The contributions of self-defeating philosophies, perceived helplessness, and repression to anxiety among psychiatric patients

Four of the most influential psychological explanations for the development of anxiety attribute it to (1) repressed awareness of undesirable emotions; (2) the emergence of unacceptable feelings from the unconscious; (3) adherence to irrational, self-defeating philosophies; and (4) perceived helplessness/lack of control over one's affairs. To test these theories, the authors administered the Trait Anxiety, Denial, Irrational Beliefs, and Locus of Control scales to 190 psychiatric inpatients. Appropriate zero-order, attenuation-corrected, multiple, and partial correlations were run. Denial was correlated negatively with Trait Anxiety; this is consistent with the view that awareness of unpleasant emotions generates anxiety, but does not support the claim that it is the result of repression. The correlations of Trait Anxiety with the Irrational Beliefs scale were substantial. However, its relationships with Locus of Control were limited and nonsignificant after the effects of the Denial and Irrational Beliefs scales were removed statistically. The findings lend support to the positions that anxiety results from self-defeating philosophies and/or the emergence of unpleasant thoughts about oneself, but give only modest support to the "perceived helplessness" hypothesis and seem to contradict the "excessive repression" explanation.

Assessment of adolescents' learned helplessness in achievement situations

Three studies are reported that describe the development, reliability, and initial validation of the Mastery Orientation Inventory (MOI; Reynolds & Miller, in press) as a measure of generalized learned helplessness in adolescents. In Study 1, an initial version of 50 items was administered to a sample of 112 adolescents. A revised 40-item scale with an internal consistency reliability of .94 was then constructed, which correlated significantly with measures of locus of control and depression. Study 2 involved the administration of the 40-item MOI to 645 adolescents. In this study, the reliability of the MOI was .92, and MOI scores were significantly correlated with subjects' depression scores and with self-reported grade point average. Factor analysis of the MOI items produced a strong first factor with high loadings for every item. In Study 3, the 112 subjects who participated in Study 1 were, 3 months later, readministered the MOI, locus of control, and depression measures. As an external criterion variable, 13 teachers provided global ratings of learned helpless/mastery-oriented behaviors for 99 of these subjects. The MOI demonstrated high internal consistency (r alpha = .95) and adequate test-retest (rtt = .77) reliability. Validity was supported by significant correlations between the MOI and the three criterion variables (/rs/ = .49-.58). The results of these investigations provide initial support for the reliability and validity of the MOI as a measure of learned helplessness.

New insights into the nature and heterogeneity of mood disorders

Emerging research findings in mood disorders continue to provide support for multifactorial etiology. The present review considers the role of familial and developmental factors, gender, life circumstances, and biological precipitants in pathogenesis and discusses how they might, hypothetically, interact with other psychological and biological traits in giving rise to clinical heterogeneity. Special consideration is given to the pathoplastic influence of characterologic and temperamental traits, in view of their current clinical visibility.

Differential sensitivity to dexamethasone suppression in an animal model of the DST

The present study reports the feedback suppression of basal and stimulated corticosterone secretion in rats by low doses of dexamethasone (DEX). DEX suppression of basal secretion 6 hr after administration was observed with doses as low as 0.005 mg/kg. The lowest dose capable of suppressing basal corticosterone levels for 24 hr with a return to normal values by 36 hr was established to be 0.025 mg/kg. The ability of DEX to decrease corticosterone responses to physostigmine, morphine, immobilization, and ether stress was determined. Although the magnitude of the rise in corticosterone did not differ significantly among these evocative stimuli, the degree to which DEX attenuated these responses varied. The response to morphine was completely prevented by 0.025 mg/kg and the rises following ether or immobilization were decreased significantly. In contrast, the response to physostigmine was not affected by DEX. With a higher dose of DEX (0.25 mg/kg), responses to morphine, ether, and immobilization were completely eliminated, but the response to physostigmine was only attenuated partway. The time course of the suppression in basal levels, the attenuation of several stimuli for corticosterone secretion, and the "escape" of physostigmine-induced corticosterone secretion resemble the clinical Dexamethasone Suppression Test of endogenous depression and suggest that this test might be useful in the study of animal models of depression.

A parametric study of learned helplessness in humans

In two experiments designed to assess the effect of varying amounts of exposure to noncontingency training, it was discovered that performance decrements could be produced after relatively brief training and again after extended training. Between these conditions was a period of recovery during which no performance deficits were evident. There was also a tendency for individual differences in motivation to moderate deficits following brief but not extended training. A four-stage model is proposed to account for these results. In response to uncontrollable outcomes, individuals are said to pass through a phase of no effect, followed by temporary helplessness, recovery, and final helplessness. The model also proposes that motivational differences and perceptions of noncontingency exert independent and opposing influences on learned helplessness deficits.

