of actual:ought discrepancies than nonanxious subjects (normals and depressed-only subjects). Results provided general support for self-discrepancy theory in accounting for depressive and anxiety disorders.