Journal ol Abnormal Psychology

1975, Vol. 84, No. 6, 729-731

Engagement in Pleasant Activities and Depression Level

Peter M, Lewinsohn
University of Oregon
Previous studies have shown a low rate of engagement in pleasant activities
to be a concomitant of depression. The crucial question addressed by the
Hammen and Glass study is whether an increase in pleasant-activity level will
produce a decrease in depression level. Positive results would constitute strong
evidence that low rate of engagement in pleasant activities is an antecedent
of depression. The results of the Hammen and Glass study should not be con-
sidered conclusive because neither an initial low pleasant-activities level nor a
significant association between mood and pleasant-activity level was demon-
strated for the subjects prior to the introduction of the experimental treatment.

It is a well-established clinical and empirical
fact (Lewinsohn & Graf, 1973; MacPhillamy &
Lewinsohn, 1974) that depressed individuals as
a group engage in a smaller number of pleasant
activities (i.e., activities which they consider to
be pleasant or rewarding). Furthermore, a con-
sistent relation between rate of engagement in
pleasant activities and mood has been found
(Lewinsohn, 1974; Lewinsohn & Graf, 1973;
Lewinsohn & Libet, 1972). It was thus eminently
reasonable for Hammen and Glass (1975) to
hypothesize that an increase in pleasant activities
(those patient behaviors which are likely to be
reinforced by others or those which can act as
reinforcers for other behaviors) would result in
a decrease in depression level. From the results
obtained by Hammen and Glass, the tentative
answer seems to be negative; inducing subjects
to increase their rate of engagement in pleasant
activities did not produce systematic changes in
the depression level of their subjects.
There are several ways in which the method-
ology of the Hammen and Glass (197S) study
differs from ours: (a) Subjects in our studies
are always instructed in a daily frequency check
to count an activity as having occurred only if it
was "at least a little pleasant." For example, if
watching television is on a subject's activity
schedule and if watching television was not ex-
perienced as enjoyable (a common occurrence),
the subject does not check that particular activ-
ity on that day. Thus, the total activity score in
our studies takes into consideration the fact
that depressed individuals do not enjoy many of
the activities they engage in (MacPhillamy &
Lewinsohn, 1974), which is not true of the total
activity score generated by Hammen and Glass.
Requests for reprints should be sent to Peter M.
Lewinsohn, Department of Psychology, University
of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403.
729
This fact may account for the considerably lower
correlation between mood ratings and pleasant-
activity scores found by Hammen and Glass
(Note 1). In our studies we have consistently
obtained average correlations which range be-
tween .3 and .4, based on base-level observations
extending over 30 days, (b) Our criteria for the
inclusion of a subject as depressed have relied
on a two-step classification procedure consisting
of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inven-
tory (MMPI) Depression (D) and other scales
and a set of ratings based on an individual inter-
view with the subject. The purpose of these
rather rigid criteria is not only to ensure a mini-
mum level of depression but also to eliminate
subjects who may be depressed but for whom
anxiety or other neurotic symptoms constitute
major problems.
There are several methodological issues in the
Hammen and Glass (1975) study that need to
be raised. The major data set used for the con-
clusion that depressed subjects who were told to
increase their activity level did not show a sub-
sequent decrease in depression level is based on
the Depression Adjective Check List (DACL,
Lubin, 1965) ratings, which were filled out by
the subjects on a daily basis and then averaged
over the 2-wk period (as opposed to the experi-
ment that ran for 1 wk). In our experience, al-
though the DACL ratings provide an excellent
measure for the day-to-day mood fluctuations
which are shown by most depressed subjects,
they are not very sensitive to pre- and post-
changes as inferred from the MMPI or interview
ratings. In other words, many patients who
manifest considerable clinical change in depres-
sion level as measured by the MMPI or by
interview ratings show relatively little systematic
change in their mean DACL ratings. This is a
problem that deserves investigation in its own
730 SHORT REPORTS
right. Future studies of this sort clearly need to
wrestle with the criterion problem. Depression is
not a unidimensional phenomenon. The depen-
dent variable clearly deserves more attention in
studies designed to test the efficacy of specific
treatment procedures intended to alleviate de-
pression.
In our studies, the correlations between rate
of engagement in pleasant activities and mood
ratings for individual subjects range in magni-
tude from 0 to —.75. There are thus large indi-
vidual differences in the extent to which the vari-
ance in mood ratings can be accounted for by
differences in daily activity level. The prediction
that an increase in pleasant activity level will
produce a reduction in depression level probably
should be restricted to individuals (a) in whom
there is a significant association between activity
level and mood (e.g., r > ,30) and (b) whose base-
level pleasant-activity level is. low (e.g., 1 or 2
