Pessimism and Homework in CBT for Depression

Objective To investigate the moderating effects of attributional style on the relationship between client‐rated benefits of homework completion and depression throughout a course of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). Method A total of 28 clients, aged 20 to 65 years, experiencing their first major depressive episode completed up to 20 sessions of CBT plus a follow‐up session at 2 months. Clients, therapists, and independent observers completed the measures. Multilevel modeling was used for a within‐person longitudinal analysis of data. Results Pessimism slightly moderated the relationship between quantity–quality of homework completion and depression severity over time. Decreases in depression severity were largely independent of level of homework completion. Conclusion While CBT is effective in reducing depression, pessimistic attributional style can affect the perception that clients bring to the quantity and quality of homework completion. Clinicians could thus focus on dealing with pessimistic style for treatment and homework to moderate the severity of depression.