Depression and daydreaming; an analysis based on self-ratings.

Investigated the relationship between depression and daydreaming characteristics in a non-hospitalized sample. Level of depression was determined by the Beck Depression Inventory, the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, and the Lubin Depression Adjective Check Lists. Daydreaming characteristics were determined from a self-report retrospective questionnaire, the Imaginal Processes Inventory. The sample consisted of 91 university undergraduates and 29 male correctional institution inmates. The full-scale global measures of depression were found to be related directly to the neurotic, anxious, dysphoric, and negative dimension of daydreaming. Specific direct relationships were noted between mental agitation and distractibility, between indecisiveness-personal devaluation and mental slowing, and between personal devaluation-poor body image and fear of failure daydreams. Inverse relationships were noted between a sense of punishment and useful-positive aspects of daydreaming and between psychomotor-activity level and internally stimulated mental activity. The suicidal ambivalance, appetite-weight loss, and fatigability dimensions of depression were found to be unrelated to daydreaming.