When are dysphoric individuals distressing to others and vice versa? Effects of friendship, similarity, and interaction task.

Interpersonal relationships present difficulties for dysphoric individuals, but the specific contexts in which these difficulties arise remain poorly understood. The authors examined several factors hypothesized to affect how dysphoric and nondysphoric individuals react to each other. Female college students interacted with either a friend or stranger who had a similar or dissimilar dysphoria status in three tasks: a causal conversation, disclosure of a personal problem to the partner, and response to the partner's disclosure of a personal problem. Ss' moods, evaluations of their partners, and verbal behaviors were assessed. Dysphoric Ss exhibited characteristic negative mood and verbal content but did not elicit negative reactions from their partners. Negative reactions were most evident in dysphoric Ss' responses to dissimilar (nondysphoric) strangers, underscoring the need for greater attention to dysphoric individuals' perspective on their social interactions.