Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine DigitalCommons@PCOM PCOM Psychology Dissertations Student Dissertations, Theses and Papers 2013 Cognitive Distortions as a Mediator Between Early Maladaptive Schema and Hopelessness Keith Milligan Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.pcom.edu/psychology_dissertations Part of the Clinical Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Milligan, Keith, "Cognitive Distortions as a Mediator Between Early Maladaptive Schema and Hopelessness" (2013). PCOM Psychology Dissertations. Paper 256. This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Dissertations, Theses and Papers at DigitalCommons@PCOM. It has been accepted for inclusion in PCOM Psychology Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@PCOM. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine Department of Psychology COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS AS A MEDIATOR BETWEEN EARLY MALADAPTIVE SCHEMA AND HOPELESSNESS By Keith Milligan Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Psychology April 2013 PHILADELPHIA COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY Dissertation Approval This is to certify that the thesis presented to us by Keith Milligan on the 25th day of May, 2013, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Psychology, has been examined and is acceptable in both scholarship and literary quality. Committee Members’ Signatures: Robert A. DiTomasso, PhD, ABPP, Chairperson Barbara A Golden, PsyD, ABPP Gina Fusco, PsyD Robert A. DiTomasso, PhD, ABPP, Chair, Department of Psychology i Acknowledgments I would like to sincerely thank Drs. Robert DiTomasso, Gina Fusco, Barbara Golden, and Virginia Salzer for their guidance, resolve, and patience in this process. Additionally, I would like to thank my wife, Staycee Milligan, for her support during this challenging time. Without all of you, this achievement would not have been possible. ii Abstract The purpose of the current study was to examine cognitive distortions as a mediator between maladaptive schema and hopelessness. With hopelessness and suicidal behavior so strongly correlated, an examination of hopelessness is critical. It was expected that this study would shed light on the role of distorted thinking as it relates to beliefs shaped from early maladaptive experiences and hopelessness. First, distorted thinking was not found to partially mediate the relationship between early maladaptive schema and hopelessness. This was likely a consequence of multicollinearity due to the use of a very proximal mediator. Second, a linear combination of the cognitive distortions Magnification, Fortune-Telling, and Jumping to Conclusions was shown to play a significant role in hopeless thinking. Lastly, this study provided further psychometric support for the Inventory of Cognitive Distortions (Yurica & DiTomasso, 2002). iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. i Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... iii List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... iv Chapter 1 ..............................................................................................................................1 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 Statement of the Problem .........................................................................................1 Chapter 2 ..............................................................................................................................5 Literature Review.................................................................................................................5 Definition of Schemas..............................................................................................5 Characteristics of Schemas ......................................................................................6 Historical Roots of Schemas ....................................................................................7 Schematic Processing Theories of Emotional Dysfunction ...................................10 Evidence of Schemas .............................................................................................18 Measures of Schemas .............................................................................................24 Cognitive Distortions .............................................................................................26 Definitions of Cognitive Distortions ......................................................................27 Types of Cognitive Distortions ..............................................................................28 Theories of Cognitive Distortions ..........................................................................31 Empirical Support for Cognitive Distortions .........................................................34 Measures of Cognitive Distortions ........................................................................43 Limitations of Measures of Cognitive Distortions.................................................53 iv Hopelessness ..........................................................................................................54 Definitions of Hopelessness ...................................................................................55 Theories of Hopelessness .......................................................................................56 Hopelessness and Psychopathology .......................................................................64 Measures of Hopelessness .....................................................................................67 Chapter 3 ............................................................................................................................71 Hypotheses .........................................................................................................................71 Chapter 4 ............................................................................................................................74 Methods..............................................................................................................................74 Chapter 5 ............................................................................................................................82 Results ................................................................................................................................82 Chapter 6 ............................................................................................................................96 Discussion ..........................................................................................................................96 Study Limitations .................................................................................................101 Directions for Future Research ............................................................................102 Conclusions ..........................................................................................................103 References ........................................................................................................................104 Appendix ..........................................................................................................................120 v List of Tables Table 1. Demographic Characteristics of the Sample .......................................................84 Table 2. Simple Regression Analysis of Early Maladaptive Schema and Hopelessness ......................................................................................................................86 Table 3. Simple Regression Analysis of the Early Maladaptive Schema and Cognitive Distortions ..........................................................................................................................87 Table 4. Simple Regression Analysis of Cognitive Distortions and Hopelessness ......................................................................................................................88 Table 5. Pearson Correlations of the Beck Hopelessness Scale and Independent Subscales of the Inventory of Cognitive Distortions .........................................................91 Table 6. Pearson Correlations of the Beck Hopelessness Scale and Combined Subscales of Inventory of Cognitive Distortions ................................................................................92 COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS, SCHEMA AND HOPELESSNESS 1 Chapter One: Introduction Statement of the Problem Approximately 105 suicides occur in the United States each day, which is about one suicide every .07 minutes. Since 2000, annual suicide rates have steadily increased from 29,350 to 38,364 in 2010. These statistics make suicide the tenth leading cause of death overall. Additionally, for every completed suicide, approximately six people are personally affected (e.g., friends,