ArticleLiterature Review

Depressogenic cognitive styles: Predictive validity, information processing and personality characteristics, and developmental origins

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Abstract

Two of the major cognitive theories of depression, the theory of Beck [Beck, A. T. (1967). Depression: clinical, experimental and theoretical aspects. New York: Harper & Row. and Beck, A. T. (1987) Cognitive models of depression. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy: an International Quarterly, 1, 5-37] and the hopelessness theory [Abramson, Metalsky, & Alloy, (1989) Hopelessness depression: a theory-based subtype of depression. Psychological Review, 96, 358-372], include the hypothesis that particular negative cognitive styles increase individuals' likelihood of developing episodes of depression, in particular, a cognitively mediated subtype of depression, when they encounter negative life events. The Temple-Wisconsin Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression (CVD) project is a two-site, prospective longitudinal study designed to test this cognitive vulnerability hypothesis, as well as the other etiological hypotheses of Beck's and the hopelessness theories of depression. In this article, based on CVD project findings to date, we review evidence that the hypothesized depressogenic cognitive styles do indeed confer vulnerability for clinically significant depressive disorders and suicidality. In addition, we present evidence regarding moderators of these depressogenic cognitive styles, the information processing and personality correlates of these styles and the possible developmental antecedents of these styles. We end with a consideration of future research directions and the clinical implications of cognitive vulnerability to depression.

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... This finding gives some support for the idea that early negative experiences may leave an individual with some degree of cognitive residue in the form of a core belief about the self or world, which creates a cognitive vulnerability to depression. This idea of individuals, who are vulnerable to depression, possessing some form of cognitive residue before the onset of depression, has also found some support from a study conducted by Alloy et al. (1999). They found that individuals who were more likely to develop depression had a more negative implicit self-concept compared to non-vulnerable individuals. ...
... Consequently, these methodologies may only be tapping into the products or processes of depressive cognition. Indeed, the little evidence of schematic activity 36 Empirical research into schemata in depression in high risk individuals (to depression) may also have been confounded by explicit processing confounds (e.g., Alloy et at, 1999). Participants in Alloy et at's study had to rate whether words were representative of the self before the experimental task. ...
... If one is to assess negative self-schemata one presumably has to choose stimuli that reflect the schema structure and the etiological development of the structure. For example, Beck argues that negative self-schemas develop due to the result of negative early experiences revolving around themes of being incompetent or worthless (Alloy et al., 1999;Beck, 1967Beck, , 1976. Using generic negative and positive stimuli may not be congruent with a negative self-schema and automatic self-evaluations inherent in a selfschema's etiological development (e.g., Gemar et al., 2001). ...
Thesis
p>Research into schemata in depression has found little evidence for schematic activity in the absence of a depressed or low mood. This has led to a widespread view that schemata in depression are latent and only influence information processing in the presence of a low or depressed mood (Segal, 1988). The lack of evidence of schematic activity in the absence of a depressed mood may be due to traditional conceptualisation of schema and the methodological difficulties inherent in the implicit tasks that are used. The aim of this thesis was to investigate schematic activity using two relatively new automatic self-evaluation tasks (the IAT and EAST). It was found that positive automatic self-evaluation was weaker in analogue depressed individuals, high-trait depressives, and recovered clinical depressives compared to non-depressed individuals and low-trait depressives. More importantly, these differences in automatic self-evaluation were not affected by mood or levels of depression. This thesis provides some support that vulnerability to depression or schematic activity can be measured in the absence of a depressed mood. These results also provide support for the growing evidence that automatic self-evaluation may be implicated as a vulnerability factor related to affective disorders (De Raedt, Schacht, Franck, & De Houwer, 2006; de Jong, 2000, Tanner, Stopa, & De Houwer, in press), and why SSRI antidepressant treatment may not be effective in preventing relapse in depression (Hensley, Nadiga, & Uhlenhuth, 2004). Suggestions for further research into schemata include further examination into the role of positive automatic self-evaluation in healthy individuals, the ratio of and different kinds of positive and negative schematic content in individuals who are, and who are not, vulnerable to depression, and investigating schemata from the ontological and neuroscientific perspectives.</p
... These results are in keeping with HDL-related findings from 'general' depression research, which has previously reported correlations between abnormal lipid profiles and low mood [44] irrespective of tinnitus as clinical 'index symptom' [45] and supporting conceptualizations of chronic tinnitus as mood-mediated phenomenon [46,2,47,7,8]. Our data may provide tentative observational evidence for a perspective wherein low mood influences individuals' stimulus interpretation tendencies across different physiological phenomena including, but not being limited to, the tinnitus symptom [48,49,50]. ...
... Assisted Reproductive treatment is a stressful process for patients, but emotional responses vary from person to person (16). Varieties in the emotional response to a tough stressor are supposed to be specified by multiple factors defined in "vulnerability-stress models" (17) such as coping (18,19), personality characteristics (20,21), stressor related cognitions (22)(23)(24) and social support (17,25). These personality traits are deemed to be risk and protective factors for the advent of depression and anxiety (12,17,26,27). ...
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Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the role played by psychological distress in the relation between personality dimensions and pregnancy outcome of women undergoing in vitro fertilization/Intra-Cytoplasmic Injections (IVF/ICSI) treatment. Method: This prospective cohort study was conducted for 12 months on 154 infertile women who were receiving IVF/ICSI assisted reproductive treatment for the first time. Research instruments for measuring psychological distress included the Fertility Problem Inventory (FPI) and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21). One of these was completed prior to ovarian stimulation and the other during the embryo transfer stage. The temperament and Character Inventory-Revised (TCI-R 125) was employed once to assess personality dimensions prior to the ovarian stimulation stage. Independent t-test, Mann Whitney test, Repeated Measures and path analysis were performed for statistical analysis of data. Results: The results of this study showed no significant difference between the pregnant and non-pregnant groups in personality traits (Harm avoidance and self-directness) and psychological distress (FPI and DASS scores). Repeated measures showed a significant difference in stress, anxiety, and depression levels between the two stages of ovarian stimulation and embryo transfer (P < 0.01). Path analysis showed no significant direct and indirect effect for harm avoidance on the pregnancy outcome when psychological distress was mediated. Conclusion: The effect of psychological factors on IVF outcomes is more complicated than is generally assumed and more studies are mandatory to clarify the relationship between personality traits and infertility treatments.
... These cognitive models of depression (e.g., Abramson et al., 1989;Beck, 1967;Ingram et al., 1998;Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991) emphasise the role of negative inferential styles, information-processing biases, maladaptive emotion-regulation strategies, and dysfunctional beliefs as vulnerabilities for depression following stressful life events. In addition, a growing body of evidence suggests that such cognitive vulnerabilities do, in fact, increase the risk for depression (e.g., Abramson et al., 1999;Alloy et al., 1999;Clark et al., 1999;Ingram et al., 1998). ...
... Summing up, several previous studies demonstrated the possible associations between cognitive vulnerability factors (i.e., negative inferential styles, dysfunctional attitudes and ruminative response styles) and depression [109,113,114] leading to negative impacts on MDD course with an increased risk of higher severity and recurrence [109,115,116]. ...
Article
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The present narrative review has covered the current evidence regarding the role of cognitive impairments during the early phase of major depressive disorder (MDD), attempting to describe the cognitive features in childhood, adolescence and in at-risk individuals. These issues were analyzed considering the trait, scar and state hypotheses of MDD by examining the cold and hot dimensions, the latter explained in relation to the current psychological theoretical models of MDD. This search was performed on several electronic databases up to August 2022. Although the present review is the first to have analyzed both cold and hot cognitive impairments considering the trait, scar and state hypotheses, we found that current evidence did not allow to exclusively confirm the validity of one specific hypothesis since several equivocal and discordant results have been proposed in childhood and adolescence samples. Further studies are needed to better characterize possible cognitive dysfunctions assessing more systematically the impairments of cold, hot and social cognition domains and their possible interaction in a developmental perspective. An increased knowledge on these topics will improve the definition of clinical endophenotypes of enhanced risk to progression to MDD and, to hypothesize preventive and therapeutic strategies to reduce negative influences on psychosocial functioning and well-being.
... The severity of depressive symptoms in adolescence disproportionately affects girls at the ages of 13-15 years, with prevalence rates doubling in girls aged 15-18 [14,15]. In addition to the increased incidence of depression in racially and ethnically diverse low-income adolescent girls, the risk of depression increases significantly with childhood abuse [16][17][18]. Although the prevalence of depression in the United States is estimated to be 7%, the rates of depression among those with a history of childhood abuse are much higher [19]. ...
Article
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Violence is not uncommon in the contemporary world. The consequences of harmful experiences in childhood are often educational problems, difficult behavior, failure to cope in adulthood, duplication of learned, negative behavior patterns and disorders in various spheres/areas of life. The experience of childhood violence is associated with the occurrence of about half of mental disorders with onset in childhood and one third of disorders that appear later in life. Various emotional and behavioral disorders are mentioned among the psychological effects of violence against a child, including depressive disorders. Regarding experiences of violence, there is strong evidence that exposure to sexual or physical violence is a predictor of depressive episodes and depressive symptoms in adolescents. Among adolescents, the impact of violence on depression has been shown to be sustained. Accordingly, evidence suggests that elevated depressive symptoms and episodes of depression may even persist for up to two years after experiencing cases of violence. Due to the destructive consequences of such behavior, international and national law devote much attention to the protection of children’s rights. Under Polish law, there are regulations describing measures of reaction within the family, as well as provisions sanctioning violent behavior. Therefore, the study discusses the family and criminal law aspects of violence against minors. The whole study is imbued with considerations of the so-called the obligation to denounce, i.e., to notify about the disclosure of a prohibited act committed to the detriment of minors. This issue was presented in the context of medical secrets and its type—psychiatric discretion.