Effects of dihydropyridine drugs on reversal by imipramine of helpless behavior in rats

The present study was undertaken in order to determine the effects of the dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker, nimodipine and the dihydropyridine calcium channel activator BAY k 8644, in the learned helplessness test in the rat. Nimodipine dose dependently (0.5-2 mg/kg per day) reversed the behavioral deficit induced by inescapable shocks. The reversal of helpless behavior by imipramine (32 mg/kg per day) was antagonized by BAY k 8644 (0.5 and 1 mg/kg per day), and the effects of imipramine 8 and 16 mg/kg per day) were potentiated by a subeffective dose (0.5 mg/kg per day) of nimodipine. These results suggest that central dihydropyridine binding sites may be specifically involved in the modulation of the imipramine reversal of helpless behavior and favor a physiological role for dihydropyridine binding sites in the brain.

Resisting temptation: a psychological analysis

It is proposed that self control involves several related processes including vivid awareness of future consequences, overcoming learned helplessness and tunnel vision, developing commitment and accepting anxiety/frustration. Facing up to temptation and resisting the compulsive urge is considered to be a crucial therapeutic experience. Evidence is presented to support the view that cue exposure should therefore be a central component of treatments for compulsions and addictions.

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) as antidepressant: a psychopharmacological animal study

Because the secretion of gonadotrophic hormones is disturbed in some depressive states, it has been hypothesized that gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) has antidepressant properties in humans, but no clear information has emerged from clinical trials. The lack of experimental psychopharmacological data prompted us to investigate the effects of GnRH on the 'learned helplessness' behavioral model of depression in rats. GnRH was injected i.p. at doses of 0.06, 0.25, 0.50, 1 and 2 mg/kg per day. GnRH significantly reduced the number of escape failures at doses of 1 mg/kg per day or higher during the first shuttle-box session and at doses of 0.25 mg/kg per day onwards during the third shuttle-box session. These antidepressant-like effects of GnRH were similar to those observed with the tricyclic antidepressants imipramine (32 mg/kg per day) or clomipramine (32 mg/kg per day) in the same model. Moreover, while the induction of learned helplessness behaviour resulted in a fall in the plasma levels of FSH and LH, normal values of these hormones could be restored by a behaviorally effective GnRH regimen. From these data it can be suggested that GnRH exhibits an interesting antidepressant-like activity in rats.

Attenuation of response to antidepressants in animals induced by reduction in food intake

A salient feature of depression is eating disorders (reduced appetite and caloric intake) and/or weight loss. In the present study, reduction in food intake in rats, resulting in moderate weight loss, markedly attenuated the ability of various antidepressant drugs to reverse depressive-like behaviors: escape deficits provoked by previous exposure to uncontrollable stress. Further data support the notion that hypofunctioning of central noradrenergic processes, perhaps linked to reduced thyroid hormone levels, might contribute to such an altered response to antidepressants. These findings suggest that current nutritional status, even with marginal weight loss, could be an intervening factor in the delayed therapeutic response to antidepressants and/or in drug-resistant depression.

Social-cognitive processing and depressive symptoms in children: a comparison of measures

We assessed aspects of the reliability and validity of three measures of social-cognitive processing in children that have been developed to investigate the relations of such processes to childhood depression: the Children's Attributional Style Questionnaire (CASQ), the Children's Negative Cognitive Error Questionnaire (CNCEQ), and the Common Beliefs Inventory for Students (CBIS). In an unselected sample of 61 children, aged 8 to 12, the internal consistencies of the total scores on the CNCEQ and the CBIS were good; for the CASQ, it was only moderate. Internal consistencies of all subscale scores were inadequate. Despite this, several subscale and total scores were significantly associated with depressive symptoms, and the measures were generally correlated with each other. Although these data are encouraging concerning the role of social-cognitive processing in childhood depression, the field needs to develop psychometrically stronger measures and to test the role of social cognition in prospective studies of depression.

Learned helplessness, test anxiety, and academic achievement: a longitudinal analysis

The stability of individual differences in test anxiety and learned helplessness over a 2-year period and their relation to concurrent and future school achievement were examined. Several issues regarding the assessment of learned helplessness are also addressed. 82 children were administered measures of test anxiety and helplessness in the third grade and again in the fifth grade. Teachers also provided reports of learned helpless and mastery-oriented behaviors at these 2 grade levels. It was found that: (a) both self-report and teacher-report measures of helplessness were stable over the 2-year period; (b) helplessness in the third grade was related to achievement test scores in the fifth grade; and (c) teacher reports may be a viable means of identifying helplessness. These findings are discussed in terms of cognitive developmental changes in children's understanding of effort and ability, and their implications for the assessment of learned helplessness are outlined.

