Interpersonal perception as a mediator of the depression-interpersonal difficulties link: A review

Our review proposes interpersonal perception as a mediator of the association between depression and interpersonal difficulties. Research suggests that such perception occurs on two levels. The first (Emotional Sharing System; ESS), basic and automatic, involves perceiving cues from others' nonverbal behavior. The second (Mental State Attribution System; MSAS), effortful and deliberate, involves inferring others' inner states using various sources of information. Evidence shows that depression is associated with lower accuracies at both levels of interpersonal perception, which in turn are associated with greater interpersonal difficulties. Gender differences found both in the depression-interpersonal difficulties link and in the depression-interpersonal perception link suggest it as a central moderator for consideration. We identified two main lacunae in the literature. First, ESS was not examined within close relationships whereas MSAS was not examined within clinical samples. Second, the role of interpersonal perception in the association between depression and interpersonal difficulties has rarely been tested.