In a sample of 61 psychotherapy outpatients, the current study investigated the association between progress at motive‐congruent personal goals and depressivity. In a correlational design, motives were measured with a Picture Story Exercise. Personal goals and goal progress were assessed using a self‐report approach. The Beck Depression Inventory was used to determine patients' levels of depressive symptoms. In accordance with Beck's congruency hypothesis, results showed that only motive‐congruent goal progress was related to depressivity. Motive‐incongruent progress could not account for interindividual differences in depressive symptoms. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of the aetiology of depression and the definition of explicit treatment goals. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Key Practitioner Message:
• Goal progress per se is not associated with lower levels of depressivity.
• Only in combination with implicit motives can goal progress account for interindividual differences in depressivity.
• Implicit motives can provide clinicians with important information for the definition of adequate treatment goals.