... The cognitive models of depression given by Beck and colleagues [14] and the hopelessness theory given by Alloy and colleagues [15] explain cognitions can lead to impairment in interpersonal functioning. The idea behind cognitive theory suggests that there is a 'negative belief with a strong interpersonal focus' . ...
Article
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Background Depression and low perceived social support (PSS) have been found to deleteriously affect quality of life (QoL) among myocardial infarction (MI) survivors. The complex relationship between these variables has not been assessed. We wanted to assess first the prevalence of depression among MI survivors and whether depression mediates the effect of PSS on QoL and, second, whether the physical and social domains of QoL mediated the effect of depression and PSS on the emotional domain. This cross-sectional study was done among MI survivors using Cardiac Depression Scale, MacNew Quality of Life After Myocardial Infarction Questionnaire and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support to assess for depression, QoL and PSS respectively. Results A total of 103 MI survivors were included in the study, and the mean age was 59.66 (± 10.42) years. Depression was found in 21.36% of the participants. The indirect effect of PSS on QoL with depression as a mediator was significant (b = 0.15, p < 0.001, 95% CI = 0.12, 0.18). The direct effect of PSS on QoL controlling for depression was also significant (b = 0.05, p < 0.001, 95% CI = 0.02, 0.07). Depression as a mediator in the relationship explained 75.3% of the effect of PSS on QoL. PSS and depression did not have a significant direct effect on emotional QoL, but it became significant when the physical and social domains were included in the model. The total indirect effects of PSS and depression on emotional QoL were b = 0.16, p < 0.001, 95% CI = 0.05, 0.17 and b = − 0.05, p < 0.001, 95% CI = − 0.06, − 0.03, respectively. Conclusion Depression and poor PSS impair physical and social domains, which impairs the emotional domain of QoL; as such, overall QoL is undermined. As limited physical and social activity because of depression and poor PSS may increase the risk of further cardiovascular events, a holistic approach which includes mental health care is warranted.
... Hopelessness and helplessness theories of depression (Seligman and Maier, 1967;Maier and Watkins, 2005;Alloy et al, 1999) emphasize the importance of beliefs about the inachievability of important goals and a perceived lack of control. Such beliefs can be captured formally in terms of either graph structure, or the ability to navigate effectively within the graph structure (Huys and Dayan, 2009). ...
Article
Anhedonia - a common feature of depression and other neuropsychiatric disorders - encompasses a reduction in the subjective experience and anticipation of rewarding events, and a reduction in the motivation to seek out such events. The presence of anhedonia often predicts or accompanies treatment resistance, and as such better interventions and treatments are important. Yet the mechanisms giving rise to anhedonia are not well understood. In this chapter, we briefly review existing computational conceptualisations of anhedonia. We argue that they are mostly descriptive and fail to provide an explanatory account of why anhedonia may occur. Working within the framework of reinforcement learning, we examine two potential computational mechanisms that could give rise to anhedonic phenomena. First, we show how anhedonia can arise in multi-dimensional drive-reduction settings through a trade-off between different rewards or needs. We then generalise this in terms of model-based value inference and identify a key role for associational belief structure. We close with a brief discussion of treatment implications of both of these conceptualisations. In summary, computational accounts of anhedonia have provided a useful descriptive framework. Recent advances in reinforcement learning suggest promising avenues by which the mechanisms underlying anhedonia may be teased apart, potentially motivating novel approaches to treatment.
... Beck [2] determined three factors responsible for depression: faulty information processing (errors in logic), cognitive triad (negative thinking about world, self, and future), and negative self-schemas. Critical evaluation of Beck's theory is provided in Alloy et al. [3] and Butler et al. [4] . This section highlights the cognitive triad which, can be modeled using sentiment analysis. ...
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This article presents data to model Beck’s cognitive triad to understand the subjective symptoms of depression, such as negative view of self, future, and world. The Cognitive Triad Dataset (CTD) comprises 5886 messages, 600 from the Time-to-Change blog, 580 from Beyond Blue personal stories, and 4706 from Twitter. The data were manually labeled by skilled annotators. This data is divided into six categories: self-positive, world-positive, future-positive, self-negative, world-negative, and future-negative. The Cognitive Triad Dataset was evaluated on two subtasks: aspect detection and sentiment classification on given aspects. The dataset will aid in the comprehension of Beck’s Cognitive Triad Inventory (CTI) items in a person’s social media posts.
... When viewed as a continuous scale, higher state hopelessness in rural compared with urban patients with IHD remained statistically significant after adjusting for all sample characteristics, except depression severity. Hopelessness, a negative outlook and sense of helplessness toward the future, 20 has been identified as increasing vulnerability to depression in college students 46 and men with HIV. 47 Yet, hopelessness and depression are unique in patients with IHD in a number of ways. ...
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Background Rurality and hopelessness are each associated with increased mortality in adults with ischemic heart disease (IHD), yet there is no known research examining rurality as a risk factor for hopelessness in patients with IHD. This study evaluated rurality as a risk factor for state and trait hopelessness in adults hospitalized with IHD in samples drawn from the Great Lakes and Great Plains regions of the United States. Methods and Results A descriptive cross‐sectional design was used. Data were collected from 628 patients hospitalized for IHD in the Great Lakes (n=516) and Great Plains (n=112). Rural–Urban Commuting Area codes were used to stratify study participants by level of rurality. Levels of state hopelessness (measured by the State‐Trait Hopelessness Scale) were higher in rural patients (58.8% versus 48.8%; odds ratio [OR], 1.50; 95% CI, 1.03–2.18), a difference that remained statistically significant after adjusting for demographics, depression severity (measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire–8), and physical functioning (measured by the Duke Activity Status Index; OR, 1.59; 95% CI, 1.06–2.40; P =0.026). There was evidence of an interaction between marital status and rurality on state hopelessness after accounting for covariates ( P =0.02). Nonmarried individuals had an increased prevalence of state hopelessness (nonmarried 72.0% versus married 52.0%) in rural areas ( P =0.03). Conclusions Rural patients with IHD, particularly those who are nonmarried, may be at higher risk for state hopelessness compared with patients with IHD living in urban settings. Understanding rurality differences is important in identifying subgroups most at risk for hopelessness. Registration URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier: NCT04498975.
... For example, we found that clinical participants responded to ambiguous scenarios with negative thoughts on average, whereas nonclinical participants responded with neutral to positive thoughts. This downward bias by clinical participants is consistent with the negative cognitive styles observed in these disorders (Alloy et al, 1999;Beck, 1967Beck, , 1987. It may also reflect selective processing of emotionally negative information and the imposition of negative meanings on ambiguous information, biases that are common in anxiety and depression (Hirsch et al., 2016;Mathews & MacLeod, 2005). ...
Article
Perseverative thinking (PT), or repetitive negative thinking, has historically been measured using global self-report scales. New methods of assessment are needed to advance understanding of this inherently temporal process. We developed an intensive longitudinal method for assessing PT. A mixed sample of 77 individuals ranging widely in trait PT, including persons with PT-related disorders (generalized anxiety disorder, major depression) and persons without psychopathology, used a joystick to provide continuous ratings of thought valence and intensity following exposure to scenarios of differing valence. Joystick responses were robustly predicted by trait PT, clinical status, and stimulus valence. Higher trait perseverators exhibited more extreme joystick values overall, greater stability in values following threatening and ambiguous stimuli, weaker stability in values following positive stimuli, and greater inertia in values following ambiguous stimuli. The joystick method is a promising measure with the potential to shed new light on the dynamics and precipitants of perseverative thinking.
... A relationship between attributional style, hopelessness and later depression has previously been found in various samples, such as undergraduate students, adolescent psychiatric inpatients, or healthy participants at high versus low cognitive risk for depression (e.g., Abramson et al. 1998;Alloy et al. 2006;Gibb et al. 2001;Hilsman and Garber 1995;Voelz et al. 2003). Thus, the meaning and interpretation given to negative experiences may influence whether an individual becomes depressed, whether they are vulnerable to recurrent episodes of depression and how long and severe these episodes will be (Alloy et al. 1999). ...
... Hopelessness, while seemingly opposite to hope, has included a narrower focus on depression and suicidality, where negative attributions interact with events to lead to self-blame for the events and viewing the causes of the event as a characterologically permanent and wide-spread. 17,18 Thus, whereas hope and hopelessness appear to be opposite ends of the same dimension, hope and its measurement have developed in a broad context, and hopelessness and its measurement have developed by focusing primarily on depression and medical care. 19,20 Moreover, at extreme levels, hopelessness has been associated with significant emotional difficulties and the desire to hasten death. ...
Article
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Background The concept of hope is an important theme in chronic illness and palliative care and has been associated with increased psycho-spiritual well-being and quality of life. Psycho-spiritual interventions have been described in this population, but no systematic review of hope-enhancing interventions or hopelessness-reducing interventions has been conducted for persons with palliative care diseases. Aim To describe and assess the effectiveness of interventions in palliative care that measure hope and/or hopelessness as an outcome. Design This systematic review and meta-analysis was pre-registered (Prospero ID: CRD42019119956). Data sources Electronic databases, journals, and references were searched. We used the Cochrane criteria to assess the risk of bias within studies. Results Thirty-five studies (24 randomized controlled trials, 5 quasi-experimental, 6 pre-post studies) involving a total of 3296 palliative care patients were included. Compared with usual/standard cancer care alone, interventions significantly increased hope levels at a medium effect size (g = 0.61, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.28–0.93) but did not significantly reduce hopelessness (g = −0.08, 95% CI = −0.18 to 0.02). It was found that interventions significantly increase spirituality (g = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.02–1.37) and decrease depression (g = −0.29, 95% CI = −0.51 to −0.07), but had no significant effect over anxiety, quality of life, and symptom burden. Overall, quality of evidence across the included studies was rated as low. Conclusions Evidence suggests that interventions can be effective in increasing hope in palliative care patients.
