University of Toronto researcher Zindel V. Segal and his colleagues say that people who have recovered from major depression are more at risk for relapse.
He says one reason for the relapse is the person may continue to have thought patterns that trigger depressive thinking.
Monitoring how mild sadness affects their thinking is key in determining their risk for depression.
The Canadian researchers studied 99 people who had gone through an episode of major depression.
Forty of them recovered after taking Zoloft, Paxil or Effexor, while 59 recovered after being treated with CBT.
Researchers had participants listen to sad music while recalling a sad time in their lives.
Those whose thoughts were the most dysfunctional during this test were more likely to relapse over 18 months.
WebMD reports this "cognitive reactivity" was a better predictor of depression relapse than the number of prior relapses.