Helpless behavior (escape deficits) in streptozotocin-diabetic rats: resistance to antidepressant drugs

Using the learned helplessness model of depression in rats, the present study undertook to investigate the possibility of an impaired response to antidepressant drugs in diabetic animals. Experimental diabetes was induced by three intraperitoneal (IP) injections of streptozotocin (37.5, 37.5, 50 mg/kg, three days apart), four weeks before behavioral testing. Diabetic and non-diabetic rats were first exposed to 60 inescapable shocks. Forty-eight hours later and over three consecutive days, they were subjected to daily shuttle-box sessions for assessment of escape failures (helpless behavior). Twice daily (IP) injection of clomipramine (24 mg/kg), desipramine (24 mg/kg), imipramine (32 mg/kg) or clenbuterol (0.75 mg/kg) prevented escape deficits in the non-diabetic but not in the diabetic rats. However, this prevention was made possible in the diabetic rats by increasing the duration of the antidepressant treatment. Moreover, one week of insulin therapy restored operant escape responding to both the tricyclics and a beta-agonist. The inefficacy of clenbuterol (a central beta-agonist) in reversing helpless behavior in diabetic rats, along with the observation that triiodothyronine (T3) supplementation also restored the response to imipramine in the diabetic rats, suggests that thyroid-mediated alterations of central noradrenergic function might be a critical factor in the resistance or delayed response to antidepressants in experimental diabetes. These animal findings raise the possibility of a similar resistance to conventional antidepressants in depressed diabetic patients.

Repeated failure: A source of helplessness or a factor irrelevant to its emergence?

We tested the validity of the egotism model of human helplessness. In contrast to the original theoretical approach of Seligman and his associates, which points to response-outcome noncontingency as the main source of helplessness, the egotism alternative proposes that repeated failure itself is the critical determinant of helplessness symptoms. Repeated failure threatens the self-esteem of the subject, who supposedly engages in a least-effort strategy during the test phase of a typical learned helplessness study, which results in performance impairment. To examine the egotism explanation, we gave subjects noncontingent-feedback training with or without repeated failure on five consecutive discrimination problems. In two experiments, noncontingent-feedback preexposure produced helplessness deficits in performance on avoidance learning, whereas repeated failure appeared irrelevant to helplessness. This and our other findings from research are inconsistent with the egotism explanation and support instead Seligman's original proposal, in which helplessness is attributed to prolonged experience with noncontingency.

Are antidepressant-like effects of triiodothyronine (T3) in rodents related to an hyperthyroid state?

1. The physiological and behavioral effects of T3 and corresponding plasma T3 levels were studied in mice. 2. On the tests performed (antagonism of apomorphine- and oxotremorine-induced hypothermia, potentiation of yohimbine toxicity, L-5-HTP-induced head twitches and the learned-helplessness paradigm), T3 was active after subchronic treatment (1 injection per day for 3 days, ending 24 hours before testing). 3. In these tests T3 exhibited the same profile as antidepressant drugs in rodents. 4. The similar activity of beta-agonists in these tests and the ability of T3 to potentiate the effect of clenbuterol agree with the hypothesis that T3 can induce beta-adrenergic hypersensitivity. 5. Under the present experimental conditions these effects were obtained with doses of T3 which did not induce hyper-triiodothyroninemia. Thus, the lowest doses significantly affecting apomorphine- and oxotremorine-induced hypothermia were respectively .008 and .032 mg/kg/day. 6. Doses as low as .032 mg/kg/day were active in the yohimbine test. 7. L-5-HTP-induced head twitches were potentiated by a dose of .25 mg/kg/day and in the learned-helpless paradigm, the lowest effective dose was .06 mg/kg/day. 8. Plasma T3 values obtained in the same conditions were not significantly different from control at doses less than .5 mg/kg/day, and increased dramatically with higher doses, suggesting an accumulation of the hormone in plasma. 9. The doses inducing an hyper-triiodothyroninemia coincided with physiological signs of hyperthyroidism in the animals (i.e. loss of weight and slight hyperthermia). Thus, the active dose range of T3 was below the lowest dose required to produce a significant hyperthyroid state. 10. This results suggest that a clinical benefit could be obtained with low doses of T3 that do not significantly induce an hyperthyroidism.

