The relation of early abuse to cognition and coping in depression

An investigation was conducted to assess the attributional style, self-esteem, and coping of currently depressed women with and without a reported history of childhood physical or sexual abuse. Whereas a history of abuse showed few associations with these cognitions, individuals reporting more intrusive memories of abuse had lower Self-esteem, a more negative attributional style, and coped through more avoidance. When severity of depression was controlled abuse history and intrusive memories still were associated with lower levels of positive self-esteem.