Depression-prone personality in women

Relationship of Gender, Self-Esteem, Social Class, and Racial Identity to Depression in Blacks

Previous research has indicated that depression, the most common mental illness, can be related to suchfactors as gender, self-esteem, social class, and racial identity. Subjects in this study were 146 Black university students at North Carolina Central University and 83 Black males andfemales from the general population. The subjects were administered the Beck Depression Inventory, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Hollingshead Two-Factor Index of Social Position, and the Racial Identity Attitude Scale. Data analysis was achieved through stepwise multiple regression and independent t-test techniques. Results showed that higher levels of depression were associated with lower levels of self-esteem. Preencounter and encounter attitudes were positively related to levels of depression, and internalization attitudes were negatively associated with levels of depression. No significant gender differences were found in levels of self-esteem and depression, and no significant social class differences were found in levels of depression.

The role of sense of belonging and social support on stress and depression in individuals with depression

This longitudinal study examined the role of sense of belonging, social support, and spousal support on the relationship between perceived stress and symptoms of depression in 90 men and women who had a history of depression (n = 51) and who did not have (n = 39) a history of depression. Data were obtained at 3, 6, and 9 months after initial entry into the study. A series of regression analysis procedures revealed a mediation effect, but not a moderation effect, of sense of belonging and perceived social support on the relationship between perceived stress and depression in only the depressed group. Spousal support had neither a direct effect nor an interaction effect on the perceived stress-depression relationship in the depressed group. For the comparison group, perceived stress did not correlate significantly with the symptoms of depression. Repeated measures analysis of variance showed that increased perceived stress and lower sense of belonging had significant direct effects on the severity of depression and the effects were consistent over the period of 9 months. Social support and spousal support had only indirect effects that fluctuated over time. The results emphasize that interventions geared toward stress reappraisal and promotion of sense of belonging should yield direct and stable effects of decreasing depression.

Social cognitive complexity and depression: cognitive complexity moderates the correlation between depression self-ratings and global self-evaluation

The authors studied the psychometric characteristics of a standardized data-collection method for assessing the complexity of an individual's cognitions about self and other people (social cognitive complexity). A total of 437 college undergraduates were assessed using this method and concurrently assessed for depression, self-deception, impression management, self-esteem, and positive/negative affectivity. It was found that a measure of overall social cognitive complexity was internally consistent and demonstrated concurrent and discriminant validity. In particular, a composite measure of the complexity of both positive and negative cognitions of self and other was associated with greater self-reported depression, after controlling for the other variables studied (, impression management). It was also found that social cognitive complexity moderated the degree of global self-evaluation in self-reported depression, such that global self-evaluation accounted for a considerably higher amount of the variance of depression in low-complex individuals than it did in high-complex individuals.

Self-complexity and the persistence of depression

Self-complexity, a measure of the structure of cognition involving the self, was used to predict the persistence of depression in patients diagnosed with major depression. Self-descriptions offered by depressed patients were analyzed using a clustering algorithm to model cognitive structure. Indices of positive and negative self-complexity, derived from the resulting models, were used to predict depressive symptomatology 9 months after the onset of a major depression. Negative self-complexity uniquely predicted subsequent levels of depression even after the effects of initial levels of depression, self-evaluation, and dysfunctional attitudes were statistically removed. Highly complex negative self-representation appears to be associated with poor recovery from a major depressive episode. Future studies examining the relationship between cognition and psychopathology should investigate, in addition to its content, the formal and structural properties of cognition.

Specificity and Persistence of Cognitive-Dynamic Characteristics in Elderly Depression

Given the lack of research in clinically depressed elders, and drawing on an integrative perspective, this study examined predictions of three prominent psychological models of depression (cognitive, learned helplessness, and psychodynamic theory) in a sample of elderly depressed patients. The hypothesized specificity to depression and stability of representative psychological characteristics were evaluated by comparing levels of 25 clinically depressed elders, 20 nondepressed psychiatric controls and 28 nondepressed medical controls, at hospitalization (Tl), discharge (T2) and five months later (T3). Also, the relative contribution of theory-based variables to depression severity at discharge and at follow-up was explored. While elderly depressed patients showed, overall, significantly higher levels of maladaptive cognitions, biased attributions, and selected depressogenic personality traits than medical controls, these variables did not discriminate among depressives and psychiatric controls, with the exception of negative automatic thinking, and pessimistic attributions in females. Positive attributional style and hedonism did not discriminate among subject groups. Support was found for the stability, in the depressed group, of purportedly traitlike characteristics through hospitalization to follow-up. Multiple regression analyses indicated that initial symptomatology level was the strongest predictor of both discharge and follow-up depression severity, whereas selected variables from each theoretical model contributed marginally, depending on the time of assessment.

Health center 2000: the mission development challenge

College and university health centers are facing a dynamic era of change. In fact, change is the constant that permeates the organization. The one essential ingredient to dealing most effectively with change is to have a clearly defined mission. The author outlines a seven-step process that can be used by college and university health center personnel to create, reaffirm, and/or revise their mission statements, which serve as a beacon for decision making, organizational culture, and responsible action.