How should multifaceted personality constructs be tested? Issues illustrated by self-monitoring, attributional style, and hardiness

Two or more dimensions unintentionally varied simultaneously are said to be confounded, but several theories in personality intentionally combine 3 or more distinct qualities. Researchers using these theories sum the qualities before testing predictions. How wise is this practice? The practice appears to derive from 2 distinct lines of reasoning. One of them assumes that the component dimensions converge on a single underlying quality (latent variable) that each reflects imperfectly. The other assumes a synergy among dimensions. Issues arising from each line of reasoning are illustrated by examining self-monitoring, attributional style, and hardiness. Conclusions are that (a) information is lost whenever a latent variable theory is tested solely by a composite and (b) a synergistic theory can be tested only through a statistical interaction.

Cognitive biases and depression

Compared symptomatically depressed, clinically remitted, and normal controls using cognitive measures designed to be traitlike and statelike in cross-sectional and longitudinal designs, respectively. Remitted depressives and normal subjects did not differ in their attributional biases, endorsement of dysfunctional attitudes, or interpretation of schema-relevant ambiguous events, but both groups differed from symptomatic depressives. Depressive episodes thus affect cognition, but cognitions measured by self-reports are more statelike than traitlike.

Explanatory style across the life span: Evidence for stability over 52 years

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 less than .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.

Depression in child psychiatric inpatients: cognitive and attributional patterns

Cognitive and learned helplessness models of depression view maladaptive cognitive and attributional patterns as core features of depressive disorders. This study examined cognitive and attributional patterns in depressed children, nondepressed children, and a subgroup of remitting depressives who had histories of depression but were not reporting depressive symptoms when evaluated during the first 2 weeks of hospitalization. When compared with nondepressed controls, depressed children reported significantly more hopelessness, more negative self-perceptions, and negative self-perceptions across a wider variety of domains, and they displayed more dysfunctional attributional styles. While 55% of depressed children displayed pervasive maladaptive cognitive patterns, the other 45% of depressed children scored more similarly to nondepressed children, suggesting that childhood depressive disorders may be heterogeneous with respect to cognitive patterns. Contrary to the notion of traitlike depressive cognitive and attributional patterns that persist after the remission of depressive episodes, children with remitting depressions scored similarly to nondepressed children.

[Pediatric depression]

In 12 children between 6 and 12 years of age who were treated as inpatients for depression (diagnosed according to the Weinberg-criteria, a child-adapted modification of DSM-III-criteria), a close relationship was found between family pathology, psychodynamics and depression. The conflicts in the interactions between the depressed children and their caregivers became evident in the children's drawings, in the Scenotest and in play therapy. In play therapy the repressed feelings of powerlessness, helplessness, disappointment, resignation and anger came to light. The children had a pseudo-stabilizing function in the family that placed too heavy demands on them, with the result that they became dependent and helpless and tended to despair. A situation developed that can be characterized as "learned helplessness" and that is a useful behavioral-physiological and neurobiological model of depression for different age groups.

Anxiety and depression: a common neurobiological substrate?

The relationship between anxiety and depression may be more than the simultaneous expression of two commonly observed but distinct emotional states. Clinical studies suggest that anxiety is not only accompanied by symptoms of depression but may be an expected precursor syndrome in the development of at least some forms of depression. Recent genetic and epidemiological data further indicate that at least some forms of anxiety and depression may represent different phenotypic manifestations of the same genetic predisposition resulting from varying environmental conditions. Animal studies further suggest a causal relationship between anxiety and the development of a behavioral syndrome called "learned helplessness," an animal model of depression produced by exposing the animal to inescapable stress. Many of the behavioral and physiological features of the syndrome resemble those observed in depressed patients. Recent findings show that the administration to rats of anxiogenic inverse agonists of the benzodiazepine-GABA receptor complex produces the same behavioral syndrome evoked by inescapable stress. Moreover, pretreating animals with benzodiazepine anxiolytics can completely prevent the development of learned helplessness after exposure to inescapable stress. Together, the data suggest a common neurobiological substrate for some forms of anxiety and depression.

Effects of signaling inescapable shock on subsequent escape learning: implications for theories of coping and "learned helplessness"

The present experiments reveal that shuttle-escape performance deficits are eliminated when exteroceptive cues are paired with inescapable shock. Experiment 1 indicated that, as in instrumental control, a signal following inescapable shock eliminated later escape performance deficits. Subsequent experiments revealed that both forward and backward pairings between signals and inescapable shock attenuated performance deficits. However, the data also suggest that the impact of these temporal relations may be modulated by qualitative aspects of the cues because the effects of these relations depended upon whether an increase or decrease in illumination (Experiment 2) or a compound auditory cue (Experiment 4) was used. Preliminary evidence suggests that the ability of illumination cues to block escape learning deficits may be related to their to reduce contextual fear (Experiment 3). The implications of these data for conceptions of instrumental control and the role of fear in the etiology of effects of inescapable shock exposure are discussed.

