Possible Selves in Major Depression

Ratings of possible selves and resultant self-concept discrepancies were examined in 25 patients diagnosed with major depression and 25 control subjects. Self-concept discrepancies significantly discriminated patients from controls. The presence of negative features in the self-schema was a stronger indicator of depressive symptomatology than was the absence of positive self-appraisal. Depressives' future projections of self were less pessimistic than predicted by cognitive theories of depression.