A recent integrative cognitive model proposed that multiple, extreme, personalized, positive and negative appraisals of internal states predispose to maintain and exacerbate bipolar symptoms. This study aimed to directly assess conviction in a range of positive and negative appraisals of internal states suggested by the model, by using a laboratory-based computerized task. In a student sample (n = 68), a history of hypomania was associated with more positive and less negative appraisals of internal states, and a history of depression was associated with more negative appraisals and less positive appraisals of internal states. The sample was then split into three groups for comparison: bipolar risk (n = 18), depression risk (n = 20) and controls (n = 30). Relative to controls, the bipolar risk group made more extreme ratings of catastrophic appraisals of low activation states and tended to make more extreme ratings of appraisals of high activation states. The depression risk group scored higher on a range of negative appraisals of low activation states. These findings provide tentative support for the role of both positive and negative, extreme, personalized appraisals of internal states in hypomania and depression. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Key Practitioner Message
- This study investigates putative cognitive vulnerability factors for both hypomania and depression.
- A number of associations were found between positive and negative appraisals of internal states and both a history of hypomania and depression.
- These results complement previous findings in both analogue and clinical populations that extreme, personalized, positive and negative appraisals of internal states are associated with bipolar symptomatology.
- Taken together, these findings could translate into practice, as these appraisals could be targeted in psychological interventions.