... Such gender differences are typically explained in terms of gender-role socialization processes that lead to females being more likely to adopt passive ruminative responses to negative moods (32,33). These ruminative response styles appear to represent a cognitive vulnerability in the context of depression (34,35). A previous, large-scale, community survey undertaken in the UAE also reported females as being at greater risk for depression compared to their male compatriots (14). ...
Article
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The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health is likely to be significant. Identifying vulnerable groups during the pandemic is essential for targeting psychological support, and in preparation for any second wave or future pandemic. Vulnerable groups are likely to vary across different societies; therefore, research needs to be conducted at a national and international level. This online survey explored generalized anxiety and depression symptoms in a community sample of adults (N = 1,039) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) between April 8th and April 22nd, 2020. Respondents completed symptom measures of depression (PHQ8) and generalized anxiety (GAD7), along with psychosocial and demographic variables that might potentially influence such symptoms. Bivariate and multivariate associations were calculated for the main study variables. Levels of anxiety and depression were notably higher than those reported in previous (pre-pandemic) national studies. Similar variables were statistically significantly associated with both depression and anxiety, most notably younger age, being female, having a history of mental health problems, self or loved ones testing positive for COVID-19, and having high levels of COVID-related anxiety and economic threat. Sections of the UAE population experienced relatively high levels of depression and anxiety symptoms during the early stages of the pandemic. Several COVID-related and psychosocial variables were associated with heightened symptomatology. Identifying such vulnerable groups can help inform the public mental health response to the current and future pandemics.
... Studies that attempt to control for this possibilityfor example, by factoring out self-report depression scoreshave been mixed. In some studies, the observed relationships survived (Alloy, Abramson, et al., 1999;Alloy et al., 2006;Barnett & Gotlib, 1990); however, in others, they did not (Lewinsohn et al., 1999;Otto et al., 2007). Again, while there seems little doubt that low mood can generate negative cognitions, the evidence supporting the key claim that negative beliefs and cognitions actually cause the mood disturbances in depression seems rather equivocal. ...
Thesis
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Traditionally, psychiatric syndromes have formed the primary target of explanation in psychopathology research. However, these syndromes have been significantly criticised for their conceptual weakness and lack of validity. Ultimately, this limits our ability to create valid explanations of these categories; if the target is invalid then our explanations will suffer as a consequence. Using depression as extended example, this doctoral thesis explores the theoretical and methodological challenges associated with classifying and explaining mental disorders, and develops an alternative explanatory approach and associated methodology for advancing our understanding of mental disorders-the Phenomena Detection Method (PDM; Clack & Ward, 2020; Ward & Clack, 2019). This theoretical thesis begins by evaluating the current approaches to defining, classifying, and explaining mental disorders like depression, and explores the methodological and theoretical challenges with building theories of them. Next, in moving forward, I argue that the explanatory target in psychopathology research should shift from arbitrary syndromes to the central symptoms and signs of mental disorders. By conceptualising the symptoms of a disorder as clinical phenomena, and by adopting epistemic model pluralism as an explanatory strategy, we can build multi-faceted explanations of the processes and factors that constitute a disorder's core symptoms. This core theoretical and methodological work is then followed by the development of the PDM. Unique in the field of psychopathology, the PDM links different phases of the inquiry process to provide a methodology for conceptualising the symptoms of psychopathology and for constructing multi-level models of the pathological processes that comprise them. Next, I apply the PDM to the two core symptoms of depression-anhedonia and depressed mood-as an illustrative example of the advantages of this approach. This includes providing a more secure relationship between the pathology of depression and its phenotypic presentation, as well as greater insight into the relationship between underlying biological and psychological processes, and behavioural dysfunction. Next, I evaluate the PDM in comparison to existing metatheoretical approaches in the field and make some suggestions for future development. Finally, I conclude with a summary of the main contributions of this thesis. Considering the issues with current diagnostic categories, simply continuing to build explanations of syndromes is not a fruitful way forward. Rather, the complexity of mental disorders suggests we need to represent their key psychopathological phenomena or symptoms at different levels or aspects using multiple models. This thesis provides the metatheoretical and methodological foundations for this to successfully occur.
... The key differences between the trials are the eligibility criteria with respect to EC profile for each trial and as a consequence the primary outcome measure. The ECoWeB-PREVENT trial will recruit participants who have a hypothesized elevated risk of poor mental health based on an EC profile in which they score in the worst quartile on at least one EC component, such as a greater tendency towards well-established unhelpful emotional regulation strategies such as rumination [31][32][33] or making negative appraisals [34]. For this group, there is increased likelihood of worsening mental health over 12 months and we choose depression symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire-9) as our primary outcome as potentially the most sensitive and important index of poor mental health. ...
Article
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Background Promoting well-being and preventing poor mental health in young people is a major global priority. Building emotional competence (EC) skills via a mobile app may be an effective, scalable and acceptable way to do this. However, few large-scale controlled trials have examined the efficacy of mobile apps in promoting mental health in young people; none have tailored the app to individual profiles. Method/design The Emotional Competence for Well-Being in Young Adults cohort multiple randomised controlled trial (cmRCT) involves a longitudinal prospective cohort to examine well-being, mental health and EC in 16–22 year olds across 12 months. Within the cohort, eligible participants are entered to either the PREVENT trial (if selected EC scores at baseline within worst-performing quartile) or to the PROMOTE trial (if selected EC scores not within worst-performing quartile). In both trials, participants are randomised (i) to continue with usual practice, repeated assessments and a self-monitoring app; (ii) to additionally receive generic cognitive-behavioural therapy self-help in app; (iii) to additionally receive personalised EC self-help in app. In total, 2142 participants aged 16 to 22 years, with no current or past history of major depression, bipolar disorder or psychosis will be recruited across UK, Germany, Spain, and Belgium. Assessments take place at baseline (pre-randomisation), 1, 3 and 12 months post-randomisation. Primary endpoint and outcome for PREVENT is level of depression symptoms on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 at 3 months; primary endpoint and outcome for PROMOTE is emotional well-being assessed on the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale at 3 months. Depressive symptoms, anxiety, well-being, health-related quality of life, functioning and cost-effectiveness are secondary outcomes. Compliance, adverse events and potentially mediating variables will be carefully monitored. Conclusions The trial aims to provide a better understanding of the causal role of learning EC skills using interventions delivered via mobile phone apps with respect to promoting well-being and preventing poor mental health in young people. This knowledge will be used to develop and disseminate innovative evidence-based, feasible, and effective Mobile-health public health strategies for preventing poor mental health and promoting well-being. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov (www.clinicaltrials.org). Number of identification: NCT04148508 November 2019.
... Dans une partie de ces travaux, nous nous sommes intéressées au "sentiment dépressif" afin de rendre compte du vécu subjectif du sujet dans sa dépressivité 1 (Fédida, s. d.). En La répétition des expériencesémotionnelles et cognitives négatives renforce certains schémas qui amplifient certaines distorsions dans les nouveaux traitements de l'information (Alloy, 1999 ;Cormier, Jourda, Laros, Walburg, & Callahan, 2011). ...
Thesis
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Lors du passage en études supérieures, les étudiants semblent vivre une expérience commune. Cependant, certains présentent des fragilités et sont plus vulnérables et susceptibles de développer des troubles dépressifs. Ceux-ci peuvent notamment pousser l'étudiant à arrêter ses études. Par conséquent, tenir compte de la santé mentale des étudiants et mieux les accompagner leurs permettraient d'éviter une rupture dans le parcours universitaire.La réussite aux examens universitaires, l'ampleur du travail personnel, l'incertitude d'une insertion professionnelle réussie, l'éloignement du cercle familial, la solitude ou encore les contextes sociaux, actifs et universitaires, sont autant de facteurs pouvant fragiliser l'étudiant.L'objectif de ce travail est d'identifier de tels indicateurs psychologiques et contextuels en vue de caractériser les facteurs associés à la dépression, à la fois inter et intra individuelle.Pour ce faire, les travaux de cette thèse ont été menés sur deux bases de données : la cohorte étudiante "i-Share" et les données d'une étude de mesures répétées en vie quotidienne.Une première étude a permis de faire l'état des lieux des troubles de santé mentale diagnostiqués chez les étudiants.Dans la deuxième étude, nous avons identifié des facteurs de vulnérabilité à la dépression en fonction de différents territoires français (Île-de-France, La Réunion, Bordeaux et les autres régions de France). Enfin, dans une troisième étude, nous avons développé une méthode mathématique et numérique afin d’analyser les variations émotionnelles et cognitives en vie quotidienne en tenant compte du facteur temps.Les résultats de la première étude ont montré que près de 3% des étudiants ont déclaré avoir reçu un diagnostic de dépression.La deuxième étude montre qu’en réalité 30% des étudiants présentent une symptomatologie dépressive et que les facteurs psychologiques et contextuels associés varient selon les territoires de France.Les résultats de la troisième étude ont mis en exergue de nouveaux indicateurs de variabilité intra-individuelle en lien avec avec la symptomatologie dépressive en vie quotidienne. Ensuite, nous avons caractérisé des profils présentant des variations du sentiment dépressif différents.Ces résultats sont discutés et nous proposons des axes de prévention à adapter contextuellement à la réalité territoriale et à la spécificité des profils étudiants, et ce afin de progresser en matière de politique de santé publique et universitaire.
... According to Metalsky, Halberstadt & Abramson (as cited by Davila, & Fincham, 2005), this domain is most likely to cause the highest probability of a depressed person than the other domains. For adolescent health, this is important because certain negative cognitive responses to negative events may increase the likelihood of depression (Alloy, Abramson, Whitehouse, Hogan, Tashman, Steinberg, Rosee and Donovan, 1999). ...