Self-concept and self-consciousness in adults with Tourette syndrome

The hypothesis that adults with Tourette Syndrome (TS) have a lower level of self-concept and a higher level of public self-consciousness and social anxiety than the general population was examined. Ninety-eight suitable adults responded to a letter distributed to the members of the Tourette Syndrome Foundation of Canada. The findings indicated that the group with TS and high obsessive-compulsive symptoms, but not TS alone, had significantly lower self-concepts than the general population. Both males and females with TS and high obsessive-compulsive symptoms scored higher on social anxiety than the general population, but no differences in public self-consciousness were found. The results of this study argue that people with TS alone do not have impaired self-concepts or social anxiety, but both of these disorders tend to be present among those who suffer from both TS and significant obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

Self-esteem in recovered bipolar and unipolar out-patients

The hypothesis of a low self-esteem in depressive patients was tested using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale in 24 recovered unipolar and 27 recovered bipolar patients, compared with a normal control group of 26 subjects matched for age and sex. The hypothesis was confirmed only for unipolars; bipolar patients presented a self-esteem score not significantly different from normal scores. Self-esteem was not related to clinical characteristics of the affective disorder, suggesting that low self-esteem may be a basic component of a depression-prone personality. The investigation of the relationship between self-esteem and social adjustment confirmed the presence of social conformism in bipolar patients and rigidly set low self-esteem in unipolar patients. These results should stimulate the evaluation of different psychotherapeutic treatments in the long-term psychosocial management of affectively ill patients.

Major depression and personality disorder

The authors examined an interview and paper-and-pencil assessment of the DSM-III personality disorders (PDs) in depressed inpatients, and depressed relatives of psychiatric patients and never-ill controls who had a lifetime history of major depression. The rates of PDs according to the Structured Interview for DSM-III Personality Disorders (SIDP) were similar in the two groups, except for borderline PD which was more frequent in the inpatients. Of the individuals with a PD, the patients were more likely than the relatives to have two or more PDs, and the borderline and histrionic patients were more prototypic of these disorders than were the borderline and histrionic relatives. In contrast to the SIDP results, the rates of PDs according to the Personality Disorders Questionnaire (PDQ) were higher in the patient sample. These results thus extend the previously described high rates of PDs in depressed patients to a sample of individuals with a lifetime history of treated or untreated depression, and they suggest that interview assessments of personality may be less sensitive to the state effects of depression than are questionnaires.

Self-esteem--a psychiatric view

The literature relating to the acquisition, maintenance, and clinical significance of self-esteem reveals theoretical differences between earlier investigators. The nature of self-esteem remains controversial, and attention is drawn to some of the problems of construct validation and measurement. Despite the difficulties, self-esteem is a concept worthy of further pursuit. This will require a measuring instrument that captures the concept more effectively than those currently available.

Irrational beliefs in relation to self-esteem and depression

The joint relationship of depression and self-esteem to Ellis' "irrational beliefs" as measured by the Irrational Beliefs Test (Jones, 1968) was investigated in an Australian sample (N = 268) of students and nonstudents. Analysis that used partial correlation and canonical correlation showed six irrational beliefs to be jointly related to low self-esteem and depression: Demand for Approval, High Self-expectations, Frustration Reactivity, Anxious Overconcern, Problem Avoidance, and Helplessness. The results confirm the findings of previous studies and are consistent with the concept of depressive self-schemas.

A pilot comparison of purging and non-purging bulimics

This study compared (1) purging bulimics (those who terminate binging with self-induced vomiting and/or excessive use of laxatives), N = 26; (2) non-purging bulimics, N = 24; and (3) control subjects (in whom no eating problems were apparent), N = 24. These groups were examined empirically on several personality and demographic variables. Additionally, procedures were taken to control for the effects that being overweight may have had on the personality characteristics, which surprisingly has not been undertaken in previous research on bulimia. The comparison of the bulimics (purging and non-purging bulimics grouped together) with the controls empirically confirmed former clinical observations that have linked bulimics with low self-esteem, high anxiety, external locus of control, and a high incidence of maternal and family obesity. With regard to the comparison between the purging and non-purging bulimics, no significant differences between them appeared on any of the dimensions examined here.

Cognitive functioning in depression: a review of theory and research

This paper reviews recent research into cognitive functioning in depression, with particular reference to the theories of Lewinsohn, Beck, Seligman and Klein. The major cognitive changes in depression are a decrease in the ability to maintain concentration and effort, and an increase in the relative salience of aversive events and memories, with a corresponding decrease in the salience of pleasant events. There is as yet little evidence to support the view that depressions arise out of pre-existing depressive attitudes. Attention is drawn to the heterogeneity of depressive disorders, and the significance of the endogenous/non-endogenous distinction is discussed.

Depression-proneness, low self-esteem, unhappy outlook, and narcissistic vulnerability

A personality inventory of 40 self-descriptive items that had previously discriminated between remitted, formerly depressed women and women with no psychiatric history was administered to 32 male and 32 female university students, along with a recently developed measure of depression-proneness. Measures of current severity of depression (the Beck Depression Inventory) and current level of depressed affect (the DACL) were also included. Factor analyses showed that the items of the personality inventory defined three major factors, labeled low self-esteem, unhappy outlook, and narcissistic vulnerability. Partial correlations, controlling for current level of depression and depressed affect, indicated statistically significant relationships between measures of depression-proneness and measures of low self-esteem and unhappy outlook—but not narcissistic vulnerability. The utility of the depression-proneness measure in investigating vulnerability to depression was noted.