Learned helplessness in the cockroach (Periplaneta americana)

For 3 consecutive days cockroaches (Periplaneta americana) were exposed to either escapable, inescapable, or no shock in an escape task. Twenty-four hours later they were tested in a shuttlebox escape task. There were reliable differences between escapable and inescapable animals and between inescapable and control animals in both escape latencies and the number of failures to escape.

The relation between stable/unstable attribution and learned helplessness

This study assessed the effects of stable/unstable attributions on subsequent task performance. In Expt 1, subjects were exposed to no-feedback, solvable or unsolvable problems in which they received instructions encouraging them to attribute the outcome to stable or unstable causes. In Expt 2, subjects were divided according to their attributional style for bad events into stable, non-defined and unstable attributors and were exposed to no-feedback or unsolvable problems. Both experiments assessed subjects' performance in a subsequent solvable task. It was found that exposure to unsolvable problems worsened subsequent performance only for those subjects who attributed failure to stable causes. An attribution of failure to unstable causes prevented the detrimental effects of unsolvable problems on performance. The role of stability attributions is discussed in terms of Abramson, Seligman & Teasdale's reformulation of learned helplessness.

Triiodothyroacetic acid (TRIAC) potentiation of antidepressant-induced reversal of learned helplessness in rats

The results of several clinical investigations have suggested that a special relationship exists between thyroid function and affective disorders and/or the therapeutic response to antidepressants. Animal studies have shown the possible beta-adrenergically mediated antidepressant-like properties of triiodothyroacetic acid (TRIAC) in rodents. The present experiment showed (1) that the reversal by antidepressants (clomipramine or imipramine) of escape deficits produced by previous exposure to uncontrollable shock was significantly hastened in animals given TRIAC and (2) that L-penbutolol treatment prevented the elimination of helpless behavior induced by TRIAC, suggesting a beta-adrenergic mediation of the antidepressant activity of thyroid compounds. The study confirmed that learned helplessness might be a useful model for studying in animals the neurohormonal correlates of affective disorders and the neurobiochemical basis of the enhancement of the antidepressant action produced by thyroid compounds.

Angels with wet wings won't fly: maternal sentiment in Brazil and the image of neglect

Current theories of fatalism and neglect and current descriptions of childhood illness in impoverished Northeastern Brazil are evaluated. Findings of an ongoing multidisciplinary project indicate that neglect and fatalism theories are incomplete as applied to the Brazilian Northeast. Intensive interviews and observations with bereaved mothers and traditional healers show that mothers' failure to obtain medical care for severely ill children is due more to real-life bureaucratic and geographic barriers to access than to fatalistic or neglectful attitudes on the part of the poor, that mothers' flat affect in response to infant deaths is due more to folk Catholic beliefs than to lack of emotional attachment to infants, that fatalistic statements are often post hoc and do not indicate fatalistic behavior, and that decisions about whether to treat severely ill infants are made by mothers and families in consultation with traditional healers in accord with a folk system of classification of high risk infants. What have been described as "death accepting," "pathogenic," and "ethnoeugenic" attitudes are part of a folk ethical system developed to guide reactions to terminal childhood illness. We argue that human behavior, especially in the realm of health, cannot be understood without reference to both biomedical and psychosocial realities.

Effects of Librium and shock controllability upon nociception and contextual fear

Controllable shock is known to exert less deleterious effects than does the equivalent exposure to inescapable shock. Recent findings have encouraged speculation that some of these effects may result from differences in the severity of fear produced by the shock experiences. In particular, mediation by gamma-aminobutyric acid has been implicated. In the present experiment, we examined the possibility that chlordiazepoxide (CDP) would attenuate the impact of shock in a manner similar to that of providing control over shock. As shown by others, CDP administered prior to shock treatment blocked the long-term analgesic response, as did the provision of control during shock. Furthermore, whereas animals given controllable shock subsequently exhibited less fear of the shock context than did yoked animals, CDP treatment prior to uncontrollable shock did not appreciably reduce the contextual fear subsequently shown. These results suggest that under some conditions, controllability attenuates the impact of stress by mechanisms other than those shared by benzodiazepine treatment.

Attributional change during psychotherapy

Previous research suggests that causal attributions for life-events are involved in the process of recovery from depression. The study assessed depressive symptoms and attributions before and after treatment in 40 clients. Each client received two forms of therapy in a cross-over design: Exploratory (relationship-oriented, interpersonal) therapy, and Prescriptive (cognitive-behavioural) therapy. During the course of treatment, attributions became significantly more unstable, specific and controllable. There was a positive relation between attributional change and change in depression symptoms, with significant correlations occurring on all dimensions, apart from Externality, and on a composite measure.

