Flying Too Close to the Sun: Depressive Symptoms and Maladaptive Goal Setting

Arens, Zeier, Schwieren, Huisgen, and Barnow (2018) conducted an experiment that measured the performance of a cognitive task, with goal feasibility being experimentally manipulated using an easy and a difficult level. They found that when goal feasibility was high, there were no differences in goal setting between individuals with high and low levels of depressive symptoms. However, when task difficulty increased, whereas individuals with low levels of depressive symptoms adjusted their goals to a lower (more realistic) level, individuals with high levels of depressive symptoms initially adhered to significantly higher goals, so that their performance failed to meet their self-standards. After they revised their goal-setting downwards, their performance on the task also dropped significantly.

These results support the notion that setting unattainable goals significantly influences the development and/or preservation of depressive symptoms. However, contrary to the researchers’ expectations, both groups significantly underestimated their performance for the difficult task. The distinction between the two groups is that the participants with depressive symptoms decided to set high goals knowing that they do not expect to achieve them. Thus, a key aspect in the treatment of depressive symptoms should be to actively work on goal-adjustment and emotional acceptance, especially in adverse circumstances where options are limited. Otherwise, a vicious cycle may be set in motion, where a severe depressed mood may create a greater need to repair, leading to higher goal setting, which in turn may increase the gap between goals and performance.

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Source:

• Arens, E. A., Zeier, P., Schwieren, C., Huisgen, H., & Barnow, S. (2018). The perils of aiming too high: Discrepancy between goals and performance in individuals with depressive symptoms. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 58, 12-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2017.07.002