UCL researchers find that individuals with anxiety and depression concentrate more on their perceived failures, leading to persistent low self-belief. This discovery may guide better support strategies.
Researchers at University College London (UCL) have uncovered a critical link between anxiety, depression and persistent low self-belief. A new study published in Nature Communications reveals that individuals with anxiety and depression often focus on their perceived shortcomings, which leads to diminished overall self-confidence, regardless of their actual performance.
The study analyzed two groups of participants, 230 and 278 individuals respectively, through activities designed to assess both their specific job confidence and their overall self-belief. Despite receiving positive feedback, those with anxiety and depression tended to fixate on tasks where they felt less confident, thereby undermining their overall self-assessment.
The participants engaged in a computer game set in a fictional town called “Fruitville,” where they performed various farming tasks requiring vision and memory skills. Throughout the game, an auditor provided feedback on their performance.
The researchers noted that participants with stronger symptoms of anxiety and depression did not perform differently in the tasks compared to those with less severe symptoms. However, they reacted differently to feedback.
“Overall, our findings offer a simple yet powerful message — that the persistent negative self-beliefs experienced by people with anxiety and depression are often illusory, and may be rooted in a dysfunctional view of how they evaluate themselves,” lead author Sucharit Katyal, who conducted the study as a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research and is now at the University of Copenhagen, said in a news release. “This would also explain why anxiety and depression symptoms are also closely linked to imposter syndrome where some people persistently doubt their achievements despite being competent.”
The study underscores the importance of taking into account how individuals with anxiety and depression process feedback. Regardless of their actual performance and the positive feedback they received, these individuals maintained lower overall self-belief by concentrating on moments of low confidence.
The researchers hope that these insights will lead to more effective interventions and support strategies.
“By understanding how these individuals respond differently to their own performance and feedback, we can develop better strategies to support them in building and maintaining confidence — so they can flourish in the workplace and beyond,” Katyal added.
Source: University College London