standard deviations below the mean). In regard
to the first point, it is important to note that
the correlation between number of pleasant ac-
tivities in the critical increase-activities groups
was even lower than that obtained for the other
three groups (Hammen & Glass, 1975, Experi-
ment 1). Regarding the second point, the mean
daily activities scores for the expectancy-control
and self-monitor control depressed groups in Ex-
periment 1 and for the depressed groups in Ex-
periment 2 are at a level comparable to that
found by us in nondepressed control populations.
It thus appears that two critical preconditions
(association between mood and activity level and
a low base-level rate of engagement in pleasant
activities) for the subjects were not met in the
present study.
Although the author's procedure of instructing
subjects to increase their rate of engagement in
pleasant activities was successful in Experiment
1, it was considerably less successful in Experi-
ment 2 in that the increase for the depressed
increase-activities group was relatively small and
the activities score for the nondepressed increase-
activities group decreased. Furthermore, the
instruction to increase activities apparently pro-
duced a negative effect on the subjects, as sug-
gested by the elevated DACL scores of both
increase-activities groups. The subjects may have
been reacting to the experimental instructions
and this may have affected the results. Different
results might have been obtained if a reward
had been made contingent on an increase in ac-
tivities.
For a given subject there typically exists a
relatively small number of activities (10-20)
which are associated with that subject's mood.
In our earlier publication (Lewinsohn & Libet,
1972) we suggested that, "It may be possible for
a therapist and his patient to identify a small
number of activities which are related to the
patient's mood state" (p. 295). The hypothesis
that an increase in these mood-related activities
would result in a decrease in depression level
was not tested by the present experiment.
Finally, we will comment on the statement
that the results are "contrary to an operant
hypothesis of depression" (Hammen & Glass,
1975, p. 718). The so-called major approaches to
depression undoubtedly differ in the degree to
which they emphasize biochemical, psychody-
namic, behavioral, and cognitive measures as
independent and as dependent variables in the
development and maintenance of that fairly
wide and heterogeneous group of phenomena
which are encompassed by the term "depression."
Behavioral studies have tended to focus on the
patient's overt behavior and have been concerned
with the consequences of behavior as possibly
providing explanations for the behavioral deficits
(e.g., low rate of engagement in social behav-
iors). Behavioral deficits are hypothesized to be
the result of extinction, that is, the repertoire of
depressed individuals is unsuccessful in eliciting
positive reinforcement to a sufficient degree to
maintain the behaviors. Behavioral studies may
also provide possible explanations for the behav-
ioral excesses (e.g., obsessive ruminating and
verbal statements of inadequacy), which are
hypothesized to be learned behaviors that are
maintained by their consequences. In addition,
a low rate of response-contingent positive rein-
forcement has been hypothesized to act as an
eliciting (unconditioned) stimulus for some de-
pressive behaviors, such as the feeling of dys-
phoria, fatigue, and other somatic symptoms
(Lewinsohn, Weinstein, & Shaw, 1969). Such a
behavioral focus is, but need not be, incompatible
with a methodological framework in which all
properly operationalized independent variables
may be examined and their relation to all those
behaviors (overt and covert) which are generally
considered as aspects of depression may be clari-
fied. Such a methodological framework is dis-
tinguishable from a specific theoretical position
which specifies a particular subset of indepen-
dent variables as having a central or causal effect
on aspects of depression. Hammen and Glass's
(1975) results may be inconsistent with the hy-
pothesis that a low rate of engagement in pleas-
ant activities is causally related to depression,
 SHORT REPORTS 731
but they are not "contrary to an operant hy- methods in psychopathology. New York: Wiley,
pothesis of depression" (p. 718). 1974.
Lewinsohn, P. M., & Graf, M. Pleasant activities
and depression. Journal of Consulting and Clinical
REFERENCE NOTE Psychology, 1973, 41, 261-268.
I. Hammen, C. L., & Glass, D. R. Unpublished data, Lewinsohn, P. M., Weinstein, M. S., & Shaw, D.
1975. (Available from Constance L, Hammen, Depression: A clinical research approach. In R.
Department of Psychology, University of Cali- D. Rubin & C. M. Franks (Eds.), Advances in
fornia, Los Angeles, California 90024.) behavior therapy, 1968. New York: Academic
Press, 1969.
Lubin, B. Adjective checklists for the measurement
REFERENCES of depression. Archives of General Psychiatry,
Hammen, C. L., & Glass, D. R. Depression, activity, 1965, 12, 57-62.
and evaluation of reinforcement. Journal of Ab- MacPhillamy, D. J., & Lewinsohn, P. M. Depres-
normal Psychology, 1975, 84, 718-721. s:on as a function of levels of desired and ob-
Lewinsohn, P. M. Clinical and theoretical aspects tained pleasure. Journal of Abnormal Psychology,
of depression. In K. S. Calhoun, H. E. Adams, 1974, 83, 651-657.
& K. M. Mitchell (Eds,), Innovative treatment (Received June 12, 1975)

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