A longitudinal test of the attributional vulnerability model in children at risk for depression

The attributional vulnerability model of depression has rarely been tested in prospective designs, or as an interaction of stressful events and cognitions, or with depression as a specific response outcome. Moreover, the model has rarely been applied to children. All these issues were addressed in this study of prediction of diagnoses during a six-month follow-up for a sample of children that included offspring of women with affective disorders presumed to be at high risk for depression. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses failed to support the attributional hypotheses: depression was best predicted by initial symptoms and by life stress but not by attributions for negative outcomes or the interaction of attributions and life-events. Non-affective diagnoses, on the other hand, were predicted by an interaction of life-events and attributions. The results suggest limitations in the range of application of the attributional model in clinical samples, at least with children and adolescents at risk.

The hopelessness theory of depression: attributional aspects

In this article, we clarify, expand and revise the basic postulates of the hopelessness theory of depression (Abramson, Alloy & Metalsky, 1988a; Abramson, Metalsky & Alloy, 1987, 1988b; previously referred to as the reformulated helplessness theory of depression: Abramson, Seligman & Teasdale, 1978) and place the theory more explicitly in the context of work in descriptive psychiatry about the heterogeneity among the depressive disorders. We suggest that the hopelessness theory hypothesizes the existence in nature of an, as yet, unidentified subtype of depression--'hopelessness depression'--defined, in part, by its cause. We then give a critique of work conducted to test the hopelessness theory and explicate the limitations in research strategy associated with this line of work. Our critique includes a logical analysis that deduces the conceptual and methodological inadequacies of the research strategies used to test the theory. Finally, we suggest more adequate research strategies for testing the hopelessness theory and discuss conceptual and assessment issues that will arise in conducting such tests with special emphasis on attributional styles.

Attributions and adjustment to life-threatening illness

An analysis of the role of attribution in major illness and serious injury is presented. Evidence reviewed includes the impact of illness variables on attributions, the association between attributions and adjustment to illness, and the proposed mechanisms of this association. Illness and injury characteristics such as severity and time since diagnosis appear to relate to attributional activity and content, but the association between attributions and psychological or physical adjustment is weak. Overall, it would appear that the attribution construct can describe individuals' reactions to life-threatening illness or injury. However, the utility of attribution in understanding the processes involved in adjustment to illness has not yet been demonstrated.

Causal beliefs amongst families in therapy: attributions at the group level

Whereas attribution has traditionally been regarded as an individual process, we argue that attributions can also be located at a group level. A study of the causal beliefs of 10 families undergoing family therapy is reported, which shows that attributional change can be identified as a family as well as an individual process. Families considered not to have 'changed' following therapy differed from the 'changing' families in attributing negative outcomes to more stable causes, but were similar in their increased use of internal attributions for other people's actions. This pattern is interpreted within family systems theory.

Causal attribution, cognitive interference, and the generalization of learned helplessness

We assessed the role of off-task cognitions in mediating the performance effects of global and specific attributions for failure. In Experiment 1, subjects were divided into global and specific attributors and were exposed to either no feedback or failure feedback. In Experiment 2, subjects were exposed to no feedback or to unsolvable problems wherein they received attribution for failure to specific or global causes. Experiment 3 added a condition in which subjects were restrained from engaging in off-task cognitions. Results showed that exposure to unsolvable problems deteriorated performance and increased off-task cognitions mainly among subjects who attributed failure to global causes. In addition, the enhancement of off-task cognitions interfered with performance following unsolvable problems. The introduction of instructions that discouraged subjects from engaging in off-task cognitions eliminated the detrimental effects of global attribution. Results are discussed in terms of test anxiety and excuse-making conceptualizations of learned helplessness.

The modified forced-swim test in rats: influence of rope- or straw-suspension on climbing behavior

We modified Porsolt's forced-swim test by suspending ropes or straws above the water in order to investigate a possible relationship between immobility and perceived escape responses from water. In this modified test, it was demonstrated clearly that rats reduced their duration of immobility and attempted to climb up the suspended ropes or straws. Most rats which had remained immobile during a 5-min test period in the forced-swim test, exhibited such climbing responses within 5-10 min of rope-suspension. Despite the suspension of ropes, however, some rats showed immobile postures and did not respond to the rope. On the other hand, straws were used in order to produce sliding and prevent climbing when the animals attempted to climb. There were no differences in immobility during either rope- or straw-suspension. It seems that the climbing behavior displayed by forced-swimming rats is due to a "pseudo-escape" effect produced by the suspension of an object above the water. The present findings were interpreted as further evidence for the notion that immobility in forced-swimming rats does not necessarily imply "behavioral despair," but rather an emotional reaction to an inescapable stressor.