Article
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Sixty-five young adults with remitted major depressive disorder (MDD) were followed for 18 months. Recurrence of MDD was reported by 41.5% of the initial sample and 49.1% of those who completed the study (n = 53). Survival analyses were used to identify predictors of recurrence so that individuals at greatest risk could be targeted for intervention. Potential predictors included measures of comorbid psychopathology (Axis II pathology, and current and lifetime nonmood Axis I diagnoses), depression-specific clinical features (number of episodes, past treatment, and suicidality), and self-reported cognitive and interpersonal constructs (hope, dysfunctional attitudes, and interpersonal problems). Only personality pathology (specifically, the total dimensional and Cluster B dimensional scores on the International Personality Disorder Examination; World Health Organization, 1996) significantly predicted hazard of recurrence.
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Rumination was examined as a potential common mechanism linking risk factors with depression. Initially nondepressed individuals (N = 137) were assessed for presence of a ruminative response style and 4 other hypothesized risk factors for depression. They were followed for 2.5 years. Negative cognitive styles, self-criticism, dependency, neediness, and history of past depression were all significantly associated with rumination. Rumination mediated the predictive relationships of all risk factors except dependency with the number of prospective Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev.; American Psychiatric Association, 1987) major depressive episodes (MDEs; definite and subthreshold) during the follow-up period. In contrast, private self-consciousness did not mediate any relationships between risk factors and subsequent MDEs. Thus, rumination, as a special kind of self-focus, may act as a general proximal mechanism through which other vulnerability factors affect depression.
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The authors tested the cognitive vulnerability hypotheses of depression with a retrospective behavioral high-risk design. Individuals without current Axis I diagnoses who exhibited either negative or positive cognitive styles were compared on lifetime prevalence of depressive and other disorders and the clinical parameters of depressive episodes. Consistent with predictions, cognitively high-risk participants had higher lifetime prevalence than low-risk participants of major and hopelessness depression and marginally higher prevalence of minor depression. These group differences were specific to depressive disorders. The high-risk group also had more severe depressions than the low-risk group, but not longer duration or earlier onset depressions. The risk group differences in prevalence of depressive disorders were not mediated by current depressive symptoms.
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During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, young adults have experienced many maladaptive symptoms that have consequently affected their mental health. Most studies have examined the risk factors of mental health while ignoring the protective factors. This longitudinal study aims to investigate whether daily stress, depression, anxiety and stress, and positive mental health have a predictive effect on the psychological burden of COVID-19. We conducted three follow-up surveys in 2014 (T1), 2015 (T2), and 2020 (T3) to understand the predictive effect of daily stress and mental health on the psychological burden of COVID-19 on young adults. Data were assessed in 2014 (T1) and 2015 (T2) using the depression, anxiety, and stress scale (DASS-21), positive mental health scale (PMH), and brief daily stressor screening scale (BDSS), and in 2020 (T3), where we incorporated the psychological burden of COVID-19 to evaluate its psychological burden status on young adults. A total of 556 young adults participated in three surveys. Cross-lagged analysis indicated that (1) daily stress at T1 significantly predicted DASS and PMH at T2, DASS at T2 significantly predicted the psychological burden of COVID-19 at T3, but PMH at T2 could not predict the psychological burden of COVID-19 at T3; (2) PMH at T1 significantly predicted daily stress and DASS at T2, which significantly predicted the psychological burden of COVID-19 at T3. Individuals with low daily stress and depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms can still maintain a low psychological burden during the pandemic.
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Beliefs about whether emotions are good or bad, controllable or uncontrollable are two fundamental emotion beliefs. Studies have confirmed the link between the two beliefs and emotional responses, but how emotion beliefs affect the process from emotional stimulus perception to emotion generation and automatic regulation is unclear. Answering this question helps to understand the role of emotion beliefs in emotional dysfunction and dysregulation and can provide a basis for effective emotion regulation. Therefore, the current study used event-related potential (ERP) measures to examine the time course and neural mechanisms by which emotional beliefs influence the processing of emotional pictures. One hundred participants were divided into four groups (25 per group) according to controllable or uncontrollable beliefs about emotions and good or bad beliefs about negative emotions, and viewed emotional negative and neutral pictures. Results showed that P2 was more positive in participants with emotion controllable vs. uncontrollable belief. The early posterior negativity (EPN) was more negative for unpleasant than neutral images in participants with emotion good and controllable beliefs as well as with bad and uncontrollable beliefs. On late positive potential (LPP), middle LPP (500-1000 ms) was more positive in emotion good vs. bad belief holders and the late LPP (1000-2000 ms) was more positive for negative than neutral images in emotion uncontrollable belief holders. The findings suggest that fundamental emotion beliefs can affect individuals' early attention and late meaning evaluation towards unpleasant stimuli. Furthermore, they provide insight into altered beliefs about emotion in people with emotion dysfunction or dysregulation.
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Background: People with depression tend to score low on measures of subjective quality of life (SQoL) which has been suggested to reflect a general negative bias of perception. However, studies do not tend to investigate specific life domains. This study investigated satisfaction with life domains in people with major depression and explored influential factors. Methods: A one-step individual patient data meta-analysis combined data of 1710 people with major depression from four studies. In all studies, SQoL was measured on the Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life, which provides satisfaction ratings with 12 life domains. Associations between individual characteristics and satisfaction ratings were investigated using univariable and multivariable models. Results: Mean satisfaction ratings varied across life domains. Participants expressed dissatisfaction with several domains but expressed satisfaction with others, mainly for domains associated with close relationships. Some of the investigated characteristics were consistently associated with satisfaction ratings across the domains. Limitations: The primary limitation of this study was in the analysis of individual characteristics, which were chosen based on identification in existing literature and availability in our datasets, and of which several were dichotomised to have sufficiently large numbers which may have resulted in lost nuance in the results. Conclusions: People with major depression distinguish between their satisfaction with different life domains and are particularly satisfied with their close relationships. This challenges the notion of a general negative appraisal of life in this group, and highlights the need to evaluate satisfaction with different life domains separately.
Article
Objective: This article describes the development and psychometric evaluation of the Manic Thought Inventory (MTI), a patient-driven self-report inventory to assess the presence of typical (hypo)manic cognitions. Methods: The initial item pool was generated by patients with bipolar disorder(BD) type I, and assessed for suitability by five psychiatrists specialized in treating BD. Study 1 describes the item analysis and exploratory factor structure of the MTI in a sample of 251 patients with BD type I. In study 2, the factor structure was validated with a confirmatory factor analysis and convergent and divergent validity were assessed in an independent sample of 201 patients with BD type I. Results: Study 1 resulted in a 50-item version of the MTI measuring one underlying factor. Study 2 confirmed the essentially unidimensional underlying construct in a 47-item version of the MTI. Internal consistency of the 47-item version of the MTI was excellent (α = 0.97). The MTI showed moderate to large positive correlations with other measures related to mania. It was not correlated with measures of depression. Conclusion: The MTI showed good psychometric properties and can be useful in research and clinical practice. Patients could use the MTI to select items that they recognize as being characteristic for their (hypo)manic episodes. By monitoring and challenging these items, the MTI could augment current psychological interventions for BD.
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Background Beliefs about the usefulness and controllability of emotions are associated with emotion regulation and psychological distress in the general population. Although individuals with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders evidence emotion regulation abnormalities, it is unclear whether emotional beliefs contribute to these difficulties and their associated poor clinical outcomes. Methods Participants included 72 individuals with schizophrenia-spectrum diagnoses (outpatients with schizophrenia n = 38; youth at clinical high-risk for psychosis, n = 34) and healthy controls (CN: n = 61) who completed the Emotional Beliefs Questionnaire, Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and measures of clinical symptom severity. Results Those with schizophrenia-spectrum diagnoses reported believing that emotions were less controllable than CN; however, groups did not differ regarding beliefs about the usefulness of emotion. Greater beliefs of the uncontrollability of emotion were associated with greater use of suppression, less use of reappraisal, and increased negative symptoms. Emotion regulation partially mediated the association between emotional beliefs and negative symptoms. Conclusions Individuals in the schizophrenia-spectrum display superordinate beliefs that emotions are uncontrollable. These beliefs may influence emotion regulation strategy selection and success, which contributes to negative symptoms. Findings suggest that beliefs of emotional uncontrollability reflect a novel process related to both emotion regulation and negative symptoms that could be targeted in psychosocial treatments.
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Although the precise mechanisms and pathways of schizophrenia remain something of a mystery, there is little dispute that cognitive deficits present as some of the clearest and most debilitating symptoms of the disease. This book describes the characteristics of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, functional implications, the course of impairments, the genetic and biological contributions and reviews management options, including neuropsychological, psychological and pharmacological techniques. Chapters are written by leading experts in the field, in an accessible and highly informative style, ensuring the content is clinically relevant. State-of-the-art information about new developments in the treatment of related features of the illness, such as disability, is provided. The wide ranging focus of this volume will appeal to clinicians and academic researchers working with patients impaired by severe mental illness.
Chapter
Although the precise mechanisms and pathways of schizophrenia remain something of a mystery, there is little dispute that cognitive deficits present as some of the clearest and most debilitating symptoms of the disease. This book describes the characteristics of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, functional implications, the course of impairments, the genetic and biological contributions and reviews management options, including neuropsychological, psychological and pharmacological techniques. Chapters are written by leading experts in the field, in an accessible and highly informative style, ensuring the content is clinically relevant. State-of-the-art information about new developments in the treatment of related features of the illness, such as disability, is provided. The wide ranging focus of this volume will appeal to clinicians and academic researchers working with patients impaired by severe mental illness.
