Fantasies And Depression

The article “Pleasure Now, Pain Later: Positive Fantasies About the Future Predict Symptoms of Depression” is a research paper that talks about a study that was conducted regarding the link between fantasies and depression. The authors of the article hypothesized that people who have positive fantasies about their future are more susceptible to depression in later years of their lives. They believe this because creating positive fantasies in one’s mind uses some of the limited energy that individuals have, thereby leaving less for individuals to use constructively. This is important because the more one spends their time daydreaming and speculating about their future, the less energy they have to actually work towards their goal. Therefore, …show more content…
There were two groups that participated: college students and school children in the fourth and fifth grades. The first two studies looked at the two respective groups of participants; study one focused on the college students and study two focused on the school children. However, studies three and four focused more on the college students. In study three, the researchers had the participants answer questions about their current thoughts at certain points during the day, and in study four, the participants’ academic scores were observed, since they were all undergraduate students. In each study, the researchers measured the scores of the participants twice in order to determine whether there was a difference in their depression levels. The first measurement occurred at the beginning of the study and the second a few months afterwards. They discovered that though there was no difference between men and women about their fantasies, the number of symptoms each gender suffered differed. Regardless, the number of depressive symptoms for both genders increased as the months went …show more content…
The method was appropriate because it allowed participants to assess themselves and their attitudes, which caused them to be more involved in the study. They were able to utilize introspection and learn more about themselves in the process, as their daily activities were interrupted so that they could accurately fill out the survey they were given at various intervals throughout the day. Throughout all four studies, the study’s hypothesis was correct each time, demonstrating that even though positivity reduced symptoms of depression in the beginning, in the long run, the symptoms increased and the participants were more likely to develop depression if they experienced more positive fantasies. Regardless of whether the study consisted of children or young adults, the results were generally the same and did not have much variability within them. Gender did not have much of an effect either, as the results between both men and women were relatively