Reactance and helplessness following exposure to unsolvable problems: The effects of attributional style

I assessed the effects of internal-external attributional style and amount of unsolvable problems on subsequent task performance. Undergraduate subjects were divided according to their attributional style for bad events into internal, nondefined, and external attributors and were exposed to either one, four, or no unsolvable problems. Following exposure to a single unsolvable problem, internal attributors exhibited greater frustration and hostility and better performance in a subsequent cognitive task than did external attributors. Following exposure to four unsolvable problems, internal attributors exhibited stronger feelings of incompetence and a decrease in performance compared with external attributors. The results are discussed in terms of Wortman and Brehm's (1975) approach to reactance and helplessness.

Effects of piracetam on learned helplessness in rats

In rats, the effects of Piracetam (P), the prototype of nootropic drugs, were studied on a very widely used model of behavioral disturbance: the learned helplessness (LH) phenomenon. In this model, exposure to uncontrollable and unsignalled shocks impairs subsequent escape-avoidance learning. In a first experiment, this deficit was abolished by 200 mg/kg of P, and to a lesser extent, by a 100 mg/kg dose, administered before the training session. In non-stressed animals, no dose of P was able to have a facilitatory effect on escape-avoidance. In a second experiment, the administration of P, not before the training session as in Experiment I, but before the stress, had no effect on the LH phenomenon regardless of the dose.

Attributions for negative life events and depression: The role of perceived control

Although perceptions of control occupied a central role in the development of learned helplessness theory, recent helplessness research has not considered controllability judgments when relating attributions to depression. Supporting the importance of this construct, the research discussed in this article found evidence that judgments of control interact with other attributions in predicting depression. Specifically, in a prospective study of stress and well-being in adolescence, internal, stable, and global attributions for negative events attributed to uncontrollable causes were found to be positively related to increases in depression (as predicted by the reformulated helplessness theory), but internal and global attributions for negative events attributed to controllable causes were found to be inversely related to increases in depression. The discussion considers the implications of the findings for understanding the nature of the relation between attributions for naturally occurring life events and depression.

Stressors in the learned helplessness paradigm: effects on body weight and conditioned taste aversion in rats

Changes in body weight and taste aversion in the learned helplessness paradigm were examined. In Experiment 1, adult male Sprague-Dawley rats drank saccharin or a control solution, followed by either 100 inescapable shocks or simple restraint. Rats were weighted daily and were tested for saccharin aversion two days after the stress session. Shocked rats gained less weight in the days after stress than restrained controls. Saccharin aversion was apparent only among rats that had consumed saccharin before the stress session. Experiment 2 examined whether control over shock affected body weight or taste aversion. Home-cage controls were included to assess the effects of restraint alone. In addition, the combined effects of shock and a toxin on aversion were studied. Rats drank saccharin solution, followed by escapable or inescapable shock, restraint, or no treatment. Then half of each group was injected with saline; the other half was injected with lithium chloride. As in Experiment 1, shock reduced body weight relative to restraint or no treatment, and shock produced a taste aversion among saline-treated rats. However, shock attenuated the aversion produced by lithium chloride, as did simple restraint. There were no differences in body weight or taste aversion between escapably and inescapably shocked rats. These results suggest a role for stress in the anorexia and weight loss associated with clinical depression and may have implications for theories of learning and learned helplessness.

Noncontingent reward-induced learned helplessness in humans

Noncontingent verbal and concrete rewards were incorporated into a learned-helplessness paradigm in an attempt to provide increased generalizability of the reward-induced helplessness phenomenon. The treatment phase required subjects to reproduce a series of block-designs, for which they received either verbal or concrete reward according to one of three schedules: response contingent, 100% noncontingent, or 50% random noncontingent. A control group was not exposed to the task. The performance phase involved a letter/number-substitution coding task during which all subjects received response-contingent reward. Analysis showed a helplessness effect, with the noncontingent reward conditions producing significantly more errors and omissions than contingent reward and/or control conditions. Differences in effects of verbal and concrete rewards were nonsignificant.

Dependency, self-criticism and depressive attributional style

It has been proposed that dependency and self-criticism are independent forms of depressive experience. This study was designed to investigate whether one or both experiences are associated with a depressive attributional style. Internal and global attributions for hypothetical negative outcomes were found to be associated with both dependency and self-criticism, but neither of these aspects of depression were related to attributions for positive outcomes.

