Scientists from the University of Vienna have discovered a mechanism that subtly sabotages the lives of people with a history of depression. It's not fatigue or hormones—it's belief. For decades, society has been transmitting the narrative that depression is weakness. People internalize this, and even when the illness subsides, an inner voice continues to repeat, “You're broken, you can't do it.” It's this voice, the study found, that prevents people from setting goals and working toward them.
To test the hypothesis, the team conducted three experiments involving 748 adults—all of whom had taken antidepressants at some point in their lives. Some participants read neutral medical texts about depression. Another group completed a short exercise to reframe their experience.
The method was simple: participants read stories from others who described their struggles with depression as proof of inner resilience—the ability to get up in the morning when every cell in their body was fighting back, and to continue working and communicating despite apathy. Afterward, each person wrote their own essay about the strength they had personally demonstrated during their illness. Finally, they had to formulate it as advice for others with similar experiences. The entire process took about twenty minutes.
The results were significant, as in the third, most rigorous experiment, participants set a specific two-week goal—from regular exercise to completing a work project. The group that completed the exercise achieved 64% of the goal. The control group achieved 43%, a difference of almost 50%.
The key mechanism is self-efficacy, a psychological term for a person's confidence in their ability to accomplish a specific task. In the control group, 71% of participants believed that the qualities needed to achieve goals were incompatible with depression. After the exercise, this figure dropped to 52%. People literally stopped seeing any contradiction between their past and future successes.
An additional effect is created by attitudes toward potential relapses. Participants who underwent reframing stated that they would treat themselves with more compassion if they experienced another relapse. This is important: self-criticism during a relapse is one of the factors that prolongs a depressive episode. Participants assessed their progress toward their goals themselves, without objective metrics. The effect was monitored for only two weeks, and it is unclear how long it lasts. The sample was predominantly Western, and the results may differ in other cultural contexts.