1. Introduction and Overview -- The Functions of Theory -- Research Strategies for Studying Depression -- Our General Theoretical Approach -- The Goals of This Book -- Organizational Plan for the Book -- 2. Self-Focused Attention and Self-Regulation -- Theories of Self-Awareness Processes -- Empirical Evidence Concerning the Consequences of Self-Focused Attention -- Conclusion -- 3. An Integrative Perspective on Self-Awareness and Self-Regulation -- The Adaptive Value of Self-Focused Attention -- When Do People Self-Focus? -- Discrepancy Reduction -- Time Lags and Planning for Future Discrepancy Reduction -- Defensive Processes to Facilitate Disengagement -- Conclusion -- 4. The Self-Esteem Motive: Pathways to Equanimity -- A Terror Management Theory of Self-Esteem -- Consensual Validation of the Anxiety-Buffer -- Terror Management, Self-Awareness, and Self-Regulation -- Terror Management and the Hierarchy of Standards -- Implications for Understanding Self-Regulation -- Summary -- 5. Self-Regulatory Perseveration and the Onset of Depression -- Self-Regulatory Perseveration -- Determinants of Self-Regulatory Perseveration -- Summary -- A Note on Cognitive Concomitants of Depression -- 6. Consequences of Self-Regulatory Perseveration: The Depressive Spiral -- Affect -- Attributions -- Access to Self-Referent Information -- Motivation and Performance -- Self-Esteem -- Other Aspects of Depression -- The Emergence of a Negative Self-Image -- 7. The Depressive Self-Focusing Style -- Depressive Self-Focusing Tendencies -- Evidence for a Depressive Self-Focusing Style -- Consequences of a Depressive Self-Focusing Style -- From Self-Regulatory Perseveration to the Depressive Self-Focusing Style -- The Functions of a Negative Self-Image -- The Tyranny of the Depressive Self-Image -- 8. The Positive Spiral of Recovery: Spontaneous Remission and Treatment -- The Positive Spiral of Recovery -- Spontaneous Remission -- Factors That Inhibit and Facilitate Spontaneous Remission -- Suicide -- Psychotherapy for Depression -- Two Strategies to Facilitate Disengagement and Reinvestment -- Reducing Vulnerability to Relapse: Expanding the Basis for Self-Esteem -- Prevention of Initial Episodes of Depression -- Conclusion -- 9. Final Theoretical and Empirical Issues -- Putting the Theory into Context -- Remaining Theoretical Issues -- The Specific Content of Self-Regulatory Perseveration and Upward Reverberation -- Directions for Future Research -- Conclusion -- References.