Chapter
Although the precise mechanisms and pathways of schizophrenia remain something of a mystery, there is little dispute that cognitive deficits present as some of the clearest and most debilitating symptoms of the disease. This book describes the characteristics of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, functional implications, the course of impairments, the genetic and biological contributions and reviews management options, including neuropsychological, psychological and pharmacological techniques. Chapters are written by leading experts in the field, in an accessible and highly informative style, ensuring the content is clinically relevant. State-of-the-art information about new developments in the treatment of related features of the illness, such as disability, is provided. The wide ranging focus of this volume will appeal to clinicians and academic researchers working with patients impaired by severe mental illness.
Chapter
Although the precise mechanisms and pathways of schizophrenia remain something of a mystery, there is little dispute that cognitive deficits present as some of the clearest and most debilitating symptoms of the disease. This book describes the characteristics of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, functional implications, the course of impairments, the genetic and biological contributions and reviews management options, including neuropsychological, psychological and pharmacological techniques. Chapters are written by leading experts in the field, in an accessible and highly informative style, ensuring the content is clinically relevant. State-of-the-art information about new developments in the treatment of related features of the illness, such as disability, is provided. The wide ranging focus of this volume will appeal to clinicians and academic researchers working with patients impaired by severe mental illness.
Chapter
Full-text available
Although the precise mechanisms and pathways of schizophrenia remain something of a mystery, there is little dispute that cognitive deficits present as some of the clearest and most debilitating symptoms of the disease. This book describes the characteristics of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, functional implications, the course of impairments, the genetic and biological contributions and reviews management options, including neuropsychological, psychological and pharmacological techniques. Chapters are written by leading experts in the field, in an accessible and highly informative style, ensuring the content is clinically relevant. State-of-the-art information about new developments in the treatment of related features of the illness, such as disability, is provided. The wide ranging focus of this volume will appeal to clinicians and academic researchers working with patients impaired by severe mental illness.
Chapter
Although the precise mechanisms and pathways of schizophrenia remain something of a mystery, there is little dispute that cognitive deficits present as some of the clearest and most debilitating symptoms of the disease. This book describes the characteristics of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, functional implications, the course of impairments, the genetic and biological contributions and reviews management options, including neuropsychological, psychological and pharmacological techniques. Chapters are written by leading experts in the field, in an accessible and highly informative style, ensuring the content is clinically relevant. State-of-the-art information about new developments in the treatment of related features of the illness, such as disability, is provided. The wide ranging focus of this volume will appeal to clinicians and academic researchers working with patients impaired by severe mental illness.
Chapter
Although the precise mechanisms and pathways of schizophrenia remain something of a mystery, there is little dispute that cognitive deficits present as some of the clearest and most debilitating symptoms of the disease. This book describes the characteristics of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, functional implications, the course of impairments, the genetic and biological contributions and reviews management options, including neuropsychological, psychological and pharmacological techniques. Chapters are written by leading experts in the field, in an accessible and highly informative style, ensuring the content is clinically relevant. State-of-the-art information about new developments in the treatment of related features of the illness, such as disability, is provided. The wide ranging focus of this volume will appeal to clinicians and academic researchers working with patients impaired by severe mental illness.
Article
Background The hopelessness theory is one of the most studied cognitive vulnerability theories of depression. It proposes that risk for depression is conferred by attributing the causes of negative events to global, internal, stable causes and inferring future negative consequences and negative characteristics about oneself from these events. Nearly all research has operationalized cognitive style using individuals’ responses to hypothetical events at single timepoints. Far less research has explored attributions of specific events as they occur, none of which has involved clinical samples. Methods This study aimed to examine if measuring event-specific attributions clarifies the relationship between negative cognitive style and clinical symptoms. Adults (n = 51), who had attempted suicide at least once in the year prior, were recruited from the community via online forums related to suicide risk. Participants provided nightly ratings of hopelessness and attributions of the most stressful event that day for four weeks. Results The daily diary composite measure of cognitive style was more strongly associated with hopelessness and depressive symptoms than the trait measure. Daily attributions fully mediated the relationship between trait cognitive style and hopelessness. Limitations The measurement period could not capture the occurrence of a next depressive episode for all participants. Relatedly, we could not account for the precise nature of individual stressors. Conclusions At a population level, trait measures alone may be a useful risk factor. But, with the goal to move towards more personalized prediction and intervention, more dynamic, ecologically valid, and real time measures may help gain more traction.
Article
Background Previous research suggests a dose-response relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and adult depression. Both constructs are also known correlates of child maltreatment risk. Objectives This study examines the relationship between a cumulative count of ACEs and adult depressive symptoms in a sample of families at risk for child maltreatment. The study also aims to determine if a new childhood caregiving environment (CCE) scale predicts adult depressive symptoms as well as or better than the traditional ACE score in this high-risk population, and whether it holds potential as a service needs assessment tool for the child maltreatment prevention field. Participants and setting Baseline survey data from a randomized control trial testing a child maltreatment prevention program in Milwaukee, Wisconsin were used. The sample (n = 618) included caregivers reported to and investigated by child protective services (CPS) for allegations of abuse or neglect. Methods Ordinary least squares regression was used to look at the relationship between the number of ACEs, scores on the CCE scale, and adult depressive symptoms. Exploratory factor analysis was used to examine the CCE scale items in comparison to ACEs. Results A high ACE score was associated with more depressive symptomatology (B = 0.82, p < 0.001). Conversely, adults with higher scores on the CCE scale had fewer depressive symptoms (B = −0.30, p < 0.001). There was also preliminary evidence that the CCE scale may tap into similar underlying constructs as ACEs. Conclusions Given that the CCE measure favors strengths-oriented question items, it may be a promising alternative to the risk-oriented ACE score in assessing parental childhood adversities known to be associated with the maltreatment of one's own children, and as an approach for identifying service needs related to childhood trauma in a maltreatment prevention context.
Article
Background : This study aims to explore the mediational effects of emotional and behavioral problems on the association between childhood emotional abuse and depressive symptoms among college students. Methods : Data were drawn from 60 universities from 10 provinces in China (n=30,374). Information about childhood maltreatment, depressive symptoms, emotional and behavioral problems were gathered through the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF), the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), respectively. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression models and mediating models were used. Results : After controlling for demographic factors, childhood emotional abuse was the strongest risk factor for depressive symptoms (adjusted odds ratio (aOR)=2.54, 95%CI=2.27-2.85). The relationship between childhood emotional abuse and depressive symptoms was partially mediated by emotional and behavioral problems with 68.7% total indirect effect. Among the 5 identified subtypes of emotional and behavioral problems, the mediating effects of emotional problems (57.3%) and hyperactivity (28.6%) were higher than peer problems (7.8%) and prosocial behavior (3.6%). Conduct problems did not show a significant mediating effect (p>0.05). Limitations The cross-sectional design is limited to make inferences about causality. Conclusions : Childhood emotional abuse was strongly associated with depressive symptoms in college students. Of the five identified subtypes of emotional and behavioral problems, four subtypes mediated the relationship between childhood emotional abuse and depressive symptoms, including emotional problems, hyperactivity, peer problems and prosocial behavior.
Article
Adolescent girls are at heightened risk of depression, and because adolescent depression may initiate a negative developmental cascade, intervention early in adolescence has potential for altering a negative developmental trajectory. Identifying risk factors that impact response to intervention may inform decisions about the type of treatment to provide for adolescent girls with depression. Understanding moderators of outcomes in evidence-based treatment is critical to the delivery of timely and effective interventions. Matching patients effectively with optimal intervention will not only expedite the alleviation of patients’ distress, but will also reduce unnecessary time and resources spent on less advantageous interventions. The current investigation examines the efficacy of Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Depressed Adolescents (IPT-A) in a racially and ethnically diverse sample of 120 low-income adolescent girls age 13–15 with and without histories of child maltreatment. Adolescent and parent report of depressive symptoms were assessed at the beginning and end of treatment and a diagnosis of subsyndromal symptoms of depression or depression were required for purposes of inclusion. Results indicated that among adolescent girls who had experienced two or more subtypes of maltreatment, IPT-A was found to be more efficacious than Enhanced Community Standard (ECS) treatment. Importantly, when the subtype of maltreatment experienced was further probed, among girls with a history of sexual abuse, we found preliminary evidence that IPT-A was significantly more effective than ECS in reducing depressive symptoms, and the effect size was large. Thus, if a history of maltreatment is present, especially including sexual abuse, specifically addressing the interpersonal context associated with depressive symptoms may be necessary.
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Cognitive motivations (e.g., need for cognition and need to evaluate) and decision strategies (e.g., rational choice vs. heuristic-based) importantly shape political understanding, evaluations, and vote choice. Despite the importance of these cognitive factors, few studies have examined their origins. Adopting an exploratory framework with a primary focus on parental influence, we uniquely address this research gap by identifying potential pathways through which parents can affect this development. Using a convenience sample of college students who participated in a 10-week panel study with their parents, we reveal that, unlike many other political characteristics, there is little parent-child similarity in cognitive motivations and decision strategies. We, however, find some similarity in the information search behaviors parents and children exhibit during the mock election campaign. The findings highlight the need to further investigate not only additional parenting behaviors, but also the socializing role of the information environment itself.
