OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to identify the main thought distortions (TD) in depressed patients, their frequency as well as if there is any relation of such distortions with the clinical and sociodemographical data. METHOD: Descriptive study of transversal cut involving 75 volunteers between 18 and 65 years old, dwellers of João Pessoa/PB. The SCID-I scale was used, but just the part devoted to depression diagnosis, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and questionnaires for evaluating the clinical and socio-demographical data. The main thought distortions, described in the literature, were researched. RESULTS: The most prevalent thought distortions were hopelessness (69,3%), hypochondria (62,7%), failure ideas (61,3%) and death desire (60,0%). The thought distortions (TD) referring to guilt ideas, death desire and suicidal ideas were the only ones which occurred in patients with IBD > 10. Only 13,3% of the patients did not present, at the moment of the interview, any thought distortion. There was a statistically meaningful association among several TDs and clinical and socio-demographical variables (p < 0,05). CONCLUSION: We conclude that thought distortions are highly prevalent in depressed individuals, deserving thus, a major investigation of these by the mental health professionals involved in taking care of depressed patients.
Depression; thought distortions; hopelessness; cognitive distortions
