Sad as a Matter of Evidence: The Desire for Self-Verification Motivates the Pursuit of Sadness in Clinical Depression

Background Research on desired emotions revealed that individuals want to feel negative emotions if they expect these emotions to yield certain benefits. In previous studies, the pursuit of sadness (e.g., via pursuing art that evokes sadness) has been attributed to hedonic motives, i.e., to feel pleasure. We propose that in individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) the pursuit of sadness may be more strongly related to self-verification motives, i.e., to sustain their sense of self through feeling sad. Methods Participants with MDD (n=50) were compared to nondepressed controls (n=50) in their desired emotional states, as indicated by selected music (sad, happy and neutral), and in their motives (hedonic vs. self-verification) for choosing sad music. Groups were also compared in their self-reported general preference for sadness and the perceived functionality of sadness. Results MDD participants showed a significant higher desire for sadness; more than half of them deliberately chose sad music. Whereas MDD participants had a marked preference for self-verification over hedonic motives, the reverse was true for nondepressed controls. MDD participants also agreed more strongly with self-verifying functions of sadness and expressed a stronger general preference for sadness. Conclusions Findings indicate that emotion regulation in MDD might be driven by self-verification motives. They point to the relevance of exploring patients’ desired emotional states and associated motives. The systematic integration of positive affect into the self-image of depressed patients might help to deemphasize the self-verifying function of sadness, thereby overcoming the depression.