Behavioral and characterological self-blame in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Individuals with COPD tend to blame themselves for smoking and other behaviors that may have led to their COPD. Smoking-related variables and the perception that family members blamed the individual for having COPD were associated with self-blame. Findings support the importance of distinguishing between behavioral and characterological self-blame in COPD, as behavioral self-blame had a negative association with depression and characterological self-blame had a positive association with depression.