Self-disgust mediates the relationship between dysfunctional cognitions and depressive symptomatology.

Abstract

Disgust has been linked to several psychopathologies, although a role in depression has been questioned. However, it has recently been proposed that rather than general disgust sensitivity, disgust directed toward the self (self-disgust) may influence the development of depression, providing a causal link between dysfunctional cognitions and depressive symptomatology. This possibility was examined by developing a scale to measure self-disgust (the Self-Disgust Scale; SDS) and then using mediator analysis to determine if self-disgust was able to explain the relationship between dysfunctional cognitions (measured with the use of the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale) and depressive symptomatology (measured with the use of the Beck Depression Inventory and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale). The developed SDS was found to exhibit a high level of internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and concurrent validity. Principal-components analysis revealed two factors to underlie responses to SDS items: the 'Disgusting self,' concerned with enduring, context independent aspects of the self, and 'Disgusting ways,' concerned with behavior. Self-disgust was found to mediate the relationship between dysfunctional cognitions and depressive symptomatology, demonstrating for the first time that self-disgust plays a role in depression.

Differential disgust responding in people with cancer and implications for psychological wellbeing

“…This result supports the proposition that the aetiology of depression might not involve a greater proneness to externally-oriented disgust (i.e., DP), but may instead be associated with socially-learned disgust reactions towards aspects of the self (or self-disgust; e.g., Overton et al, 2008;Powell et al, 2013;Power & Dalgleish, 2008), and particularly physical aspects of the self. Behavioural SD, on the other hand, did not predict depression after controlling for the other disgust traits (cf., Powell et al, 2013), but did predict anxiety in both groups.…”

“…The measure has been found to have a two-factor structure, with five items representing disgust towards physical aspects of the self, and five items representing disgust towards behaviour (Overton et al, 2008). In the cancer sample, the Cronbach's alpha for physical SD was .89 and .83 for behavioural SD.…”

“…Participants' trait SD was measured using the Self-Disgust Scale (SDS; Overton et al, 2008). For each of the 18 items, participants rate how much they agree it is descriptive of them on a 7-point Likert scale (1=strongly agree, 7=strongly disagree).…”

“…A third way disgust responses may be detrimental to psychological wellbeing is if they are directed towards oneself (Overton, et al, 2008). 'Self-disgust' (SD) can be defined as a schematic appraisal of physical and/or behavioural aspects of the self as objects of disgust (Powell, Simpson, & Overton, 2015a).…”

“…'Self-disgust' (SD) can be defined as a schematic appraisal of physical and/or behavioural aspects of the self as objects of disgust (Powell, Simpson, & Overton, 2015a). Heightened SD has been associated with a range of mental health problems, including depression (Overton et al, 2008), sexual dysfunction (de Jong & Borg, 2015), eating disorders (Fox, Grange, & Power, 2015) and OCD (Olatunji, Cox, & Kim, 2015). Powell et al (2013), for example, found SD to be a stable predictor of depressive symptoms measured twelve months later, when controlling for prior levels of depression, with disgust towards physical appearance making the strongest contribution.…”