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Background: Social cognition is often aberrant or impaired in psychotic disorders and related to functional outcomes. In particular, one core social cognitive bias – hostile attribution bias – is proposed to be implicated in paranoia, anxiety, mood disturbances and interpersonal conflict outcomes. However, questions remain about this domain’s specificity to psychosis and its relationship to general functional outcomes. Aims: The present paper offers a descriptive and critical review of the literature on hostile attribution bias in psychotic disorders, in order to examine (1) its impact on persecutory symptoms in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, (2) impact on other related psychopathology among those experiencing psychosis and (3) relationship to functioning. Methods: Twenty-eight studies included in this review after parallel literature searches of PsycINFO and PubMed. Results: Evidence from these studies highlighted that hostile attribution bias is elevated in schizophrenia, and that it is related to anxiety, depression and interpersonal conflict outcomes. Conclusion: While results suggest that hostile attributions are elevated in schizophrenia and associated with symptoms and functioning, there exist numerous persisting questions in the study of this area, including identifying which measures are most effective and determining how it presents: as a state or trait-like characteristic, via dual processes, and its situational variation.
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The authors tested and extended S. Nolen-Hoeksema’s (1991) response styles (RSs) theory of depression by assessing the role of RSs in the onset of depressive episodes (DEs), controlling for the effects of concurrent depression, examining the dispositional aspects of RS, clarifying the role of distraction in the course of a DE, and studying the predictive validity of the Response Styles Questionnaire. Nondepressed (ND) participants who reported that they ruminate in response to their depressive symptoms were more likely to experience a DE over 18 months than were participants who reported that they distract themselves from their symptoms. Both a ruminative RS as measured in an ND state and the use of rumination during the first DE predicted the severity of that episode. In contrast, neither trait nor state rumination predicted the duration of the first DE. Participants showed moderate stability of RSs over 1 year and responded in a consistent manner when depressed.
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In this review, the author evaluates the empirical support for the claims that various aspects of family dysfunction are risk factors for completed suicide or suicidal symptoms in childhood or adolescence. There is consistent evidence that a history of physical or sexual abuse is a risk factor and some evidence for other risk factors, including poor family or parent–child communication, loss of caregiver to separation or death, and psychopathology in first-degree relatives. However, the researchers of the vast majority of studies did not attend to whether the putative risk factors preceded the development of suicidal symptoms; thus, most of the claims regarding family risk factors are not justified by their research designs and findings.
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An inference from the cognitive theories of depression is that only a subset of depressed individuals should exhibit distinctively negative cognitive styles. Although this inference has been supported by previous research, attempts to characterize these depressives have yielded few identifying variables. This study of psychiatric inpatients and normal control subjects identified several characteristics of depressives with very negative cognitive styles by (a) examining traditional depression subtypes, (b) grouping depressives on the basis of clinical observations, and (c) asking whether sex, developmental events, and history and severity of depression predict cognitive styles. We found that borderline personality disorder, negative family dynamics during childhood, a history of sexual abuse, and severity of depression predict cognitive styles. We speculate that aversive developmental events may contribute to cognitive vulnerability to depression.
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Interpersonal aspects of depression have received considerable research attention in the past 2 decades. This work often has been guided by J. C. Coyne's (1976b) interactional model of depression or P. M. Lewinsohn's (1974) social skill deficit theory of depression. A review of this research indicates that depressed people reliably experience rejection from those in their social environment and that depression generally is associated with impairments in social behavior. However, this research does not explain exactly what depressed people do to elicit rejection, or exactly why others react negatively to them. Research derived from communication theories on responsiveness, politeness, and expectations for nonverbal involvement illuminates that interpersonal cycle in depression. The role of these impairments in the cause, symptoms, course, subtypes, and therapy of depression is discussed.
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Hypotheses about the effects of self-focused rumination on interpretations of events and interpersonal problem solving were tested in 3 studies with dysphoric and nondysphoric participants. Study 1 supported the hypothesis that dysphoric participants induced to ruminatively self-focus on their feelings and personal characteristics would endorse more negative, biased interpretations of hypothetical situations than dysphoric participants induced to distract themselves from their mood, or nondysphoric participants. Study 2 showed that dysphoric participants who ruminated were more pessimistic about positive events in their future than the other 3 groups. Study 3 showed that dysphoric ruminating participants generated less effective solutions to interpersonal problems than the other 3 groups. In Studies 1 and 3, dysphoric ruminating participants also offered the most pessimistic explanations for interpersonal problems and hypothetical negative events. In all 3 studies, dysphoric participants who distracted were as optimistic and effective in solving problems as nondysphoric participants.
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We tested the hopelessness and self-esteem theories of depression and an integration of the two by examining whether a stable, global attributional style (attributional diathesis) and low self-esteem interacted with the outcomes students received on a midterm examination to predict their subsequent depressive reactions over the course of 5 days. Students' immediate depressive reactions (on receipt of grades) were predicted solely by the examination outcome, whereas their enduring depressive reactions during the following 4 days were predicted by the Attributional Diathesis × Low Self-Esteem × Failure interaction. The results also indicated that the three-way interaction predicted enduring depressive reactions through the mediating role of hopelessness.
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We examined the relationship between ruminative and distracting styles of responding to depressed mood and the duration of mood. Seventy-nine subjects kept accounts of their moods and responses to their moods for 30 consecutive days. The majority of subjects (83%) showed consistent styles of responding to depressed mood. Regression analyses suggested that the more ruminative responses subjects engaged in, the longer their periods of depressed mood, even after taking into account the initial severity of the mood. In addition, women were more likely than men to have a ruminative response style and on some measures to have more severe and long-lasting periods of depression.
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I propose that the ways people respond to their own symptoms of depression influence the duration of these symptoms. People who engage in ruminative responses to depression, focusing on their symptoms and the possible causes and consequences of their symptoms, will show longer depressions than people who take action to distract themselves from their symptoms. Ruminative responses prolong depression because they allow the depressed mood to negatively bias thinking and interfere with instrumental behavior and problem-solving. Laboratory and field studies directly testing this theory have supported its predictions. I discuss how response styles can explain the greater likelihood of depression in women than men. Then I intergrate this response styles theory with studies of coping with discrete events. The response styles theory is compared to other theories of the duration of depression. Finally, I suggest what may help a depressed person to stop engaging in ruminative responses and how response styles for depression may develop.
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The purpose of this study was to identify characteristics of individuals before and after their first depressive episode. Subjects were 49 older persons assessed before and after their first depressive episode on depression-related psychosocial variables. The control group consisted of 351 never-depressed individuals. Consistent with previous findings, patients were more likely to be younger, female, and mildly depressed both before and after the episode. In addition, they were more likely to be employed. Following an episode of depression, the recovered patients described their social skills and health as poorer and their interpersonal dependency as greater than the controls. However, on an experiment-wise basis, the number of significant differences were no greater than expected by chance. The stress activation model was examined but did not appreciably enhance the results. Results suggest that most of the psychosocial variables associated with depression are state dependent.
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This article reviews the various literatures on the adjustment of children of depressed parents, difficulties in parenting and parent–child interaction in these families, and contextual factors that may play a role in child adjustment and parent depression. First, issues arising from the recurrent, episodic, heterogeneous nature of depression are discussed. Second, studies on the adjustment of children with a depressed parent are summarized. Early studies that used depressed parents as controls for schizophrenic parents found equivalent risk for child disturbance. Subsequent studies using better-defined samples of depressed parents found that these children were at risk for a full range of adjustment problems and at specific risk for clinical depression. Third, the parenting difficulties of depressed parents are described and explanatory models of child adjustment problems are outlined. Contextual factors, particularly marital distress, remain viable alternative explanations for both child and parenting problems. Fourth, important gaps in the literature are identified, and a consistent, if unintentional, “mother-bashing” quality in the existing literature is noted. Given the limitations in knowledge, large-scale, long-term, longitudinal studies would be premature at this time.
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The effects of different types of responses to a depressed mood on the duration and severity of the mood were examined. On the basis of Nolen-Hoeksema's (1987) response styles theory of depression, it was hypothesized that distracting, active responses would be more effective in alleviating a depressed mood than would ruminative, passive responses. A depressed mood was induced in 35 male and 34 female Ss, and subjects were randomly assigned to engage in 1 of 4 types of responses: an active task that distracted them from their mood; a passive, distracting task; an active task designed to lead to ruminations about their mood; or a passive, ruminative task. As predicted, the greatest remediation of depressed mood was found in Ss in the distracting–active response condition, followed in order by the distracting–passive, ruminative–active, and ruminative–passive response conditions. Degree of rumination had a greater impact on remediation of depressive affect than level of activity, with greater rumination leading to lesser remediation of depressive affect. In addition, the effects of the response tasks were limited to depressed mood. The implications of these results for interventions with depressed persons are discussed.
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A 9-point clinical rating scale was used to assess the severity of hopelessness in 141 patients hospitalized with suicidal ideation. The patients were followed from 5 to 10 years, and 10 (7.1%) eventually committed suicide. The mean hopelessness rating for the patients committing suicide was significantly higher than that for the patients not committing suicide. A cutoff score of 6 or above successfully predicted 9 (90.0%) of those committing suicide. The results supported previous findings in which self-reported hopelessness on the Beck Hopelessness Scale was reported to predict suicide in both psychiatric outpatients and inpatients.
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Explored schematic processing as a mechanism for predicting (a) when depressed Ss would be negative relative to nondepressed Ss and (b) when depressed and nondepressed Ss would show biased or unbiased (i.e., “realistic”) processing. Depressed and nondepressed Ss performed multiple trials of a task under conditions in which the two groups held either equivalent or different schemas regarding this task. Ss received either an unambiguous or objectively normed ambiguous feedback cue on each trial. In full support of schematic processing, depressed Ss showed negative encoding relative to nondepressed Ss only when their schemas were more negative, and both depressed and nondepressed Ss showed positively biased, negatively biased, and unbiased encoding depending on the relative feedback cue-to-schema match. Depressed and nondepressed Ss' response latencies to unambiguous feedback also supported the occurrence of schematic processing. We discuss the methodological, treatment, and “realism” implications of these findings and suggest a more precise formulation of Beck's schema theory of depression.
