TY - JOUR T1 - Introducing Semantic Differentiation Technique and Its Application in Assessment of Semantic Representation of Depressed Patients TT - معرفی شیوه‌ی افتراق معنایی و کاربرد آن در ارزیابی بازنمایی معنایی بیماران افسرده JF - ijpcp JO - ijpcp VL - 11 IS - 2 UR - http://ijpcp.iums.ac.ir/article-1-73-en.html Y1 - 2005 SP - 204 EP - 211 KW - Key words: semantic differentiation technique KW - semantic representation KW - depression KW - metaphore N2 -  AbstractIntroduction: The aim of this study was to assess the semantic representation of depressed patients and also the efficacy of semantic differentiation technique for this kind of assessment.Method: Subjects (30 depressed  and 30 non- depressed persons) were selected through convenient sampling. The instruments used included a modified version of a semantic differentiation task, whichembodied four stimulus concepts of me, past, life and future, and Beck’s Depression Inventory. Data were analyzed using descriptive methods, t-test, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and regression analysis.Results: There was a significant difference in the total semantic differentiation scores between dep-ressed and normal subjects.There was a positive correlation between the severity of depression and negative semantic representation. Negative representation of the concept “me” was the strongest predictor of depression.Conclusion: Depressed patients have a negative meaning representation of life, past, future, and inparticular self that must be addressed by the therapists. The semantic differentiation technique is effective for clinical assessments. M3 ER -