[Learned helplessness and depression in the aged. A study of the concept of Seligman's depression in the old age home]

Seligman's concept of "learned helplessness" is examined with a sample of rest-home residents. A semi-structured interview is used to assess attributions in the dimensions of internality, stability and generality for past, present, and future life-events. Interrelations of these attributions with depression and age-related self-esteem are investigated. According to Seligman's model elderly subjects with high scores in depression and age-related self-esteem tend to attribute negative life-events as internal, stable and global. Some other assumptions of the model of "learned helplessness" could not be confirmed. Methodological problems are discussed with respect to Seligman's theory of learned helplessness and depression in the elderly.

Shock signals and the development of stress-induced analgesia

We report five experiments in which we investigated the effects of "feedback signals" on the pattern of hypoalgesia produced by inescapable shocks. A 5-s lights-out stimulus coincident with shock termination had no effect on the naltrexone-insensitive (nonopioid) hypoalgesia, which occurred after 10 inescapable shocks, but completely blocked the naltrexone-sensitive (opioid) hypoalgesia, which followed 100 inescapable shocks. The stimulus prevented the development of the opioid hypoalgesia rather than merely masking its measurement. This effect did not depend on the use of lights-out as the stimulus but did depend on the temporal relation between the stimulus and shock. Stimuli immediately preceding or simultaneous with shock had no effect. Surprisingly, stimuli randomly related to shock also blocked the opioid hypoalgesia. Simultaneous measurement of both hypoalgesia and fear conditioned to contextual cues revealed that the level of fear did not predict the blockade of hypoalgesia. Different backward groups received different temporal gaps between shock termination and the signal. An interval between 2.5 s and 7.5 s eliminated the effect of the signal on fear, but 12.5-17.5 s were required to eliminate the effect of the signal on hypoalgesia. The opioid hypoalgesia blocking power of the random stimulus was entirely attributable to those stimuli occurring within 15 s of the termination of the preceding shock. The implications of these results for the explanation of stimulus feedback effects and for stress-induced analgesia are discussed.

Triiodothyronine potentiation of antidepressant-induced reversal of learned helplessness in rats

Several clinical investigations have suggested that a special relationship exists between thyroid function and affective disorders and/or therapeutic response to antidepressants. The present report describes that the reversal by antidepressants (imipramine, desipramine, and nomifensine) of depressive-like behavior in rats (escape deficits produced by previous exposure to uncontrollable stress) was significantly hastened in animals given daily triiodothyronine (T3). The learned helplessness paradigm might be a useful model for approaching in animals the neurohormonal correlates of affective disorders and the neurobiochemical bases of the reported T3 enhancement of antidepressants.

Explanatory style and illness

Explanatory style is an individual difference that influences people's response to bad events. The present article discusses the possibility that a pessimistic explanatory style makes illness more likely. Several studies suggest that people who offer internal, stable, and global explanations for bad events are at increased risk for morbidity and mortality. We tentatively conclude that passivity, pessimism, and low morale foreshadow disease and death, although the process by which this occurs is unclear.

Effects of learned helplessness on Rorschach responses

The present study investigated the relationship between the laboratory experience of learned helplessness and depressive responses on the Rorschach. 50 undergraduate students were randomly assigned to either a learned-helplessness or nonlearned-helplessness condition. After completion of the experimental conditions, subjects were administered Rorschachs which were scored utilizing the Exner Comprehensive System. Student's t tests indicated significantly higher scores on the sum of all responses involving the use of shading and achromatic features (right-side eb) for the learned-helplessness subjects. According to Rorschach theory, these results suggest that subjects in a learned-helplessness condition experience a more painful affective state and tend to withdraw from their environment more than subjects experiencing a nonlearned-helplessness condition. This can be seen as a defense against experiencing more stress. These conclusions are discussed in the context of learned helplessness and reactive depression.

Three accounts of the learned helplessness effect

Two experiments tested predictions drawn from test anxiety theory, learned helplessness theory, and Wortman and Brehm's (1975) integration of helplessness and reactance theories. Experiment 1 demonstrated that performance deficits predicted by learned helplessness do not rely on experimenter-induced failure. It also showed such deficits to be unrelated either to negative affect following exposure to pretreatment or to causal attributions about pretreatment task performance. Experiment 2 showed that experience of uncontrollability need not result in impaired performance, because failure on an unimportant task did not produce the deficits predicted by learned helplessness theory. This result provides qualified support for the integrative model. Finally, because the subjective measures used in Experiment 2 were not consistent with performance measures, the reliability of self-reports is questioned.