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Analyzed explanatory style across the life span. 30 Ss whose average age was 72 responded to questions about their current life and provided diaries or letters written in their youth, an average of 52 years earlier. A blind content analysis of explanatory style derived from these 2 sources revealed that explanatory style for negative events was stable throughout adult life (r = .54, p < .002). In contrast, there appeared to be no stability of explanatory style for positive events between the same 2 time periods. These results suggest that explanatory style for negative events may persist across the life span and may constitute an enduring risk factor for depression, low achievement, and physical illness.
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To provide a more powerful test of the diathesis-stress component of the reformulated theory of depression (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978), we extended and refined the Metalsky, Abramson, Seligman, Semmel, and Peterson (1982) study and examined whether the content of college students' attributional styles (hypothesized attributional diathesis) as measured at Time 1 interacted with the outcomes students received on a class midterm exam to predict their subsequent depressive mood responses. In addition, to test the mediation component of the theory, we examined whether the relation between the hypothesized attributional diathesis and failure students' subsequent depressive mood responses to their low midterm grades was mediated by the particular causal attributions these students made for their low grades. The results partially corroborated the current statement (Abramson, Alloy, & Metalsky, 1986; Abramson, Metalsky, & Alloy, 1986a, 1986b) of the diathesis-stress component of the theory. Whereas students' immediate depressive mood reactions were predicted solely by the outcomes they received on the class midterm exam, their enduring depressive mood reactions were predicted solely by the hypothesized Attributional Diathesis × Outcome on Midterm Exam interaction. The direction and form of the interaction were in line with prediction. The results fully corroborated predictions derived from the mediation component of the theory as they applied to students' enduring mood responses.
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In this longitudinal study, the depressive symptoms, life events, and explanatory styles of 168 school children were measured five times during the course of 1 year. Measures of school achievement were obtained once during the year. Depressive symptoms and explanatory styles were found to be quite stable over the year. As predicted by the reformulated learned helplessness theory, explanatory style both correlated with concurrent levels of depression and school achievement and predicted later changes in depression during the year. Depression also predicted later explanatory styles. The implications of these results for intervention with children with depressive symptoms or school achievement problems are discussed.
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Hopelessness has been identified as the major variable linking depression to suicidal intent. M. M. Linehan and S. L. Nielsen found that the Hopelessness Scale was strongly contaminated with social desirability. Results from 54 attempted-suicide patients (mean age 26.9 yrs) show that hopelessness was a key variable in predicting suicidal behavior and ideation. Social desirability had no influence on hopelessness, and it is concluded that the Hopelessness Scale is appropriate for use in suicide assessment. (16 ref)
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Attempted to study predisposition to bipolar manic-depressive disorder by developing a behavioral paradigm to identify persons at risk for various forms of the disorder. A theoretical discussion is given for defining bipolar disorder within the broader framework of common human diseases, and this framework is used to derive dimensions of bipolar disorder that define its distinctness from the normal phenotype. These dimensions (behavioral and nonbehavioral features of disorder) are operationalized in the form of a self-report inventory that estimates the probability that an individual is at risk. Five external validation studies using nontest criteria are presented, including interview, roommate, family history, clinical characteristics, and longitudinal mood rating investigations. Results indicate that the inventory serves as a promising 1st-stage case identification procedure for bipolar disorder when employed in a research context. (2½ p ref)
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143 undergraduates completed an attributional style scale designed by the authors, the short form of the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List. Results show that depressed Ss, compared to nondepressed Ss, attributed bad outcomes to internal, stable, and global causes, as measured by the attributional style scale. This attributional style was predicted by the reformulated helplessness model of depression. In addition, relative to nondepressed Ss, depressed Ss attributed good outcomes to external, unstable causes. (8 ref)
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A 5-year longitudinal study investigated the interrelationships among children's experiences of depressive symptoms, negative life events, explanatory style, and helplessness behaviors in social and achievement situations. The results revealed that early in childhood, negative events, but not explanatory style, predicted depressive symptoms; later in childhood, a pessimistic explanatory style emerged as a significant predictor of depressive symptoms, alone and in conjunction with negative events. When children suffered periods of depression, their explanatory styles not only deteriorated but remained pessimistic even after their depression subsided, presumably putting them at risk for future episodes of depression. Some children seem repeatedly prone to depressive symptoms over periods of at least 2 years. Depressed children consistently showed helpless behaviors in social and achievement settings.
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Working largely independently, numerous investigators have explored the role of self-focused attention in various clinical disorders. This article reviews research examining increased self-focused attention in these disorders. Using information processing constructs, a model of self-focused attention is proposed, and it is suggested that certain deviations in this process constitute a psychopathological kind of attention. A meta-construct model of descriptive psychopathology is then outlined to examine how certain aspects of attention can be considered specific to certain disorders and others common to different disorders
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Evaluated the Hopelessness Depression Symptom Questionnaire (HDSQ; Metalsky & Joiner, 1991). The HDSQ is a 32-item self-report measure of eight symptoms posited by L. Abramson, G. Metalsky, and L. Alloy (1989) to comprise a specific subtype of depression—hopelessness depression. Factor analytic results from 435 subjects suggested that: (a) Each of the eight subscales of the HDSQ reflects a distinct symptom of hopelessness depression; and (b) The eight subscales, taken together, reflect one higher-order construct—Hopelessness Depression Symptoms. Diathesis-stress results from a subset of 174 subjects indicated that the attributional diathesis × stress interaction predicted onset of hopelessness depression symptoms on the HDSQ but not nonhopelessness depression symptoms. The HDSQ should allow for enhanced precision in tests of the hopelessness theory of depression.
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Whereas prior work has demonstrated that depressed persons exhibit preferential processing of negative self-referent information, the present study investigated whether persons who are cognitively vulnerable to depression show similar negative self-referent processing. Nondepressed participants in the Temple-Wisconsin Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression Project who were at hypothesised high or low cognitive risk for depression based on their dysfunctional attitudes and inferential styles were administered a Self-referent Information Processing Task Battery that yielded five information-processing measures: judgements of self-descriptiveness ("Me/Not Me") of trait words; response times for these judgements; past behavioural examples for self-descriptive words; future behavioural predictions; and correct recall of the trait words. Each dependent measure yielded scores for four types of stimuli in a Valence X Content design: positive and negative stimuli that were either relevant or irrelevant to a depressive self-concept. Consistent with prediction, relative to low cognitive risk participants, high cognitive risk participants exhibited greater processing of negative self-referent information and less processing of positive self-referent information on all measures. Moreover, there was some evidence that risk group differences in self-referent processing biases were greater for depression-relevant than for depression-irrelevant content domains. The findings are discussed with respect to theoretical and methodological implications for the cognitive theories of depression.
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We examined the interaction of cognitive styles and life events in predicting the depressive and hypomanic mood swings of 43 undergraduates meeting criteria for a subsyndromal mood disorder (i.e., cyclothymia, dysthymia, or hypomania) or no lifetime diagnosis. Participants completed symptom, cognitive style, and life events measures on three separate occasions as the different mood states characteristic of their subsyndromal disorder naturally occurred. Normal controls were assessed in three separate normal mood states at times yoked to participants in the three disorder groups. All groups' attributional styles and dysfunctional attitudes remained stable across large changes in mood and symptomatology and cyclothymics' cognitive styles were as negative as those of dysthymics. Moreover, hierarchical regression analyses indicated that participants' attributional styles, as measured in a normal mood state (Time 1), in interaction with intervening life events predicted prospectively their depressive symptom changes at Times 2 and 3 and their hypomanic symptom changes at Time 2. These findings provide support for the cognitive vulnerability-stress hypothesis of the Hopelessness theory of depression (Abramson, Metalsky, & Alloy, 1989) and suggest that the logic of the Hopelessness theory's vulnerability-stress hypothesis extends to the prediction of manic/hypomanic symptoms.
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Cognitive therapy (CT) for depression has generated considerable interest in recent years. Comparisons with tricyclic pharmacotherapy in nonbipolar outpatients have suggested that (a) CT may be roughly comparable in the treatment of the acute episode; (b) combined CT-pharmacotherapy does not appear to be clearly superior to either modality (although indications of potential enhancement do exist to justify additional studies with larger samples), and (c) treatment with CT during the acute episode (either alone or with medications) may reduce the risk of subsequent relapse following termination. Nonetheless, for a variety of reasons (e.g., limitations in study design and execution, inadequate design power, and possible differential retention), these conclusions can be considered only suggestive at this time. More than a decade after the publication of the first controlled study involving CT, the approach remains a promising, but not adequately tested, alternative to pharmacotherapy in the treatment of depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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The reformulation of helplessness theory proposes that an insidious attributional style accompanies and predisposes depressive symptoms. The present study investigated predictions of the reformulation among 96 8–13 yr olds who completed the Children's Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ) and Children's Depression Inventory twice, 6 mo apart. 83 of their parents completed the adult ASQ and the Beck Depression Inventory at their children's 2nd testing. Children who attributed bad events to internal, stable, and global causes were more likely to report depressive symptoms than were children who attributed these events to external, unstable, and specific causes. This depressive attributional style predicted depressive symptoms 6 mo later, suggesting that it may be a risk factor for depression. Children's attributional style for bad events and their depressive symptoms converged with those of their mothers but not their fathers. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Chapter
The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (SADS) was developed in the mid-1970s in an effort to provide research investigators with a clinical procedure which would reduce information variance in both diagnostic and descriptive evaluations of subjects [2]. It was designed to accomplish these aims by providing for (1) a detailed description of the features of the current episode of illness when they were at their most severe; (2) a similar description of the major features during the week prior to the evaluation; (3) a series of questions and criteria which enable one to make diagnoses using the Research Diagnostic Criteria [7]; and (4) a detailed description of past psychopathology and functioning relevant to the evaluation of prognosis and overall severity of disturbance.
