Threat to the self at the heart of depression: Mediating role and depressogenic prism hypothesis

Several psychological models tacitly highlight the role of self-threat (ST) as an entry point to depression. The first study (n = 311; 270 females, M age = 34.4) aims to demonstrate that ST is a core mechanism linking dysfunctional attitudes (DA) to depression. The second study (n = 263; 183 females, M age = 20.4) tests the “depressogenic prism” hypothesis, proposing that individuals with high DA appraise reality as invariably threatening for the self, regardless of tangible circumstances. In Study 1, ST was strongly and positively associated with both DA and depressive symptoms and served as a full mediator between DA and depressive symptoms. In Study 2, high-DA individuals exposed to a negative scenario reported significantly greater feelings of threat than their low-DA counterparts. Notably, high-DA individuals in a positive scenario felt as threatened as low-DA individuals in a negative one, underscoring the pervasive impact of DA on threat perception.