Integrating situation-specific dysfunctional expectations and dispositional optimism into the cognitive model of depression - A path-analytic approach

The present study stresses the crucial role of dysfunctional expectations for major depression. Moreover, it reveals that SDEs as expectations with a high level of situational specificity may pose an important link between global cognitions and depressive symptoms. Given this situational specificity, SDEs are amenable to disconfirmation through behavioral experiments and may therefore be a promising target for cognitive-behavioral interventions.