Life stress, self-silencing, and domains of meaning in unipolar depression: An investigation of an outpatient sample of women

An outpatient sample of women was assessed to investigate the depressogenic risk associated with a congruency between the type of life stress experienced and the participant's dominant domain of meaning. Domain of meaning was defined as that aspect of the participant's life from which she derives primary meaning for her sense of self; it was measured by a semi-structured interview that was content-analyzed in three stages. Participants also completed Jack's (1991) Silencing the Self Scale, which measures the tendency to silence one's thoughts and feelings in order to maintain safe relationships. Results revealed that: (a) congruency between stress type and primary domain of meaning increased the likelihood of depression; (b) patients whose primary stressors concerned personal relationships reported higher self-silencing than did patients with primarily nonrelational stressors; and (c) higher scores on self-silencing prior to individual therapy were associated with a smaller reduction in depressive symptoms at post-therapy.