Derailment is associated with increased depressed mood at lower levels of stress: An experimental approach.

Background: As an emergent developmental construct, derailment - an individual difference hallmarked by a temporal discordance of the self - has been positively associated with depressive features, though less is known about the role of stress in this relationship. The aim of the present study was to explore the interaction between derailment and subjective stress on depressed mood.

Methods: 265 adults recruited through Prolific - a crowd sourcing platform were first tasked with completing baseline measures, then were randomly assigned to a low stress or high stress condition.