Attributions and recovery from depression: a preliminary study using cross-lagged correlation analysis.

Cross-lagged correlation analysis was employed to test the hypothesis that attributions for symptoms and life-events would exercise a causal influence on the recovery of depressed patients. Patients rated their symptoms and their three most upsetting recent life-events on the dimensions of internality, stability, globality and uncontrollability. These ratings were significantly more global and uncontrollable than those of controls. Among female depressed patients the dimensions of stability and uncontrollability appeared in addition to play a causal role in determining level of depression six weeks later.