Self-Discrepancy in Social Phobia and Dysthymia

Research based on Higgin's self-discrepancytheory has generally found that depression and anxietycan be differentiated on the basis of discrepanciesbetween actual views of one's self versus one's ideal self and between actual self versus the selfothers expect. This study sought to replicate and extendthis work by comparing the self discrepancies ofindividuals with social phobia, dysthymia, and comorbid social phobia and depression with those ofmatched normal persons. Persons with generalized socialphobia or dysthymia and the comorbid group reportedgreater actual: ought/other discrepancies than did normal participants. The comorbid group, butnot the dysthymic group as expected, had elevatedactual: ideal discrepancies. Overall self-discrepancyscores were less extreme and more variable thanexpected. Implications for self-discrepancy theory andunderstanding the relation between anxiety anddepression are discussed.