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.