Publications internationales Implicit and explicit self-esteem in currently depressed individuals with and without suicidal ideation

Implicit and explicit self-esteem in currently depressed individuals with and without suicidal ideation

Erik Franck, Rudi De Raedt, Mieke Dereu and Dirk Van den Abbeele

Revue : Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry

In the present study, we have further explored implicit self-esteem in currently depressed individuals. Since suicidal ideation is associated with lower self-esteem in depressed individuals, we measured both implicit and explicit self-esteem in a population of currently depressed (CD) individuals, with and without suicidal ideation (SI), and in a group of non-depressed controls (ND). The results indicate that only CD individuals with SI show a discrepancy between their implicit and explicit self-esteem: that is, they exhibit high implicit and low explicit self-esteem. CD individuals without SI exhibit both low implicit and low explicit self-esteem; and ND controls exhibit both normal implicit and normal explicit self-esteem. These results provide new insights in the study of implicit self-esteem and the combination of implicit and explicit self-esteem in depression.

Keywords: Self-esteem; Implicit attitudes; Depression; Suicidal ideation

Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry - Volume 38, Issue 1 , March 2007, Pages 75-85

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