Abstract

People hold diverse beliefs about the feeling and value of emotions; for instance, some people believe they should only feel happy and never feel depressed. Interestingly, previous studies have demonstrated that these beliefs are associated with increased depression. This raises questions about how such beliefs operate in a clinical setting; however, little research has been conducted on treatment-seeking individuals. We examined beliefs about the values of happiness and depressive feelings and their relationship to treatment outcomes in 289 adult patients admitted in an intensive cognitive-behavioral therapy-based psychiatric partial hospital program in the U. S. Beliefs related to happiness and depressive feelings were significantly reduced after treatment, suggesting that they are amenable to change. Moreover, a decrease in the belief that depression should never be experienced was uniquely associated with decreased depressive symptoms after treatment, even after accounting for demographic and treatment-related variables. Our findings support the idea that beliefs about the values of emotions, especially about feeling depressed, are potential targets for depression treatment.