background Research suggests that during a depressive episode, an association is formed between depressed mood and dysfunctional thinking. This association may remain intact when the depressive episode remits. The strength of this association is called cognitive reactivity: the ease at which small non pathological mood changes trigger maladaptive cognitions. Typically assessed using sad mood inductions, recently a self report measure of cognitive reactivity called the Leiden Index of Depression Sensitivity (leids-r) has been developed.
aim To compare the leids-r with a more broad measure of psychopathology, neuroticism. We hypothesized that the leids-r would be a better predictor of history of depression and current depression than neuroticism. For exploratory reasons we investigated the relationship between history of depression, cognitive reactivity and childhood maltreatment.
methods 157 participants from the Leiden University completed several questionnaires related to depression.
results The leids-r was found to be a good predictor of history of depression. We found the leids-r to be a significant predictor of current depressive symptoms in both the total as well as in the sample of never and recovered depressed participants over and above neuroticism. Exploratory analysis showed an interaction effect between the leids-r, diagnosis of depression and childhood maltreatment.
conclusion Our results suggest that the leids-r is a valid predictor of history of depression and has the potential to be an important instrument for both theoretical and practical reasons.