Reflecting the postulates of positive neuropsychology, new Questionnaire for the Measurement of Depression includes an additional scale for the assessment of psychological reserves that buffer depression: the Self-Regulation Scale (SR-S).

The purpose of this study was to find relationship between self-regulation reserves and level of mood disorders in healthy persons and different groups of clinical populations.

The QMD scores are evaluated on five scales: four related to different aspects of depression, and the fifth (SR-S) designed to measure self-regulation.

The SR-S consists of 15 simple statements related to the willingness to take action, overcome difficulties, look for solutions, employ positive thinking, not give up, and optimism. The results are related to the two components: cognitive-behavioral and emotional self-regulation.

Psychometric values of the QMD including the SR-S have been tested in studies on healthy persons and patients with: major depression, schizophrenia, brain damages, Parkinson disease, drag or alcohol addiction.

Construct validity of QMD was confirmed by correlations with other measures e.g. BDI-II, MMPI-2, UMACL, SES and additionally CISS and COPE for SR scale.

The longitudinal study of MD patients (tested before and after hospital treatment) showed that the higher level of depression relates to lower self-regulation. Regression analysis showed that results on the SR-S in the pretest were a significant predictor of the mood level after the therapy in patients with MD.

In other clinical groups at risk of depression, the level of self-regulation was similar to the healthy subjects even if the level of depression was more similar to the MD patients.

These results suggest that the SR-S may be a promising method for the assessment of psychological reserves and the self-regulation capabilities can play a significant role in recovery from depression.