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In the last several years, there has been a growing interest in the study and understanding of personality disorders. Patients with personality disorders have been part of the clinician’s case load since the beginning of the recorded history of psychotherapy; the general psycho­therapeutic literature on the treatment of personality disorders, however, has emerged more recently and is growing quickly. The main theoretical orientation in the present literature is psychoanalytic (Abend, Porder, & Willick, 1983; Chatham, 1985; Goldstein, 1985; Gunder­son, 1984; Horowitz, 1977; Kernberg, 1975, 1984; Lion, 1981; Masterson, 1978, 1980, 1985; Reid, 1981; Saul & Warner, 1982). Millon (1981) is one of the few volumes in the area of personality disorders that offers a behavioral focus, and the volume by Beck, Freeman and associates (1989) will be the first to offer a specific cognitive-behavioral focus. This is of interest, in that leading cognitive therapists have been, and remain, interested in “personality disorder” and “personality change” (Hartman & Blankenstein, 1986). When Beck (1963a,b) and Ellis (1957a, 1958) first introduced cognitive approaches, they drew upon the ideas of “ego analysts,” derived from Adler’s critiques of early Freudian psychoanalysis. Though their therapeutic innovations were seen as radical, their earliest cognitive therapies were, in many ways, “insight therapies” in that the therapy was assumed to change a patient’s overt “personality,” whether or not the therapy changed some hypothesized underlying personality. Although Beck and Ellis were among the first to use a wide array of behavioral treatment techniques, including structured in vivo homework, they have consistently emphasized the therapeutic impact of these techniques on cognitive schemata and have argued in favor of the integration of behavioral techniques into therapy within a broad framework that has some roots in prior analytic practice (Beck, 1976; Ellis & Bernard, 1985); they and their associates have emphasized the impact of treatment for particular types, or styles, of cognitive errors on dysfunctional self-concepts, as well as on presenting focal problems (Beck & Freeman, 1989; Ellis, 1985; Freeman, 1987).
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The hopelessness model of depression posits that latent attributional diatheses combine with stressors to produce a specific subtype of depression characterized by a specific set of symptoms. Associations between attributional diathesis, stress, and symptoms were examined to test the prediction that hopelessness depressions are characterized by a specific symptom profile. Fifty-seven depressed outpatients were categorized into sub groups on the basis of whether or not they met the criteria of L. Y. Abramson, L. B. Alloy, and G. I. Metalsky's (1988) hopelessness depression, defined as a match in content domain between attributional diathesis and negative stressor. Support for hopelessness depression was mixed. The hopelessness subtype differed from other major depressions with respect to symptom profile. However, the differences in symptomatology were not wholly consistent with the predictions of the hopelessness model.
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This research attempted to clarifythe mechanismthrough which dysfunctional parenting leads todepression in the offspring. Consistent with theorizingbyBeck (1967), we tested a three-stage causal pathway wherein dysfunctional parenting should giverise to dysfunctional attitudes in the offspring which,in turn, should give rise to depression-proneness in theoffspring. Another objective of this study was to further delineate the types of parentingbehaviors that give rise to dysfunctional attitudes inthe offspring. To this end, a large sample of collegestudents (N = 246) completed measures assessing four parenting dimensions (i.e., low care,overprotection, perfectionistic expectations, andcriticalness) as well as measures assessingdysfunctional attitudes, general depression-proneness,and current depression. Support for the depressogenic effects of allfour parenting dimensions was obtained in that eachparenting dimension correlated significantly withdysfunctional attitudes and depression tendencies in the offspring. Moreover, path analyses supportedBeck's three-stage causal model with perfectionistic andcritical parenting playing a particularly prominentrole. Last, after controlling for current depression, the partial correlations among the variables inthe three-stage model remained significant, suggestingthat the present findings were not simply the result ofa mood congruency effect. These findings illuminate additional parenting behaviors that can havedepressogenic effects and indicate that these parentingbehaviors exert their effects, at least in part, by wayof instilling dysfunctional attitudes in the offspring.
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Depression and anxiety are psychopathological states that have been closely related in clinical. empirical. and theoretical investigations. Cognitive approaches to the emotional disorders suggest that depressed and anxious individuals can be differentiated on the basis of the specific content of their self-referent judgements and information processing. The present investigation provided a stringent test of the content-specificity hypothesis by iomparing depressed. anxious. and nondepressed-nonanxious subjects' processing of positive and negative depression-relevant, anxiety-relevant. and control content adjectives for themselves and a well-known other (their best friends). Based on judgement and reaction time measures. the content-specificity hypothesis was supported. Depressed subjects were unique in exhibiting balanced endorsements and processing of positive and negative traits. suggesting that they possessed self-schematil with mixed positive and negative content. In contrast. anxious subjects were unique in ascribing more negative than positive anxiety-relevant traits to themselves and in processing negative anxiety-relevant traits fitstcr than depression-relevant traits. In addition. depressed and anxious subjects' self-referent processing was specific to the self: both groups' judgements were more negative for themselves than for their best friends. The findings are discussed with regard to their implications for cognitive differences between depression and anxiety and the specificity of the “depressive evenhandedness” effect.
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The Temple-Wisconsin Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression (CVD) project is a two-site, prospective longitudinal study designed to test the etiological hypotheses of two cognitive theories of depression: Hopelessness theory (Abramson, Metalsky, & Alloy, 1989; Alloy, Kelly, Mineka, & Clements, 1990) and Beck's theory (Beck, 1967, 1987). In this article, we provide an overview of the CVD project, including the conceptual background, goals, rationale, and design of the project, as well as a description of the project sample and assessment methods. Separate articles will present empirical findings from the project.
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In this book Ian Gotlib and Constance Hammen provide the most up-to-date and comprehensive review of the psychological literature on depression currently available in a single volume. They bring together the literature examining cognitive functioning of depressed persons, and also review the social context of depression, including early experience, social support, marital functioning, and the adjustment of children of depressed parents. The authors also present the most recent information on cognitive and interpersonal treatments for depression. They draw on the research outlined in the book to present a conceptualization of depression that integrates cognitive and interpersonal factors into a comprehensive framework. This book will be an invaluable resource for practitioners, researchers and students in a wide range of professions involved in the care of depressed people—clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, social workers and many others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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examine the association between interpersonal dysfunction and depression through an exploration of a marital/family discord model of depression / briefly present the results of research that have formed the empirical foundation for the development of marital/family therapies for depression by documenting the strength of the association between depression and interpersonal dysfunction / discuss studies that have examined the social behaviors of depressed persons with strangers, with their spouses, and with their children, further establishing the robust link between depression and interpersonal problems / examine the impact of depression on others in the depressed person's social environment outline in some detail a marital/family discord model of depression that not only builds on the foundation established by studies of the marriages of depressed persons, but also goes beyond the marital subsystem and explicates the potential of other subsystems in the family to contribute to the exacerbation or maintenance of ongoing depressive symptomatology / discuss implications of this model for intervention with depressed persons / present the results of investigations that have tested different aspects of the model (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
Uses a vulnerability–stress framework to guide discussion of methods in psychopathology research. The authors first discuss the role of theory in determining the choice of appropriate designs for research studies, including the need to be cognizant of the hypothesized causal relations among vulnerabilities, stressors, mediators, moderators, and disorder outcomes in the psychopathology models to be tested. Next, the authors describe an "ideal" design for testing vulnerability–stress models, as well as the practical and ethical problems associated with such an ideal design. They then review actual research designs used in psychopathology research, including experimental and quasi-experimental designs and correlational designs that are either cross-sectional, retrospective, longitudinal, prospective, or involve high-risk strategies. The authors then evaluate the adequacy of these various designs for testing vulnerability–stress models and the kinds of inferences that may legitimately be drawn from them. The chapter ends with a discussion of difficult conceptual and methodological issues that must be addressed in the design of studies to evaluate vulnerability–stress models of psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
review the conceptual underpinnings and empirical status of the cognitive and cognitive-behavioral interventions / despite their common core, these approaches differ with respect to the processes presumed to mediate and the procedures used to produce change / try to highlight this variability and to examine its relation to clinical efficacy depression and the prevention of relapse / panic and the anxiety disorders / eating disorders and obesity / child and adolescent disorders / substance abuse and the prevention of relapse / treatment of personality disorders / behavioral medicine / marital distress (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
Examined relations between depression (DEP), perceptions of current relationships with both parents, and cognitive vulnerability (CV) in 57 university students. DEP was measured by the Beck Depression Inventory; perceptions of relationships with parents by the Child Report of Parental Behavior Inventory; and CV by 3 scales. DEP was associated with student's perceptions that parenting by both parents was characterized by affectionless control. One parent, usually the student's role model, provided information about his/her own DEP and CV. Only one operationalization of students was associated with their perceptions of their relationships with their parents. Findings suggest that the link between parenting and DEP in offspring lies in CV construed as personality traits. Students' and parents' DEP were significantly positively correlated. Offspring's levels of CV were significantly higher than those of their parents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
Argues that the variety of ways in which cognitive processes in depression have been conceptualized warrant the presentation of 6 models. The cross-sectional model states that the systematic negativity that pervades the cognitive processes is a necessary (but not sufficient) component of depression. The structural model stipulates that certain negatively biased schemas become hypervalent in depression and produce a systematic bias in the abstraction and interpretation of data. The stressor-vulnerability model stipulates that specific patterns of schemas make a person sensitive to specific stressors. The reciprocal-interaction model focuses on interaction with key figures. The psychobiological model integrates cognitive processes and biological processes as different sides of the same coin. The evolutionary model views depression as an atavistic mechanism or program that may have been adaptational in a prehistoric environment but is not adaptive in our current milieu. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
Presents an animal model of how learned helplessness may manifest itself as depression and anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)